South Bay nonprofit Empower and Excel connects teens with community service
On a warm summer day at an East San Jose housing complex, Ayesha Charagulla is working to bridge the gap between privilege and poverty in Silicon Valley.
And she's doing it with the power of youth.
Ayesha is the founder of Empower and Excel, a San Jose nonprofit which takes 5 to 18 year olds from some of the valley's wealthiest neighborhoods and puts them in the service of the less fortunate.
Recently, Empower and Excel students showed fun, hands-on science and technology experiments to children from the Valley Palms community.
"It's a win-win situation. The community is benefitting from the science exposure and youth are benefitting by knowing more about the community and the reality of life," Charagulla said.
Ayesha knows that from her own family. After graduating with a master.s degree in information technology management, Ayesha went on to have a successful career in tech. But she realized her own children and those in her community could use a reality check and dose of empathy for the challenges faced by others.
"This is because of a lack of exposure. They are just in their bubble and not seeing the reality. And I thought I should do something to make them be in a better place, to be a better human," Charagulla explained.
She left the tech world to focus full time on the nonprofit, recruiting young people like 16-year-old Ravi Polisetti, a science whiz who demonstrated the concept of light refraction for the kids.
Ravi started volunteering with the program when he was seven years old and has been with it ever since.
"It felt good. It felt amazing. My small impact can impact many people," he said.
Ravi — who wants to be a doctor —has also raised $5,000 for the agency to give to a charity for disabled children in India.
"I feel like I'm connecting with the community," said Polisetti. "I feel like I'm on the same level. Like everybody's equal, right?"
The program is making an impact. 8-year-old Cielo Gutierrez says her school lost their science teacher last year. Science is one of her favorite subjects.
"I want to be an artist or a science teacher, because science is really fun because you get to learn new things, like gravity," Gutierrez said.
She earned enough points by attending all of the stations to get a free prize of a robotics kit.
Ayesha says she just wants to give kids that one spark, that can ignite a love of learning and a passion for service to others.
"If one kid benefits from it, then it is mission accomplished I feel," Charagulla said.