We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rida Karim a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rida, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

Habits stick with you—especially the bad ones.

In school, those habits start early. You hesitate to raise your hand, haunted by the teacher’s voice: “Why don’t you get it? We’ve already gone over this.” Or worse, the look on their face when you answer wrong—“Seven? Seriously? The answer is eleven.” By the time you’re nine, you’ve learned the safest response is silence. Don’t ask questions. Don’t risk being wrong. Just act like you understand.

This was my reality in STEM. It never felt like it was for kids like me. When STEM made its way into the classroom, it felt cold and distant—like something adults designed for other adults. Big words. Long lectures. No creativity. No play. Over time, I developed a habit of staying silent, of not asking questions. That silence turned into apathy. I stopped wanting to ask questions because I stopped caring.

That feeling—that disconnect—is why I established Technology Youth Empowerment (TYE). At TYE, we redefine learning. What makes us different is simple: we’re students teaching students. There’s no intimidation because we’ve been there, not long ago. We’ve felt the confusion, the silence, the shrinking away. And because of that, there’s a shared empathy that makes TYE feel like a close-knit family.

At TYE, we don’t take time to memorize facts. Instead, we’re building. Coding games, wiring circuits, launching rockets—everyone’s involved. It’s not a one-way street where instructors do all the work and everyone else just watches. We’re all in it together—creating, experimenting, and learning side by side. Our instructors are trained to break challenging concepts down, answer every question, and create a space where no one is afraid to say, “I don’t get it.”

Every time a student asks a question or lights up as they see their work come to life, it feels like a small rebellion against the habits I grew up with.

We show students that STEM—and learning overall—belongs to them. That it doesn’t have to be boring or intimidating. And when their eyes light up—when they see they can invent, build, and create—I know we’ve done more than teach.

We’ve given them a new habit: believing in themselves and loving to learn.

Rida, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

We’re a student-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on bridging the gap between underserved students and STEM. Since our establishment in 2022, we’ve reached over 2,000+ students across DC, Maryland, and Virginia. We host workshops, camps, and STEM fairs at elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, libraries, and religious institutions.

Our lessons are designed to be comprehensive and engaging, with instructors and volunteers trained to teach effectively. We also provide free local STEM kits for students who can’t attend our classes, ensuring our programs are accessible to everyone.

What sets us apart is our student-to-student teaching model, which creates a relatable, low-pressure learning environment. We’re proud of the impact we’ve made so far and are committed to expanding our reach to empower even more students through STEM.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I was a freshman in high school, I decided to establish Technology Youth Empowerment (TYE). I reached out to 28 schools—cold emails, phone calls, even showing up in person. Every single one said no. Some ignored us. Others straight-up told us we were too young, too inexperienced, and even unqualified.

But instead of quitting, we booked a room at a local library. We spent weeks promoting it—flyers, social media, word of mouth. The day of the workshop, we showed up early, set everything up, and waited. No one came. Not a single person.

Failure feels different when it’s public. The empty chairs felt louder than rejection emails ever could. But quitting wasn’t an option. We regrouped. Dragged our siblings and a few reluctant friends to the next session. It wasn’t pretty—half the materials didn’t work, and we were making up solutions on the fly—but it planted a seed.

Slowly, TYE became more than an idea. We taught ourselves how to create lesson plans that were interactive and fun, how to train instructors to engage rather than lecture, and how to pitch schools with polished proposals that couldn’t be ignored. I learned to reinvest every “no” into building something better.

Two years later, the same schools that dismissed us now invite us to teach their students. Every empty room, failed pitch, and broken experiment taught me that rejection isn’t the end of a story—it’s the blueprint for a better one.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

“Teaching is about knowing all the answers.”

That’s the lesson I had to unlearn when I started teaching for Technology Youth Empowerment (TYE).

At first, I thought being a good teacher meant never admitting you didn’t know something. I felt I had to be the “expert”—the one who had it all figured out. But it didn’t take long to realize how wrong I was.

In one of our early workshops, a fifth grader asked me a question about circuits I couldn’t answer. My instinct was to bluff, to act like I knew, but I hesitated. Instead, I said, “I’m not sure, but let’s figure it out together.” That small decision changed everything. We opened a new tab, Googled it, and worked through the problem side by side. His eyes lit up when he understood.

At TYE, this approach has become the foundation of how we teach. Our workshops aren’t about perfection; they’re about curiosity. We’re not “instructors” towering over students—we’re peers learning alongside them. When a student struggles, we work through it with them, and when they succeed, we celebrate that success together.”

Unlearning the need to know everything made me a better leader, a better teacher, and a better learner. It’s why TYE works—we show students how to embrace uncertainty, ask questions, and learn without fear.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tyeconnects.org
• Instagram: tyeconnects
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tyeconnects/
• Other: GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-technology-youth-empowerment