We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lavik Jain, Jacob Abraham, Abhiram Tadepalli, and Parthiv Shah a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lavik Jain, Jacob Abraham, Abhiram Tadepalli, and Parthiv Shah, appreciate you joining us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?
Toward the end of their freshman year in high school, Lavik Jain, Jacob Abraham, and Abhiram Tadepalli recognized a gap in their school’s instruction: there was insufficient discussion of the practical applications of the theoretical concepts they learned in the classroom.
They sought to fill that gap through an experience that allowed students to drive their own exploration in areas of STEM by undertaking initiatives that tangibly bettered society. That’s why they cofounded a club—Explore. Design. Solve!—at their school, Centennial High School. They desired to bring students’ diverse interests, strengths, and backgrounds to initiate projects that tangibly better the world around them. All the while, they wanted to provide a forum for students to learn about various aspects of STEM by getting their hands dirty.
Although it took many semesters of failure and readjustment, once the group had success with their program, they desired to share this experience with the world. Parthiv Shah, a committed member of the chapter at Centennial joined the officer team as they expanded. Over the course of the past year, Explore. Design. Solve! Has established 17 chapters across the globe, hailing from 3 countries and 12 states.
If you would like to start a chapter of your own, register at exploredesignsolve.org and they will reach out to you with more information!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
In our most recent project, in the 2021-2022 school year, our chapter at Centennial High School developed a pollution hotspot website that helps Frisco citizens report areas of high trash density and organize community cleanups based on the data collected. As part of Explore. Design. Solve!, our chapter goal was to cultivate our students’ STEM skills to benefit the local community. Through an initial brainstorming session and throughout research, we decided to pursue designing a hotspot website as we noticed significant amounts of pollution in our local area. Based on students’ diverse interests and strengths, we broke down into teams specializing in programming, design, communications, and more. After more than 15 weeks of collaboration and overcoming challenges, we published our website. Citizens can view a map of pollution hotspots here: fph.netlify.app.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
We have certainly faced a lot of challenges through this fulfilling journey in the past three years. In our first year, everyone was virtual, so collaboration with each other was significantly more difficult. On top of that, it was our first year, so we were experimenting ourselves—to figure out what the best way to go about running the organization was.
But we always looked to our values, philosophies, and the opportunity we wanted to provide for others: a collaborative experience where students can learn by doing in STEM while tangibly bettering society. So through all of these challenges, we stuck with it. And we have reaped the rewards—with all of the projects that are out there and growth from our members. We are just happy for these past three years and what we have gained from them.
The advice we would give to everyone is to make sure to keep at it even when things seem like they will never work out. Stick to your values and your “why.” That’s the way to get through.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
We have three key goals for Explore. Design. Solve!: (1) granting students the ability to explore their interests in STEM, (2) making an impact while they do it, and (3) creating a richly collaborative experiences that teaches skills the values of leadership, diverse perspectives, and innovation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.exploredesignsolve.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exploredesignsolve
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/explore-design-solve
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@user-st7re9xk4z
Image Credits
Lavik Jain (Personal Picture) Centennial High School Yearbook (Additional Photos)