Summer camps are a community where children come together to have fun while learning lifelong lessons. They help children start developing a sense of independence while trying new adventures. Agastya’s summer camps are known for their safe environment and the fun activities for kids that they provide. This month we kicked off summer camps in 103 centres in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka. More are going to start next month in North India, Tamil Nadu etc. So what do Agastya’s summer camps consist of? As established in many previous articles, Agastya’s philosophy of education is centred on active, hands-on experimental learning. Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha! is the journey we take a child on, from curiosity about a subject to a complete understanding of it through a series of activities and games. This philosophy of education continues to be a cornerstone even in Agastya’s summer camps. The duration of the centres ranges from 2 to 6 days, depending on the centres and the age of the children attending them. Children attending one of the many sessions at Agastya’s summer camp Activities in the camp are focused on creative learning of the sciences, keeping the child’s desire to learn alive even during school holidays, for instance, in one of the centres in Gujarat, Stone painting, Craftwork, Leaf painting, Low-cost model making etc. Many camps also celebrated World Earth Day on the 22nd of April this month. In Karnataka, 4th Std Student Neela Basarkod gave an excellent speech on the topic, citing the urgent need for everyone to take care of the environment and planet. In the Bagalkot centre, the festivities kicked off with the chief guest watering the plants at the centre. In Maharashtra, children made low-cost water feeders for birds. A bird feeder model by a child Overall, the activities are designed to make a child curious to learn even out of the classroom. These activities include learning how plants and machines work, have games surrounding many different topics, and provide an overall sense of learning that does not restrict the child or make it feel like a task to them. Joyous smiles at the inauguration of one of the summer camps Needless to say, children love the camp and approach it with a sense of wonder. Many have stated it as a core memory as part of their time with Agastya and thoroughly enjoyed the plethora of fun they had with their friends.

Are you worried that summer vacation means learning will take a backseat with your children? That need not be the case! With these 8 easy activities, you can ensure that your child does some summer learning while also having the summer fun! Art and craft Summer is synonymous with art and craft. It is a sure, easy and inexpensive way to keep children occupied and help their creative spirit grow. The sheer multitude of choices, from contemporary art forms like finger painting and blow painting to out-of-the-box craft ideas like paper quilling and DIY projects, can occupy kids the whole summer. You can look up plenty of such art and craft projects online with cheap materials readily available at home. Cooking Engaging children with cooking also gets you some help around the house while they learn survival skills and natural science. Teach them about the boiling point of water, why certain spices are mixed in first, what vegetable cooks faster, how baking soda works, etc. Voila, they’re also learning chemistry! Local Biodiversity One of the best ways to spend summer is to be in the seat of nature. Take your children to a park/garden near you and ask them to record the plants, animals and birds they see. They can also learn how to identify plants from leaf shapes. Take it a step further by making them in charge of growing a plant/flower at home from scratch, including seeding the plant. Ask them to take care of it and make observations every day — how tall has it grown, how many leaves and flowers, the pattern of leaves, whether it looks healthy etc. This will aid in developing their scientific temperament while teaching them about responsibility. Science experiments Home science experiments are a great way to spend summer. They provide a fun source of learning that invokes curiosity. Many easy science experiments can be conducted at home using everyday materials. Acti-Learn provides 70+ such activities that children can do within the comfort of four walls. Encourage your budding scientist with this tool! Treasure hunt and board games Game learning is one of the best ways to capture a child’s attention and ensure they understand the concept at hand. Thus treasure hunts, board games, and such provide an excellent opportunity for children to learn while playing. You can create word hunt games that aid language and vocabulary development while engaging the competitive spirit of children. There is plenty to be learnt from Monopoly, chess, checkers, palankuzhi , pachis i etc. Board games are also a great way to increase bonding in the family and help everyone have a fun time together. Reading Summer is the best time to awaken your child’s inner bookworm. With enough time on their hands and tasty snacks to eat, they’ll be more amenable to reading a book in the sun. Fiction stories in both English and vernacular languages aid the creative development of children while also improving their linguistic skills and vocabulary. Reading a book also teaches a child to focus and summarise points, helping develop their logical thinking and critical reasoning skills. Stargazing/ Birdwatching Gazing at the stars on nights children are too excited to sleep will help develop their knowledge of astronomy while calming them down and making them sleepy. Ask them to record how many big and small stars they can see, which constellations they can identify, and what all this tells them about space and the distance between them and the earth. Math with playing cards Uno or playing cards are a great way to develop counting and math skills in children. Create equations with cards and handmade plus/minus/multiplication/division signs and ask your child to solve them. Play games that involve mathematical analysis and strategy building. This includes Rummy, Solitaire, Bluff, Chaugadi etc. These are also a great way to increase family bonding and help everyone spend quality time together. Which of these activities will your child be the most interested in?

The Agastya’s Campus Creativity Lab at Kuppam is designed to provide children with the best learning environment and equipment. It strives to truly invoke children’s curiosity and enable them to learn by themselves instead of hand-feeding information that students learn by rote for the sole purpose of school. This series of articles aims to provide a glimpse of the different labs and spaces on the campus and how they aid the process of “Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha!,” the Agastya Way of Learning. What does this stand for? The Aah indicates the curiosity one has about phenomena around them. The Aha is for when one conducts experiments and arrives at an explanation for their curiosity. The Ha-Ha stands for the joy and confidence gained during this process of learning. Exterior view of the Gurugraha astronomy centre The Gurugraha Astronomy Centre brings the vast sky and universe to visiting students and teachers from rural areas. While astronomy may seem far removed from their lives, it provides a solid introduction to many mathematical and scientific concepts in an exciting manner. Moreover, learning about the universe helps us know more about the planet we live on and the story behind where we came from. Shaped like a dome, the Gurugraha Astronomy Centre houses a model of our solar system. The planets orbit the sun as they do in the solar system, and each of their specifications and traits are depicted. The unique thing about this model is that it has been constructed as part of the building structure, with the sun being a bright white light at the centre and the planets’ orbits constructed as rings around it, descending towards the floor. The planets themselves are made so as to be moving along their orbit, showing the distance and time between each planet. Visitors can also walk upstairs to take a closer look at the planets and their motions. To view a 360-degree video of the Astronomy Centre and its solar system model in motion, visit Agastya’s virtual tour Each planet also has a dedicated table that lists all its information — its days, how many moons it has, how many years it takes to complete a round around the sun, and other trivia surrounding it. There is also a planetarium on the domed top of the astronomy centre, invoking the universe’s wonders to awe and interest children. It is a surefire way to get children interested in the mysteries of the universe and learn fundamental maths and physics concepts along the way. Children looking up at the solar system model As the course outline for an astronomy course at Virginia University explains, “By studying the cosmos beyond our own planet, we can understand where we came from, where we are going, and how physics works under conditions which are impossible to recreate on Earth. In astronomy, the Universe is our laboratory!” Agastya’s Gurugraha Astronomy Centre is dedicated to replicating this lab on Earth and helping children physically experiment in it.

Agastya’s mission is to reinvent education and change the way children learn. We hope to create curiosity, invoke creativity and inspire confidence in the future citizens. But to influence students, we would first have to look at their teachers. Teachers are change agents in society and act as a force multiplier. One can impact thousands of students through teachers, the ones we can’t reach ourselves. Hence Agastya started the Acharya Initiative as a dedicated program in addition to other Agastya programs in 2013–14. Initially, it was designed as a very brief workshop that was properly started in 2015. The framework of this program aimed to introduce the constructivist approach to education. This was in accordance with the National Curriculum for Teacher Education, 2005. What does constructivism mean? Constructivism shifts the role of a teacher from a mere instructor imparting information to a guide that helps children build on their own knowledge. The teacher does not see the child as a passive vessel to fill in. but as an active constructor of knowledge. This was a radical shift in approach. It fits in with Agastya’s mission, as stated above. Many teachers already knew the theory of constructivism as part of their BeD (Bachelor of Education) curriculum but did not have the resources to apply it in practice. They were also not sufficiently exposed to the implementation of it. Thus the aim of the program shifted to executing constructivist methods in the classroom rather than merely educating the teachers about it. Currently, the Acharya Initiative is designed as a 4-day workshop. Teachers from now 11 states visit Agastya’s Campus Creativity Lab in Kuppam to attend this workshop. The sessions help teachers experience constructivism in practice and reflect on it. They also learn how to implement it in the classroom. Experience, Reflection, and Implementation are the three cornerstones of the Acharya Initiative experience. They are designed to be interactive and hands-on, involving the teachers to the maximum extent possible. However, the next challenge faced by teachers was procuring resources for the implementation of the constructive method. Constructivism is a resource-oriented approach, and these teachers are often from rural or government schools where it’s hard to get the needed materials. When Agastya received this feedback from teachers, we added another element to the Acharya Initiative. Called Make Your Own Lab (MYOL), the program is another 3–5 days workshop that can be either residential or anywhere all the teachers in the district can attend. MYOL is a purely practical workshop where teachers create the models and manipulatives needed with raw materials bought by Agastya. At the end of MYOL, the teachers have their individual kits with around 30–35 models that they can take back to their school. These kits help the teachers practice constructivist, experiential learning in their classrooms. The idea is that instead of demonstrating with a single model, teachers can provide children with their own models to make and observe, engaging them in the learning process more effectively. It increases interaction and knowledge retention. The students can hence construct knowledge. Moreover, this approach places more emphasis on the process rather than the end product. It thus instils the scientific method of inferring and analysing data (observation, hypothesis, experimentation and inference). Hence children learn how to critically approach and investigate any problems they encounter and have confidence in their knowledge of procuring the required information. It makes the rest of their learning more accessible. Around 3000 teachers from 11 states undergo the Acharya workshop every year at the Creativity Campus in Kuppam. The aim is to spread it to the maximum number of teachers and the maximum number of students through them. After all, as aptly put by Henry B Adams, “A teacher affects eternity; he [or she] can never tell where his influence stops.”

Written by Nethra Singhi , compiled by Gaurav Kumar Agastya’s Sarga Samvad is a series of creative, experiential and imaginative dialogues with innovators from different fields. This takes the form of programs, interviews, panel discussions and more. The Inspirational Indians series holds one-on-one discussions with experts, innovators, and leaders from diverse disciplines. Here are 5 genuinely inspirational pioneers sharing the life mantras they swear by! “ Remember what you don’t want to do, and you’ll be on the right path ” - Dr Manu Prakash, scientist and professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University. You can catch more of his insights below! “ Of course, as a leader, there is always merit in leading from the front. Even if I have a clear notion of how something should be done, I would much rather work with what my colleague wants to do, irrespective of whether my way is right ”- Dr Anil Kakodkar, Padma Vibhushan awardee and nuclear physicist. Click below to hear more from him! “ Learn, learn, learn! Keep learning. It doesn’t matter what you learn, but learn. ” - Prof. V S Rammurthy, Padma Bhushan awardee and nuclear physicist. Learn from his life story below! “ Aspirations are your possibilities. keep them high, for you as well as for our society, our beloved nation ” - Dr. R. A. Mashelkar, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan awardee, scientist and innovator. Get more inspiration from his conversation below! “ Knowledge creation is not the domain or right of only certain genders or cultures. In the classroom, collect stories of contributions from different civilizations, diverse sets of people. Know that knowledge comes from everywhere. ” - Dr Sujatha Ramdorai, ICTP Ramanujan awardee and professor of mathematics. Learn about why she doesn’t believe in the pursuit of success below! We have some more mantras for you in, stay tuned. And, if you want to stay ahead of the curve, watch more Inspirational Indians motivate you over here !

Agastya’s MediaArts Program aims to enable every child with tools to tell the stories they want to. We provide the skill training and resources to equip children with storytelling skills through storyboarding, storybook making, flipbook making, animation, photography and videography. The result? Beautiful productions, some of which you can see below! Here are five films made by children from Agastya. A peek into the imagination of these tiny humans! The Dangers Of Mobile Phone Addiction: Want to know the effects of long-term mobile phone usage? The group of kids as part of the Dhwani Program are here to tell you. Watch below to learn more. Kuppam Culture: Explore through the lens of Kuppam children an essential part of local culture. See how they prepare the chariot wheel for a rath yatra in the village below. Coconut Leaf Hat: Have you ever worn a coconut leaf hat? It’s a cool, environmentally friendly accessory for summer. Children participating in the Dhwani program teach you how to make one for yourself in this demonstration film! Marching Ahead: Watch this wonderful animation by children as part of the MediaArts Lab! What’s it about? Capturing a line of ants walking in 2D. The Deep End: A cute animation of life in the sea, reminding you of Finding Nemo or Finding Dory for the younger generation. How can you not watch it after that description? You can catch more such films on Agastya’s YouTube channel !

The pandemic has catapulted the need for accessible digital education. Agastya, in response, created We-Learn and MyAgastya.education . MyAgastya.education is a website where children can learn from the comfort of home and activities for which materials are readily available. However, in India, there are more mobile devices with data plans than there are laptops. Hence, the We-Learn app. It is primarily developed to tap into today’s most accessible digital resources, the mobile phone and its data plan. This way, it can reach the maximum number of students, even those for whom the school is too far away. The We-Learn app makes the NCERT syllabus more accessible, fun and easy to learn. It is designed to encourage self-learning and requires little parental or teacher supervision. It aims to enable children to take charge of their learning journey. Accordingly, with material for classes four to ten, it supplements every level of education. Based on the Agastya philosophy of Aah! Aha! Ha-Ha! the material on the app aims to make every child curious, creative and confident. Keep in mind that little teacher supervision does not mean that teachers can’t use the app in their classrooms as an aid to the material. In fact, Gram Panchayats in some parts of Karnataka have successfully incorporated this and other Agastya digital learning resources into their curriculum. Despite being a digital learning platform, the syllabus and curriculum of We-Learn make space for hands-on learning. There are multiple activities that children can engage in, observe and experiment with. This is also based on Agastya’s philosophy to promote innovative hands-on learning and focus on children actually understanding the material rather than merely memorising it. So, how does one go about using this resource? It’s actually quite straightforward. Follow these five easy steps to make full use of the We-Learn app. Download the app on an android device. The app is currently only available on Playstore but will soon be available on Appstore as well. Select the language to learn in. Agastya firmly believes that education needs to be accessible in all parts of the world. Hence, starting with India, the modules are available in many vernacular languages apart from Hindi and English. These include Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Oriya, Marathi, and Gujarati. More modules are being developed in other languages. This will make it easier for children from all parts of the country to learn in the language they’re most comfortable in. Select a grade from class four to class ten to view the available subjects and modules for the particular standard. Click on the desired subject. The subjects currently available are Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Integrated Sciences, Mathematics, General Education, Healthcare and Covid19. Select a lesson, and voila! Start your or your child’s journey to explore, experiment, and experience! As you can see, the application is pretty easy to navigate. We are in the process of developing more learning modules for other subjects like English and Media education. They will soon be available on the app, making these subjects more accessible and fun to learn!

Lightning can strike twice in the same place! Here’s the science behind why. What is lightning? Lightning is essentially electricity moving from one place to another. It is simple chemistry. When storms occur, clouds develop a negative charge or have more electrons than protons. This is because water and ice molecules keep rubbing against each other. The negative charge wants to equalise itself to arrive at a neutral charge. The neutral ground helps it do so. Because when the number of electrons gets really high in the clouds, they are attracted to the positive charge in the ground. Hence, they make the jump in the form of lightning. Why it can strike in the same place twice There is an old saying that lightning can never strike in the same place twice, used as a metaphor for bad things only happening once to anybody. But scientifically speaking, lightning does occur at the same spot multiple times and can strike twice. Firstly, during a lightning strike, there are multiple bolts of electricity. So, there are already numerous lightning strokes in the same place at one event. This does not guarantee that another such event won’t reoccur. Research indicates that negative charges in the clouds are not dispensed in one go. They break from one main channel into needle-like structures. These structures can keep delivering electricity till they contain a negative charge. This means the same channel can be used to send more lightning to the ground. The probability of this cannot be calculated; it can be one day, a year, or a decade before the same place receives another event of lightning. For instance, the Empire State Building in the USA was hit by lightning around fifty times between 2015 and 2020. How to create lightning at home The chemistry behind lightning can be recreated safely at home. All one needs is a balloon. Rub the balloon against your hair. This creates a negative charge in the balloon, like in the clouds. Now rub the balloon against something metal. The spark created is lightning on a really small scale. You can even use sweaters to rub against the balloon. There are many more such ways of creating static electricity, which is the cause of lightning. You or your child can find more such interesting do-at-home experiments on Agastya’s self-learning website MyAgastya.education or our digital learning mobile app, We-Learn. These are Agastya initiatives that inculcate curiosity, creativity and confidence in children through simple explanations and experiments that support their school learning.

Dropping out of school is a widespread occurrence in rural and economically backward areas. And Agastya’s mission is to educate every child in India. So, how do we fill this gap? Through Operation Vasantha. Operation Vasantha (OV) is an afterschool program that works as a night learning centre in villages across the country. It benefits the community and its children. Dropouts and students both are welcome in this initiative. How does this work? At OV centres, children learn, play and experiment. Multiple learning activities are designed with the syllabus from NCERT books. There is a lot of emphasis on learning through play. This is the basis of the Agastya Way of Learning. To aid the process, children are provided with kits and other learning materials free of charge. Activities at OV Centres include singing, theatre, science experiments, art and craft projects, designing and building prototypes, language studies, environment studies, health guidance and more. Children are at the centre of this project. They are encouraged to learn, play, and be the children that they are. Through the program, many school dropouts are also reengaged. They and their families see the benefits of schooling and often reenroll. Even if they are not absorbed back into the system, they learn through other means and gain practical knowledge. The goal is to get all children back in school. This is often not the case in households where children contribute to the running. They work alongside their parents to earn and survive. OV centres run after school to also not interfere with this. Through the process, the volunteers and instructors of the program engage the parents as well. They try to show the long-term benefits of a proper school education. When the children start enjoying the activities, they become curious about schooling, also encouraging their parents to send them back. This is not a hundred per cent successful initiative, but it has helped a majority of school dropouts get back on track. Ultimately, all children that attend become curious, confident and creative. This is the goal of Agastya. OV centres also work in partnership with the communities they operate in, building a space for a more aware and conscious community. During the Covid19 lockdown, they became dispensers of medical aid and spread awareness about the importance of maintaining hygiene habits and social distancing. As of 2022, there are two hundred and fifty-six Operation Vasantha centres that reached more than seven thousand children in the last year alone. Running across the country, they aid in creating a literate public and an educated future.

E-learning has been around for quite some time, even before the pandemic. However, post-pandemic, living in the new normal, educational practitioners are now focused on blended learning. They don’t depend on one set of tools but have come up with approaches incorporating both learning styles to provide a comprehensive, well-rounded education. So, what is blended learning? The technical definitions of the term vary widely, but it is commonly understood as an approach to education that combines online educational materials and opportunities with traditional classroom setups. It can also be called a hybrid learning model, phygital learning, or mixed modes of schooling. But why is blended learning being adopted in schools and institutions? There are multiple reasons, ranging from the philosophical to the practical benefits compared to conventional classrooms and e-learning. The philosophy of blended learning draws roots in the constructivist school. Both put children at the centre of their education and use the teacher as a facilitator and guide rather than a mere instructor. They believe that knowledge is gained through understanding and adding to the social meaning of concepts learnt. From a passive bowl waiting to be filled with knowledge, children create knowledge through hands-on experiences. Where blended learning starts to branch out is the technological input. It adds a whole new dimension to constructivist learning by providing tools from both physical and digital resources. In the initial stages of e-learning, the model of education was heavily praised for increasing access to more children around the world, providing more tools and resources, and providing a more personalised learning environment. However, drawbacks were soon discovered. Socialising is an inherent part of education that e-learning failed to deliver. Moreover, many children worldwide still don’t have access to the internet or the means to use laptops or mobile devices, cutting off a significant population of students from the benefits enjoyed. E-learning, while enabling a student to learn at their own pace, also doesn’t actively encourage physical experiences and experimentation. Thus, a hybrid approach is now being recognised as the way forward. It combines the best of both worlds, so to speak, providing both physical and digital resources to children. A hybrid approach focuses on hands-on learning using digital technologies. The modules provide multiple opportunities for exploration and experimentation, with the aid of teachers, both online and offline. This keeps children engaged with the material and nurtures curiosity, creativity and confidence. This approach thus lends itself to the Agastya way of learning naturally. We are firm believers in constructivist education and have experimented with digital learning in the lockdown. This has provided us with a solid foundation to create multiple blended learning tools that aid education and educators in the remotest corners of India. One such tool is We-Learn, an android application that teachers can use to explain modules in fun, simple ways. It is also loaded with activities children can perform with everyday materials, actively involving them in the learning process. We have also developed several phygital modules across different Agastya outreach activities, maximising access. While digital technologies may still be out of the hands of many Indian children, we have equipped our instructors with tablets to travel and spread these resources. Keeping in mind that India has the largest population of mobile phone users and mobile data, Agastya instructors conducted online lessons (through WhatsApp, Zoom etc.) and created sessions using android-based learning resources. We also developed kits and manuals couriered to children’s homes. The instructors act as online facilitators in these scenarios, guiding children on using these kits to build an understanding of the taught concepts. There are still many unanswered questions about how education should be delivered to keep up with the current world. But blended learning has become a staple guide to the answers.

Agastya International Foundation is a vast space for multiple initiatives that serve one singular purpose: get children interested in learning through hands-on, quality education. We currently have more than 15 programs that aid our mission. So, we thought, why not introduce you to some of them through video! Here are 6 Agastya Programs you can look at through short 2-minute videos. But first, here is a video to understand Agastya and delve deeper into our vision: Here’s another video outlining some of our main programs: 6 Agastya Program Introductions Ramanujan Math Park: Located in Agastya 172-acre campus in Kuppam Andhra Pradesh, the Ramanujan Math Park is an ode to the mathematical genius and a way to pass on his passion for math to younger children. Watch here to get a glimpse: Vision Works: Another component of the Kuppam Campus, Vision Works is the lab where Agastya’s models and tools come alive to provide an experiential, hands-on learning experience. Watch here to know more: MediaArts Program: The MediaArts program at Agastya aims to inculcate observation and creativity in children and enable them to narrate their stories. Here’s a glimpse into the beautiful productions our students have come up with: Operation Vasantha: A community learning centre, Operation Vasantha conducts evening classes for children with no or limited access to the formal education system and who have to work for a living. It aims to get them back into learning. Watch here to know more: i-Mobile: A unique program where the science curriculum is blended with IT (Computer skills), the i-Mobile program is a blended learning initiative that uses both physical and digital tools to provide a rounded education. It also aims to get children acquainted with modern technology like laptops that they may not have access to in their homes and schools. We-Learn: Another initiative that ties technology with hands-on learning, We-Learn is an android based learning app with modules ranging from science and math to general health and education. Look below to know how the app works: . . . We hope this gives you a deeper insight into why we do what we do and what exactly it is that we do. Which other programs of Agastya would you like an introduction to?

It’s World Youth Day on the 12th of August, and we thought you should know some of the most influential youth leaders in STEM for the occasion. The United Nations classifies people between the ages of 15 and 24 as a youth, which is the criteria used for this curation. Gitanjali Rao TIME magazine’s Kid of the Year, 2020, now 17-year-old Gitanjali Rao has multiple accomplishments to her credit. At 10, she developed a device called Tethys that can be used to detect lead content in water to help the Flint, Michigan residents. Recognised as America’s Top Scientist in 7th grade, the teen’s most recent innovation is Kindly, an app that can detect cyberbullying in the early stages. She has also invented a device called Epione that helps calculate prescription opioid addiction using genetic engineering. The youngster has a long way to go and will continue to advance the world of STEM with her work! Olivia Hallisey A winner of the Google Science Fair in 2015 at 17 years and one of Time Magazine’s “Thirty Most Influential Teens of 2015”, Olivia Hallisey developed a low-cost Ebola test that works rapidly. The Ebola Assay Card (EAC) is an easy-to-use visual device that also does not need refrigeration, making it a user-friendly and inexpensive device that can be used worldwide without barriers. She has also developed the Lyme Assay Card (LAC), an early detection device for Lyme disease based on saliva. Her research continues to progress and is helping develop low-cost innovative solutions to identify medical problems. Anjali Sharma Indian-Australian climate activist Anjali Sharma wrote history with seven fellow 17-year-olds in 2021 when she took the then Minister for the Environment, Sussan Ley, for failing to consider the impacts of climate change and won! The class action by the group asked for disapproving expansion to the coalmine Vickery, near Gunnedah, in NSW, on the grounds that it was harmful to the youth and future generations. The Federal Court ruled, in a world first, that the Minister for the Environment was required to have a duty of care towards teenagers and children concerning climate change impacts, particularly bushfire and heatwave impacts. This set a precedent for following court cases. A finalist for the 2021 Climate Action Prize, Anjali’s work may not be directly related to STEM but is a shining example of advocating for environmental rights, one of the most essential STEM fields. Joaquin Cortacans The first Uruguayan to attend space camp at 15, the now 20-year-old Joaquin has dedicated his time to spreading the love of space to Uruguayan youth. His nonprofit, Jóvenes Bajo la Lupa, is spreading awareness about the importance of science education and is a space for students to explore STEM-related fields. In 2018, Joaquin was named one of The Mars Generation’s 24 Under 24 Leaders and Innovators in STEAM and Space Award recipients! His work goes to show how little resources and inclination developing countries have for pursuing advanced sciences when they are the ones that can bring the most innovation to the field and benefit from it. Xóchitl Guadalupe Cruz López We know we said we’re following the ages of 15–24, but this 12-year-old’s project is definitely worth a mention on the list of young STEM leaders on the path to changing the world! Xóchitl grew up in a low-income area of Mexico where residents did not have access to hot water and, as a result, often fell ill with respiratory diseases and were forced to cut down trees for firewood. Thus at the tender age of 8, she developed the project Hot Water, a solar-powered water heater made from basic, recycled objects that costs only about $30 to assemble. Her innovation is revolutionary for countries that struggle with deforestation and provides a sustainable, low-cost alternative for people who can not afford hot water. These are just a few of the many youths changing the world for the better day by day with their innovations and advocacy. We hope to inspire and enable many more such children at Agastya by spreading curiosity, creativity and confidence in Indian school children and encouraging their love for STEM. Let’s invest in our youth this World Youth Day and invest in a sound future for generations to come.