Over summer break senior Siddharth Woddi spent his time in Jaipur, India where he kept himself busy and open to new learning experiences by sharing his passion for robotics in a summer camp for children who were victims of human trafficking.
The organization that he worked with is called the Satyarthi Movement for Global Compassion.
“The person that founded it is named Dr. Carlos Satyarthi. He won the Nobel Peace Prize because around the world in India, Pakistan, and South Asia, he has created big orphanages called ashrams that save kids from human trafficking,” Woddi said.
Robotics has been a long term hobby of his. Woddi started robotics in fifth grade with friends in a program called FIRST and competed all throughout middle school. He was also on the Liberty robotics team from his freshman to junior year.
FIRST or For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology is a nonprofit organization that runs robotics and stem programs for kinder to highschoolers. Through these programs Woddi was able to gain important science, engineering, and problem solving skills.
“I chose robotics because it was something I’m personally good at. I wanted to provide them with something that could open another path in their future,” Woddi said.
For this summer camp he made sure he was well prepared to teach these children who most had no prior knowledge of what robotics entails.
“I designed a custom curriculum and then went and taught 25 students in a span of a week,” Woddi said.
“I taught them the basics of robotics and engineering. I had robots for them to build and with those they got to compete with each other in a tournament,” Woddi said.
“The curriculum was an overview of what and why engineering is useful. It also made us use skills like cad and the engineering process,” Woddi said.
CAD stands for computer-aid design and it is a computer software that creates and modifies 2D and 3D models of structures. There are many ways to convey the engineering process but one way is to first define the problem, research, identify possible solutions, choose the best solution, make a prototype and design, and test and refine.
This summer camp gave way for a great opportunity for learning and not just for the children. One obstacle that Woddi had to overcome is their language gap.
“I only speak English and most of the children spoke Hindi,” Woddi said. “I can understand some Hindi but we were able to have an interpreter so it helped with communication.”
Through this experience he was able to grow closer to the kids.
“I liked getting to interact with the kids and meeting new people in different environments,” Woddi said.
“The youngest were 11 and the oldest were my age. Outside of class we became friends; they taught me how to play cricket,” Woddi said.
“I wanted to bring something of value to them,” Woddi said. “Some of these kids had only seen a computer a handful of times in their life, so it was a field that they hadn’t been exposed to yet.”
When interviewed he happily expressed his reasons for why he decided to run the camp.
“I wanted to give the kids a good experience, a little more hope for the future, and I thought it would be a good thing to do,” Woddi said.
He also took away many lessons from hosting this summer camp.
“It’s pretty cliche, but it’s to be grateful for what you have around you,” Woddi said. “Teaching them to code and build basic robots wasn’t just about technology; it was about fostering critical thinking and problem-solving.”
He has decided to continue his work in running his camp.
“Every month or so I make new course work and send it to them; I also try to have a zoom meeting where they can ask me questions but its hard with the 13 hour time difference,” Woddi said.
“I really want to keep up this curriculum for as long as I can,” Woddi said.
From this camp Woddi has grown a loy and has had many new revelations and perspectives on topics that he was never exposed to before.
“The smiles on their faces as their creations came to life were much more gratifying than I imagined,” Woddi said.