Parth Haria is helping empower young students in the area, spreading STEM education through creative methods with hopes of planting passion and curiosity in the next generation of learners. Haria and his nonprofit team — run entirely by high schoolers — are holding free camps for underprivileged families.
Haria — about to start his sophomore year at Daviess County High School — is part of the nonprofit MC3D, which was originally only based in Massachusetts. Last year, Haria decided to found the Midwest chapter in Owensboro; a chapter was also founded in California around the same time.
Haria’s goal was simple. He wanted to pass on his love for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) to other local students. With help from fellow sophomore Logan Abel, the two have developed camps for children ranging from elementary to middle school.
“The kids who go through our camps, we hope that they get really interested in STEM and hopefully they develop an interest that they want to pursue a career or have some kind of future in the field of STEM, whether it be robotics, or science or anything,” Haria said. “That’s really the main reason why we try to hold these camps for the kids.”
Last week, they held a three-day robotics and 3D printing camp in partnership with MentorKids Kentucky.
MentorKids exists to impact kids ages 6-14 from single-parent and non-traditional households in Daviess County by providing adult Christian mentors.
“We really, really wanted to hold a free camp for underprivileged kids and families,” said Haria, who has volunteered with MentorKids. “So an idea came in mind that MentorKids would be a really great option, so I reached out to (Executive Director Berly Tillman Sullivan) and we got this whole thing started.”
Sullivan was overjoyed with how well the camp went and how engaged the children were.
“Something that I have seen firsthand this week are kids that have been presented with this huge opportunity from peers that they are eager to learn from,” she said. “What I have seen this week is kids being empowered by kids, which is amazing. … They actually want to be here working and learning instead of sitting in front of their video games.”
Haria said it is a blessing to be able to impact the students.
“It’s really awesome to work with kids,” he said. “Every time we do challenges and they complete them, you can see their joy when everything works out. It’s really awesome to just be there and get that experience. Growing up around STEM, I really wanted to pass down the knowledge that I got from the community that raised me.”
MC3D is entirely run by high school students. They host camps to get children involved, and as those participants gain experience they can learn how to in turn teach the next group of students — creating a cycle of youth empowering youth.
“We feel like being students ourselves, we are able to develop a better connection with the students, we are able to mentor and teach them better, and just overall engage them more than if it was more of an adult situation,” Haria said.
MC3D offers robotics, programming, and 3D printing camps. They provide all the equipment needed with help from sponsors and donors.
“I would encourage other nonprofits that serve youth to reach out to MC3D just for the simple fact that their kids will be transformed during the camp,” Sullivan said.
Any organization interested in hosting a camp can contact Haria via email at [email protected].
