About
After noticing that the Bay Area was essentially a confined niche of STEM engagement and high-intensity athletics, the YSA team was awestruck after finding this trend detracting in other regions of the US and in other third-world countries. Hence, the overarching problem was identified by the YSA members, but addressing these concerns were of utmost importance. How do we teach during the COVID-19 pandemic? How do we deliver athletic equipment to foreign nations? How do we overcome the language barrier when dealing with an international audience? What do we do? All these questions formulated the driving mission goal for YSA as we spearheaded to find solutions. These fundamental roots encouraged the Youth STEM Academy to teach in multiple languages while specialized executive members taught specifically tailored sports to students.
"Play to your strengths. They're your greatest asset."
Each member of the YSA team is specialized in distinct aspects, so we pooled our strengths to establish a unified program that brings the most impact.
Meet Our Team
Siddartha Javvaji— Chief Executive Officer
Siddhartha Javvaji is a Senior at Irvington High School, and he founded the Youth STEM Academy with a goal of empowering younger generations with the fundamentals of a STEM education along with the foundation of a physical education. He envisions YSA to be a leading non-profit organization that brings together students from various backgrounds from various countries and from various languages. Siddhartha is also the head of the biochemistry department of YSA. He also plays badminton competitively on a national and international level. Siddhartha is the head of the badminton sports department of YSA. In his free time, he loves to research about new STEM related discoveries.
Sanidhya Singh—Director of Programs
Sanidhya Singh is a Senior who is currently attending Irvington High School. He is part of the math club, science bowl, and is an officer of the Physics club at his school. He is passionate in all fields of STEM, especially pure mathematics and the life sciences. Through YSA, he wishes to spread his love of biology to others who share his passion. He aims to give back to the community and teach his favorite subject while doing it. He also enjoys running and martial arts in his free time.
Bhavesh Kumar—Head of Technology & Outreach
Bhavesh Kumar is a Seniorin Irvington High school. He is heavily involved in the computer science field as he is fluent in many programming languages such as python, java, and c. He is also involved in competitive programming, has won several hackathons, and enjoys developing machine learning models. Bhavesh also has experience teaching computer science and wishes to create the best learning environment for beginner programers. Bhavesh is the head for the table tennis department for YSA.
Nakul Balaji—Head of Finances
Nakul Balaji is a Seniorat Irvington High School. He is heavily involved in the computer science field, as he is fluent in several languages (Python, Java, Swift, etc), has attended multiple hackathons, has worked with machine learning to develop AI models and app development. He is also on the Irvington Robotics team and has worked with Arduino and Raspberry Pi to develop personal robotics projects. Nakul wishes to use his knowledge, his experience with teaching, and YSA as an opportunity to guide others toward a successful career in computer science.
Reeshad Mohammed—Director of Operations
Reeshad is a senior at Irvington High School. He enjoys mathematics and has successfully participated in many math and science competitions. He is active in the STEM community as part of Irvington’s Math club and Science Bowl, which he is an officer of. He has two years of teaching experience in Weibel Elementary’s Math Club. Through Youth Stem Academy he hopes to continue to teach, share his knowledge, and help others enjoy learning. In his free time he enjoys playing the guitar and recording the songs he plays.
