ME undergraduate student Ankita Joshi has been awarded the 2017 KIDS FIRST: David L. Kirp Prize by the Institute for the Study of Societal Issues at the University of California, Berkeley. The KIDS FIRST prize “rewards students engaged in new or ongoing work that demonstrates a commitment, whether in education or other domains, to creating a better future for children and youth. The award of $2,500 is given to one or more UC Berkeley undergraduates each year.” Joshi will be honored, along with her fellow awardees, at the 2017 Award Ceremony on Tuesday, May 9th. For more information, and to register for the ceremony, please click here.
In addition to being an ME undergrad, Joshi is also Co-Founder and CEO of Māk, a social venture whose mission is to empower urban youth to become designers and innovators. Māk’s goal is to provide youth with STEAM Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math and 3D design skills by connecting them to college students through a training program followed by internships. Māk began as a pilot program for 10 students at Oakland Technical High School in the fall of 2016 and carried out a successful crowd-funding campaign to offer the training to more students next year as an afterschool program. After graduating in May, Joshi and her team of fellow Cal students have plans to expand to other schools and makerspaces in the coming year, and to build connections to offer more internships to youth who complete the training.
Congratulations, Ankita!