Aadrika Bhakt uses STEAM and her ShadAnywhere experience to drive innovation with an impact
As a physics-loving flutist, Aadrika Bhakt has always looked for ways to embrace her authentic complexity and meet others whose interests are as broad as her own. She often found those opportunities in extracurricular programs, so when she came across ShadAnywhere, a program that allowed her to dive deep into STEAM on a digital campus while maintaining her other commitments, she thought she’d hit the summer program jackpot.
“Shad really focused on building character and skills, and I really enjoy these kinds of things. I enjoy things involving science, engineering, STEM, and I loved the opportunity to try a program that brought out my entrepreneurial side. Shad just combined so many exciting activities that spoke to me, it just seemed like an awesome opportunity.”
Because Aadrika has a full schedule of activities at home in Waterloo, Ontario, Shad’s digital campus afforded her the opportunity to gain the Shad experience from the comfort of her bedroom workstation.
“I had multiple other things going on in my life that I wanted to keep up, like instrument lessons and a flute exam in August. I also had figure skating lessons that I wanted to continue because I wanted to stay consistent, so I was really happy for the ShadAnywhere option.”
Like Shad, Aadrika believes in the power of STEAM to improve the lives of others, particularly those in vulnerable communities. She channeled this belief into her science fair project this year, which focused on trying to solve one of the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through the creation on an app that helps women in developing countries procure hygiene products. Women can download the app to their phone and submit requests for the hygiene products they need free of charge.
“This year, I created the foundational piece of an app that I called Hygiene Near You (HNU). Fully built, it can provide hygiene services and products to those in need. I’m actually still working on it; I genuinely do want to get it launched because it could really help people.”
Aadrika won gold at her science fair and has continued to build the app since. She envisions partnering with NGOs who have an established footprint in the areas she hopes to help who can connect with women and distribute the products women have ordered on the app.
“I’ve identified a number of different organizations that would be able to provide products to women. So those who are in need can access the app completely for free, and they can submit a request for available products and then they can either pick up the products at a distribution location or have the products delivered to them, depending on the situation.”
Along with helping to connect women with the products they need, Aadrika plans to build the app to use AI tools to educate and assist women with understanding the products and the health concerns they’re meant to address.
“Many women know they need a product, but they may not know how to use it or understand the health concern it’s addressing. So, the app will also provide assistance, like AI models or experts that they can talk to, as well as descriptions and pictures of what the products are and their purpose.”
One of Aadrika’s favourite activities during her time at ShadAnywhere was a coding activity done using a Texas Instruments hub where the Shads wrote code that made it sing and light up. The experience provided her with an exciting way to grow her coding skills, which she now uses to continue to build the HNU app.
“It came intuitively to me, the programming, and it felt good to realize I can do it. I got that spark and something kind of clicked when I was doing it, which will really help as I continue to build HNU. It’s exciting to know I have this skill I can use for other projects.”
Shad’s Design (DE) Project also helped Aadrika to think about the business side of developing a product or starting an organization. She learned that even an organization that plans to operate philanthropically needs to consider the financial side of entrepreneurship and what it takes to influence others to support the endeavour.
“During the DE project pitches, the experts on the panel gave some really good ideas about how to make sure you narrow down your demographic, how to give people the incentive to download an app. They also gave some ideas about marketing and what people might look for, which was really helpful.”
Though inspired by the coding activity, Aadrika’s passion still lies in the field of physics, which made meeting Dr. Shawna Pandya, a Physician and Scientist-Astronaut with the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences, one of the highlights of her Shad experience.
“She was so incredibly interesting. I really liked the way she spoke about her experiences and the reality of her job. She was so open and shared a lot of insights about her journey in academia and working in the sciences and space, it was really inspiring.”
Aadrika had been considering pursuing astrophysics at university and hearing from Dr. Pandya helped to motivate her to follow that path.
“I love any kind of science, whether it’s biology, chemistry, all the different branches of each of these sciences. I just find it so fascinating. But astrophysics is my one true love and hearing Dr. Pandya’s experiences really solidified that for me, I see myself in a role like hers.”
Though she’s not sure where she wants to study, ShadAnywhere showed Aadrika that the opportunities are endless. She’s considering both local and international programs and can’t wait to see where her path leads.
“Shad was just a great experience, I loved the people I met and the activities we did, it just exceeded all my expectations. The program leaders really encouraged us to believe that we can do things, that we can have an impact, and that’s something that will stay with me.”
