Fun Field Trip for Refugee and Immigrant Children at Shaw STEAM Center

By Anuja Deshpande

HOUSTON: Sewa International and Cryptonite, together organized a fun filled trip to the Robert R. Shaw center for STEAM on October 9, for kids from underserved communities. Sewa Houston conducts after school programs (ASPIRE) for refugee and immigrant families, and more than 70 kids are enrolled in these programs. Also, Sewa team celebrates Sewa day annually to promote volunteerism in every section of the society. This year, the Cryptonite group volunteered to teach ASPIRE kids about science as part of Sewa day celebration. Cryptonite is a group of high school students from Katy ISD, who study robotics and have won many competitions in designing and building robots.

At the Robert R. Shaw center, Cryptonite students designed three types of fun filled experiments for kids to learn from. These experiments were based on principles such as air pressure, dynamic design, force and elasticity. The field trip also included presentation on robot designing and testing, lab tour and live demonstration. More than 30 kids attended the field trip and had great learning experience. Many of them would love to come back and know more about robotics.

More than 20 volunteers worked well together to make this event a success. President of Cryptonite, Chetana Samal and Project Coordinator of Sewa, Kavita Tewary were instrumental in arranging the trip. ASPIRE education coordinators (Camilla Escobar, Amit Pandya, Anuja Deshpande), and volunteers (Andres Erazo, AmeriCorps Vista Hasita Karthick) supported the event. It concluded on a high note with delicious food and goodies for kids arranged by Cryptonite group.

The field trip in form of Sewa day celebration was extremely successful and kids as well as volunteers are looking forward to go back to the Rober R. Shaw Center again. More such learning activities will be arranged for ASPIRE children in near future by Sewa team.

For those who want to volunteer at the center or for an event, please feel free to email us at Houston@sewausa.org  or contact (713) 303 4253.

Sewa USA is 501 (c) (3) a Hindu faith-based non-profit, charitable organization. All donations (cash, cars, clothes, securities, etc.) are tax-deductible. (Tax Id# 20-0638718)

Sewa serves humanity regardless of race, religion, color, gender or nationality