About Us
Hands-On STEM is a student-led 501(c)3 that strives to close the opportunity gap in the Bay Area. We organize STEM workshops for students in marginalized communities while raising awareness about educational inequities.
​
Hands-On STEM was founded originally by Trisha Sengupta in 2019, a junior in high school at the time. She was inspired to act after seeing the inequities of educational opportunities among Bay Area's school districts as that lay foundation for future career choices. Since then, Hand-On STEM grew by leaps and bounds and expanded to many members and programs. Today we are 10 team members strong, with 15 mentors and 100 mentees.
Meet The Team
Trisha Sengupta
Founder
Trisha Sengupta is a freshman at Emory University, double majoring in Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology and Human Health on the pre-med track. She founded Hands-On STEM in 2019 and is passionate about solving the problems in our education system. Her favorite part about Hands-On STEM is going to workshops and getting to meet different kids and mentors. In her free time, she enjoys long walks on the beach.
Valerie Eng
Co-President
Valerie is a senior at Lynbrook HIgh School. She joined HOS in 2021 and aspires to even out the STEM education gap amongst disadvantaged students and women in the STEM field. She is interested in studying the intersection of neuroscience and engineering. In her spare time, Valerie loves volleyball and crocheting.
Rutvi Pota
Co-President
Rutvi is a senior at Lynbrook HIgh School. She has been HOS president since 2022. She is interested in studying engineering.
Yash Rajana
Senior Advisor
Yash Rajana is a current junior at Lynbrook High School. He is passionate about making change in the healthcare and education systems. He enjoys interacting with the students in the program and leading his team to address a problem in his local community. In his spare time, Yash loves to dance, listen to music, play violin, and walks with his dog.
Annika Dhebar
Education Branch Lead
Saarang Mallipedi
Education Branch Lead
Aayush Talluri
Outreach Branch Lead
Ragni Pota
Outreach Branch Lead
Aaron Shi
Senior Advisor
Aaron is from the Lynbrook Class of 2021 is passionate about directed change and innovation. He aspires to make change locally in his communities. His areas of interest are mental health, education, and environmental activism. In his spare time, he enjoys swimming and surfing.
Lauraine Kong
Vice President
Lauraine Kong is a junior from Lynbrook High School. She is passionate about service and is grateful for the opportunity to work with her team members to give back to the community. In her free time, she loves listening to music, spending time with friends and family, and watching anime!
Muyi Lin
Treasurer
Muyi is a Junior at Lynbrook who loves working with others and helping those in need. He hopes to make a large impact on other communities as well as his own. In his spare time, he enjoys playing basketball and spending time with his friends and family.
.jpg)
Helina Li
Website Manager
Helina is a high school student from Lynbrook High School who has been working with kids through various tutoring programs. She is glad for this opportunity to give back to her community, and is excited to put her website design experience to good use. When she is not working, she can be found writing or playing badminton somewhere.
Oviya Seeniraj
Co-head of Graphic Design
Oviya Seeniraj is a junior at Lynbrook High School. she extremely passionate about social justice, science, and programming, so making education equally accessible to everyone is incredibly important to her. I manage Hands On STEM's online presence!
Priyanka Supraja
Balaji
Research Branch Lead
Alaap Rag
Alaap Rag is a current junior at Lynbrook High School. Through Hands-On-Stem, Alaap works to increase the impact on our community. In addition to Hands-On-Stem, Alaap has his own organization, Musical Mindz, where students of all abilities are offered a platform to learn and perform South Indian Classical Vocal Music and Dance. In his spare time, Alaap loves to sing and learn new languages.