Page 40 - February EW 2024 PDF

Young Achievers

“Our vice principal The elder of two children of
Monica Nanda has been Sarfaraz Kaizi, a Dubai-based IT
especially supportive of my professional and Nilofer, a home-
initiative, brainstormed maker, Haazik began his oceans
ideas at different project cleansing crusade when he was just
stages, and is a constant nine, and a student of the top-ranked
source of inspiration. And Indus International School, Pune.
since the school curriculum “In 2013, I was deeply moved by a
doesn’t cover AI or drone photograph of a dead whale washed
technology, I learnt through ashore which had died of intestinal
Coursera and in collabora- blockage because of plastic waste.
tion with the California- Subsequent research indicated that
based InSpirit AI,” says there are 5 trillion pieces of plastic in
Aryan, who also ran a the world’s oceans. The idea for Proj-
fund-raising campaign for ect Ervis struck me while washing
the enterprise. my hands at a sink. The prospect of
After completing his A building similar ‘sinks’ in the ocean
ARYAN RAJVANSHI levels, Aryan intends to enroll in an inspired me to start this initiative,”
engineering degree programme in
he says.
the US with Artificial Intelligence At age ten, Haazik used simple
hmedabad-based Aryan and Machine Learning as his majors. cardboard, a pot lid and an inflatable
Rajvanshi (16) is a teenage “In the long term, I want to spend swimming tube to build the proto-
Aprodigy representing the my life in India fulfilling my commit- type of Ervis. “My parents have been
growing tribe of social innova- ment towards the nation’s farm- pillars of support. I am equally grate-
tors countrywide. Last November, ers with fully developed models of ful to my mentor, Dr. Ash Pachauri
a six-minute documentary video MechaCrop,” says this youngster and of the Protect Our Planet movement,
featuring his breakthrough innova- live advertisement of the power of with whom I had a chance encounter
tion MechaCrop was showcased at self-learning. at a TedEx talk, for supporting my
the United Nations’ Global Impact Wind beneath your wings! foundation,” says the teen whiz, who
Summit — a global initiative to Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) moved to the US in 2021.
support young innovators — in New Committed to saving the world’s
York (USA). MechaCrop integrates endangered oceans from plastic
AI and drone technology to identify wastes pollution, Haazik’s next proj-
and detect crop diseases, monitor HAAZIK KAIZI ect is an underwater drone to mea-
crop growth, yield, and quality. sure the quality of marine ecosys-
A class XI student of the Cam- tems. “I want to study environmental
bridge International-affiliated class XII student of the wholly sciences after school. We need to
Anand Niketan International residential Hotchkiss School enter an era of positive co-existence
School, Ahmedabad, Aryan was A in Connecticut (USA), Haazik with the environment and utilise the
inspired to build MechaCrop during Kaizi (17) is a young environment gift of our natural resources to build
a 2020 family trip to Udaipur. “We activist battling oceanic plastic pollu- a globally sustainable ecosystem,”
saw the bodies of two farmers from tion. His smart ship christened Ervis says this dedicated marine ecologist.
a nearby village lying on the road in uses centripetal force, a multistage Fair winds!
a pool of blood. Unable to pay back cleaner and compactor to sustain-
their farm loans, they had taken the ably and responsibly cleanse the seas Nasrin Modak Siddiqi (Mumbai)
extreme step of ending their lives by of plastic waste. Last September,
suicide. That visual hit me hard, and Haazik was awarded the Times of
made me determined to help our India ‘Unstoppable Indian’ award.
neglected farmers. I put my passion This articulate teen has ad-
for computer programming to use dressed several international
and MechaCrop was born,” recalls forums including TEDxGate-
Aryan, the elder of two children way Mumbai in 2018, the Seed
of Ashish Rajvanshi, a corporate and Chips Summit (2019), The
professional, and Ritu, a primary Economic Times Global Business
school teacher. Summit (2019), and the United
The project was selected to be Nations High-Level Political Fo-
presented at the Sutardja Centre for rum 2020. Fully supported by his
Entrepreneurship and Technology parents, in 2019 Haazik registered
at UC Berkeley last April (2023), the Ervis Foundation “to create
and was shortlisted as the best AI a generational change in the way
initiative by the jury which invited students associate with marine
Aryan to showcase it at the United ecosystems and how they can help
Nations Global Impact Summit. preserve them.”

40 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2024