Students reach out to help others with technology

July 28, 2009

By Lauren McLaughlin

A group of Sammamish teens has started a nonprofit organization to benefit children learning and getting hands on experience in science and technology, StudentRND.

“Technology is the future,” said Denis Chang, 18. “It’d be cool if kids were familiar with it.”

The goals of StudentRND are to educate students about science and technology by providing hands-on learning opportunities, and show the applications of science and technology

“We wanted to have a place where we can work on projects,” said Edward Jiang, 18. “It’s completely student run,” he said. “We’re not affiliated with any school.”

Chang is not only focused on getting children involved in StudentRND, he also wants adults to be familiar with the organization’s work.

“I’d like it to get to a point where adults would learn about it and they’d want their kids to learn more, to have the hands-on opportunity,” Chang said.

Another goal of the organization is to develop student leadership through running a nonprofit organization.

Everyone helps in running the group, planning and implementing the projects.

All members not only work on projects but also help organize community outreach events, tours of science and technology companies such as Microsoft and Space Labs, and fill out the necessary paperwork.

“In the past we’ve visited Microsoft and Space Labs and gone on tours. In the future we’d like to organize tours for kids in the area,” Jiang said. “It would expose kids to what types of careers there are in science and technology.”

David Chen, 16, has been a member of StudentRND since the end of June and is already involved in running it.

“I do grants, fill out the nonprofit paperwork, but everything is interrelated,” Chen said.

Chen is not the only one. Vu Tran, a 17-year-old from Interlake High School, joined a week ago and is helping with programs.

“Right now my job is mostly community outreach,” Tran said. Tran, like all the other members, is working on the business side of the organization while still working on the technology projects.

StudentRND is in the beginning stages of building a Plasma speaker and creating new iPhone applications.

They also have plans for the future of the organization; David Wu, 16, would like to see a separate workspace.

“If we get more people we’d need more space,” Wu said.

“Next year we’d like to get office space to actually allow people to drop in whenever. Right now we’re just working in my basement,” Jiang said.

More workspace is not the only plan Jiang has.

“We’d like to partner with businesses in the area. They don’t have to be science or tech companies,” Jiang said.

Jiang said with partners they would be able to do more in the community and that would help them achieve their goals of getting more students involved in their programs and events.

Right now the group is relying on word of mouth and Facebook to pass the message along.

“Once school starts up again we’re going to assign people to talk at their schools about it,” Jiang said.

Over the summer they haven’t stopped recruiting. They will be at the Sammamish Farmers Market September 23 and the Issaquah farmers market August 29. They will also be giving demonstrations and talking to people about the organization. To get involved with StudentRND visit their Web site at studentrnd.org.

Intern Lauren McLaughlin can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 244 or samrev@isspress.com. To comment on this story visit www.sammamishreview.com.