An opportunity to design the future of sustainability through youth activism.
Apply Here
The Puranik Foundation is sponsoring the next generation of global innovators with the inauguration of a 2022 Global Service Leadership Internship for students at the celebrated Energy Institute High School (EIHS) in Houston’s third ward. These high performing students, many from Houston’s economically disadvantaged communities, will be offered an exciting challenge to co-create sustainable innovations to benefit the City of Houston. Students will form teams to learn design thinking methodology and work together to design innovative alternative energy approaches to sustaining areas in solar, wind, agriculture, building materials, water purification and biofuel. One innovation will be awarded a $15k grant for implementation of a prototype to demonstrate at a location in Houston, Texas.
Hosted in collaboration with the Energy Institute High School, a faculty member of the d.school at Stanford University, Junior Achievement, the Puranik Foundation and executive students at Rice University have the opportunity to serve as mentors of high school students who are designing the future of sustainability in Houston TX.
Puranik Foundation brings a integrated approach for the next generation to lead the future they want to create by impacting the self, community, and environment
Energy Institute High School will introduce alternative energy to students giving them a baseline understanding of energy consumption, limitations, and technological advancements.
Ariel Raz, a lecturer at the Stanford d.school, leads the design thinking curriculum to introduce students to out-of-thebox thinking and methodologies.
TXRX Labs will assist students to prototype, build and execute ideas and bring them to life, creating functional models of student projects.
Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business MBA students will mentor groups and guide students, helping them understand and excel in communication, collaboration, leadership, and project management.
Junior Achievement helps students transform their ideas and prototypes into business plans by introducing students to entrepreneurship 101 and leadership skills.
For questions please call +1 832 806 1317 or email [email protected]
DonateClick on a student's profile to learn more about them and make a donation.
Or click the 'Make a General Donation' button at the bottom to donate to the cause as a whole.
Elijah Gonzales, Victoria Long, Julian Hobday Urban Wind Farms is making vertical axis wind turbines with solar panels attached to harness both wind and solar energy. It uses both solar and wind power as ways to draw power, it is urban-friendly, and it can help support low-income families.
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Alyssa Landry, Kajal Zachariah, Nils Triplett WaterWorks is a customizable water recapture system that is designed to work with all plants to help consumers minimize water consumption.
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Sruthi Zachariah, Anthony Walker, Noah Baker Our company, GHOST (Gondolas of Houston’s Sustainable Transportation), is developing a better means of transportation to help Houstonians maintain mobility in highly congested areas by providing an enjoyable, dynamic, and dependable travel experience.
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Alexander Hernandez, Otto Mallinson, Brendan Kaiser Karot uses your fish-best friends to help grow produce and decorative flora using an affordable, water- sustainable, and beautiful home aquaponics system. Our product is a PVC-based aquaponics system that attaches to your home aquarium, recycling the waste from your fish to fertilize the plants, letting both your fish and plants grow healthier, faster, and tastier.
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Keira Boone, Alex Rashidian Our company, Prototype Greens, is developing an algae- based air scrubber and biodiesel system to help small to large companies and real estate developers produce less CO2 emissions and claim tax credits with a simple, customizable algae-based system.
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Support all of our students by making a general donation
Student Parent Orientation is on December 2nd, 2021.
25 (groups of 5).
Online through the Puranik Foundation Website.
You can apply here
$5,000. However, there will be full scholarships and partial scholarships up to $2,000, as well as provided collective fundraising support to help reach your personal goal.
Tuition covers the cost of the program, materials, curriculum, field trips, maker space lab, housing accommodations, and 3 meals a day during the 10 days of spring break, 2022.
Tuition is $5,000.
PF can guarantee to subsidize $2k as long as students participate in our outreach opportunities that will help raise funds for all students. If we do not make enough from external donors, PF will subsidize this cost. So, the true cost of the program is $3k. We just want to see student involvement. The payment deadline is February 15th, 2022, and can be extended to the end of February if needed. Our operations manager is currently working on payment plan options so all of it does not have to be paid at the same time and can be staggered over 3/4 months.
The winning team will be awarded mini-grants during the final showcase to support the implementation of a prototype to demonstrate at a location in Houston, Texas.
Yes, we believe in-person instruction would be most beneficial. We follow all the same COVID policies as EIHS and students will have a virtual link available in case they are unwell to attend in person.
The afterschool sessions will be held at the EIHS campus from 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm. The field trip locations will vary on alternate Saturdays.
No materials are required by the student other than to be present with an open mind.
Students will get to apply this internship to their resume, develop their knowledge on energy, problem-solving methodologies, prototyping, and present a working model during the final showcase.
We believe an immersive 10-day experience will allow students to focus on their projects and build relationships with peers. During the 10 days, the Puranik Foundation will guide students through daily life coaching sessions as part of their leadership development. We have 2 excursions. One of these is a hike and the other is a cultural immersive experience along with other team building activities. It’ll be fun!
Students will be assigned rooms to share (2 per room) to minimize contact tracing. If a student were to get COVID during the 10-day stay, they would be sent home to quarantine with their family.
If the program gets canceled due to a nationwide shutdown you will get a full refund and the dates will be postponed to another time.
Students are encouraged to carpool and parents can establish a system with other participants. Bus transportation will NOT be available during the after-school sessions, but we will include transportations during the 10-day residential segment.
Because this is the pilot program, we are doing it primarily for local Houston impact. With COVID travel restrictions we are not traveling to India this year, but the students that participate in the program this year will be able to travel as student leaders in next year's cohort and help build and execute prototypes on campus in India. The students will have to pay for their flight cost with approximates to $2k to travel next year, but the students that win the competition this year will get a pro bono trip to India with next year's cohort.
If families wish to travel during spring that's fine. We will have waivers for them to sign and they will have to give us another point of contact in case of an emergency that is in town. Parents are not required to pick/drop their child if they have consented to carpool. We will have a shuttle service/transportation option during the 10-day prototyping workshop.
For any additional questions, please contact [email protected]
