By Nina Huang
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
From playing games at coding camp to building a website to provide access to student volunteering opportunities, Redmond High School students Saharsh Buddhe and Yunwei Li are using technology for the greater good.
Paying it forward through volunteering
Friends since the seventh grade, Buddhe and Li created the website, houseoftutors.org, earlier this summer to help fellow students in Washington state find volunteering opportunities to fulfill their community service hours.
Growing up, both Buddhe and Li experienced being supported by older individuals, whether it was through tutoring or attending summer camps.
“I attended this summer camp held by high schoolers and it helped me a lot academically with math and coding which are two things that I enjoy. Without that experience, I probably would’ve never gone into those subjects and I just want to pay it back by using whatever I can to serve the community,” Li said.
Having experienced tutoring from different associations, he also wanted to give back in a similar way.
Buddhe shared that they noticed students struggling to find volunteering opportunities through nonprofits.
“I really want to be in that position to impact others. I didn’t want boundaries for education and tutoring was the best way to make that happen,” Buddhe said.
House of Tutors is a database for students to access a list of volunteer opportunities organized by topics they’re interested in.
Their mission is dedicated to providing teenagers in Washington state with assistance in finding local volunteer opportunities in their area, ensuring they are able to make their desired impact.
Buddhe and Li work to ensure that they’re constantly scouring the internet to present new opportunities from a variety of fields and backgrounds in an organized spreadsheet.
Li said that they spend about 10 hours a week working on the website. It’s a free service because they feel strongly that volunteering is a very important experience for the community to get involved in.
“The point of the service is to provide them with opportunities. The more we can help them, the better,” he added.
In the future, the website might expand to include virtual volunteering opportunities and help to connect students with others in a virtual setting. In addition, they hope to add a bigger variety of volunteer opportunities to each category and find other ways to promote this so more students can find opportunities and increase engagement in different areas.
“We do the hard work to make it easy for volunteers to find projects,” Li said.
After school starts, they plan to meet with the school district to discuss their potential expansion plans.
Personal devotion to volunteering and hard work
On a personal level, both teens have always been involved in their communities.
Li has always been devoted to Redmond and community events—having volunteered with Derby Days, for example.
“It’s our city and we have to take care of it,” he said.
Buddhe has also been involved with several nonprofits including Nirvana Tutoring, as well as local Indian temples where he’s helped with setting up cultural events.
Both attribute their passion and dedication to hard work and their cultural backgrounds.
“The elements of education and hard work are important within Chinese culture and it’s important to put our best foot forward and make an effort. That’s something I’ve been doing throughout my life, whether it’s House of Tutors or at school. The biggest thing is that I’m able to put in maximum effort to get the best results, and even if I’m not receiving the benefits, I’ll always give my best and make sure I’m trying my hardest and being diligent in what I do to ensure I’m able to get the maximum success out of anything,” Li said.
Coming from an Indian background, Buddhe shared that it’s taught him that hard work can lead to success, which is why he tutors students and expands his knowledge with multiple nonprofits to better understand the different possibilities he can have.
Building for the future
Both students have a strong passion for technology and computer science.
“I’ve been around technology and seen the different possibilities, and I’m even more excited to pursue it. Part of my life’s mission is impact—I want to develop projects or apps to help solve societal issues. I want to give back to the community that way, I genuinely care and have passion for these things. Money is not the focus,” Li shared.
While Buddhe is also interested in computer science, he has a side interest in business and entrepreneurship as well.
“I want to implement both of those in the future. I don’t see myself coding, but something in the front end of technology,” he added.
As for life after high school, Buddhe aspires to attend University of Texas at Austin to immerse himself in the tech startup scene there and to be close to family. And Li hopes to study computer science close to home at the University of Washington in Seattle.
For more information, visit houseoftutors.org.
Nina can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.