From Delhi Public school, India, to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, the journey of Chandani Doshi has been an admirable balance of academic excellence and social conscience. Currently a junior at MIT, majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Chandani has completed her high school from Delhi Public School, Gurgaon, India, where she worked as a teacher assistant at Bagiya, school for the underprivileged and helped in fund raising for the school. She recently volunteered with us at ARISE Impact and worked with the visually challenged students. We interviewed Chandani to learn more about her work at ARISE Impact and experience of working closely with differently-abled children.

 

1.What inspired you to choose ARISE Impact?

I had earlier been involved in working with a group of 150 children who have not been able to get proper education because of economic challenges. ARISE gave me an opportunity to work with visually challenged children, which sensitized me towards their needs.

 

 2.  Tell us about your position and work at arise and how does this position contribute to the organization’s overall mission?

  I worked with ARISE as a volunteer in user research and helped in assessing the application built for visually challenged students.  My job was to perform on-field testing and gather feedback from users on how easy was it to use, how it can be enhanced to make it better, and whether they liked the idea.

 

3. What did you love the most about working with the kids?

Their eagerness to participate and learn how to use the product. I loved seeing their excitement and willingness to use a computer and watching them play the game with enthusiasm.

4. Who are in your team and how has your experience been working with them?

 I worked on my own.

 

5. How has ARISE Impact helped you with your vision of your career?

 It has reinforced the belief I had that the concepts of software engineering can develop products or services that can benefit the community at large.

6.What did you learn about NGO culture and ARISE in general?

The people at an NGO like ARISE work to make a social change through helping the lesser privileged. They are not looking for high monetary gain for themselves. It also requires a lot of patience and perseverance to appreciate and interact with the beneficiaries.  It was a wonderful idea to release the beta version of the application with a simple game as that helped get good feedback.

7.What was the most amazing experience working at ARISE?

Interacting with the visually challenged children was a completely different experience for me.  It helped sensitize me towards their needs, and realize that the product launched by ARISE could be used to help them learn in a fun and efficient manner

 

8.What do you do with your leisure time? 

Mostly read but also enjoy listening to music and watching movies.

 

9. Why do you think one should volunteer? How can the youth be inspired to volunteer?

Brings one closer to the problems around them helping them to understand the problems better, and, therefore, enabling them to provide better solutions. It also sensitizes one to the needs of the community, a better understanding of their own privileges, and provides an opportunity to contribute to the community. 

By Himani Singh