Achievements - Coscholastic
A Transformative Journey
by Aditi Hari
In October 2023, I got selected into The Purpose Academy by 1M1B (1 Million for 1 Billion). It is a social innovation and tech entrepreneurship program enabling the young leaders to solve the most complex problems in the world. By blending purpose with leadership, it provided me a unique and amazing opportunity to identify and attempt to address one of the biggest problems our society is facing today – Air pollution. The program helped me scale-up my confidence because it exposed me to wide range of people and situations.
With the help of this program, I founded an initiative called ‘Project AwAIR’. The project aims at addressing the issue caused by air pollution. Its primary goal is to raise awareness about the harmful effects of poor air quality and to emphasize on the fact that it is vital we join hands immediately and minimize the threat posed by it. I also started a fundraiser – ‘The Pollution Solutions Fund’, through which I aim to gather enough funds to provide specialized awareness kits to target front-line workers, and to plant trees such as bamboo and neem around my neighbourhood with my team of volunteers.
During the month of April 2024, I got an opportunity to spend a week-long immersion at the University of California, Berkeley. At the university, I got mentored by senior faculty members who shaped my thoughts towards social entrepreneurship and sharpened my skills of presenting myself and my project. I also was invited to the headquarters of leading-edge companies like NVIDIA and eBay in California, where I got to pitch my project to senior professionals. We also visited the Stanford University and got a tour of the campus. The mixer with students and changemakers was very enriching, especially to hear their perspectives and individual journeys.
Personally, my two key take-aways from this experience are:
+ Purpose is something that can change over time, but it should be something we love, excel at, get paid for, and that the world needs.Encourage everyone to find their purpose!!
