Sajni Aims For The Stars

Sajni Vederey And Her STEM All Stars

Sajni Vederey is a 9th grader at the top ranked public STEM high school in the US, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in Alexandria, Virginia. Sajni is extremely passionate about science and technology and especially about how science and technology can help women in developing countries.

Sajni told Eduzine Global: 

"I have won two U.S. Presidential Educational Awards and  was one of 75 people in the world to be selected for the International Stanford Math League. I am active in the Girls Up campaign, which advocates for girls’ education and raises money for poor countries. I have also conversed with representative Barbara Comstock about the Girls Count Act as a constituent. I am also writing a blog for the Huffington Post about girls education and a book based on my experiences, knowledge, imagination, and opinions.  The book is about a young girl who is getting teased about STEM. I have my own website, sajnivederey.com, where I address  issues important to women and STEM and founded my own nonprofit called STEM All Stars."

Sajni continued "Since my childhood I have been noticing gender stereotypes such as girls are bad at math, and girls are not fit for engineering. Not only at school, but I  started to see how even toy companies and children's TV shows were having a boy and a girl versions. As I got more involved into STEM, I noticed that kids, even at early ages, are developing a sense of gender identity and bias. Then, STEM All Stars was born with the intention of sparking interest in STEM for girls and giving them an opportunity to explore these fields in greater depths. My target audience is girls who do not have enough self confidence or knowledge about STEM. I have introduced 22 STEM All Stars clubs internationally and I hope to create a change in the lives of girls! STEM All Stars is an international nonprofit organization committed to eliminating gender differences and breaking the barrier of stereotypes by running a STEM competition for girls to help make them our future global leaders."

The approach taken by STEM All Stars in India is to work with girls, giving them the regular financial and social support they will need for a long journey toward gender justice. A STEM competition is run to ignite girls’ interest in STEM. Students from grades 3-8 around the world are eligible to participate. STEM All Stars is an annual challenge that is presented to students, in which students have to innovate something OR build a community which solves a problem. Participants will also have to answer questions based off of their model. STEM All Stars challenges cultural norms by encouraging families to educate their female children and by spreading awareness about STEM, all so women can become agents of change. With all this in mind,this summer, Sajni volunteered at the Swami Vivekananda Public School in Hyderabad, India. It is an underprivileged school, run totally by sponsors. Sajni went to this school and gave a speech about girl’s education and the importance of STEM. She then set up small STEM workshops for children.

Sajni noticed that many girls in India have more 'book' knowledge rather than 'practical' knowledge. Sajni says "They know what a volcano is, but they do not know what is behind it. For this reason, I showed them experiments about various things such as volcanic eruptions, solar system, Rube Goldberg machines, building bridges with popsicle sticks, and etc." STEM All Stars has also 'adopted' 3 children from Vivekananda Public School! These girls want to pursue STEM careers in the future and their academic performance is excellent; however, all of the three girls are financially low. STEM All-Stars is providing money for these children to explore more about the topics they are interested in, and buy books that fascinate them.

Sajni then conversed with the staff of Gitanjali International School about her mission in Hyderabad, India. The founder of Gitanjali, Gita Karan, was impressed and invited Sajni to talk in an assembly in front of 700 students about STEM for girls. In addition, she has now started a STEM club with these international students to go to the Vivekananda Public School to tutor, give motivation, address world wide STEM issues, and perform some cool experiments to keep students interested!

Sajni also organized a rally with students to spread STEM awareness and advocate STEM for girls. TV9 and other Indian media outlets came to telecast this. Sajni has been featured in 8 newspapers including 'Times of India'. Her efforts have also paid off in the USA, as Dunkin Donuts and Subway are now sponsoring STEM All Stars. The Indian Government donated $22,000 for STEM All Stars and the money was used to provide LCD projectors, internet, and other material for 22 schools! Their goal is to implement digital classrooms in all schools so children could work more with technology and other computer softwares. Sajni has had a meeting with the Indian Caucus where she spoke with with Joe Crowley and other congressmen and congresswoman about her organization's’ goals.

Sajni added "I would love the opportunity to exhibit my organization in the STEM Symposium because I want to reach a bigger audience, so that I can break these stereotypes, meet inspirational speakers, and other organizations who want to achieve the same goals as me."

For more information about this amazing young woman and her awesome work, please visit:

Sajni's website: www.stemallstars.org

Sajni's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stemallstars?fref=ts

Sajni's twitter page: https://twitter.com/STEMAllStars 

All Image Credits: Sajni Vederey

Huge congratulations to Sajni for her enormous achievements in the fields of STEM and empowering girls and young women through education. Furthermore, the team at Eduzine Global is delighted to announce that Sajni has joined our team of Eduzine Global Young Ambassadors and that we will be partnering with STEM All Stars and The AAT Project to promote STEM worldwide!

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