Nandika D.

Nandika is a student in Redmond High School and has always had an unwavering love of computer science particularly programming. From a young age, she discovered her true passion through her participation in Science Olympiad during her middle school years. She partook in the event, Game On, where students were tasked with designing a computer video game centered around a scientific theme. Her exceptional performance, achieving top rankings and victories at regional, state, and national levels, fueled her love for science and technology. Driven by the inspiration she felt from creating innovative solutions through science, Nandika hoped to encourage young minds to feel the same sense of satisfaction that had motivated her. She developed a platform called "Scratchathon for Kids." This initiative is aimed at encouraging students to unlock their full potential and foster a passion for computer science. She held free online workshops to help teach students basic computer programming concepts and initiated prizes with the help of her local sponsor to motivate students. With this success of having over 500 submissions from young students both local and international, she hosted this competition as well as workshops several times over the past couple of year (Summer 2021, Summer 2022, Winter 2022). Though the most fulfilling experience was receiving emails from parents of the participating students, expressing how their children were thrilled and inspired to pursue programming further, leaving them with a newfound passion.