Super Moms on a Super Charged STEM Mission!
“I jumped at the opportunity when Deepa approached me with an idea to start STEM For Kids”, says Priya Viswa, a civil / structural engineer turned realtor and co-owner of the STEM For Kids South San Jose (SSJ) franchise.
Her partner, Deepa Gopalakrishnan, had been nurturing the idea of starting the franchise for over two years. Mother of two daughters, Deepa had decided to take a break from her corporate career to care for them. Her STEMtastic career included electronics, computer engineering and biomedical engineering. One of Deepa’s research involved bronchoscopy imaging for identification of abnormal cells based on changes in the tissue color. Now patented, that research is used in systems designed for early cancer detection.
As a concerned parent at her daughter’s school, Deepa spearheaded a science lab setup, working closely with the school PTA and Principal. During the course of planning and running experiments for grade K to 5, Deepa came across STEM For Kids.
“I was tempted then to start a franchise in San Diego. That was 2 years back. But life had other things planned, we moved from San Diego to San Jose … I again started to volunteer at school helping and coaching kids for Science Olympiad, and to help run the science closet at school. When I started to talk to other parents around me I realized that all of them were looking for programs where the kids can supplement their knowledge in Science. That is when I remembered STEM For Kids…”, says Deepa.
After she lost her structural engineering job in residential construction and management to the recession, Priya recounts an interesting turn in her career,
“While buying our first house, I enjoyed the experience working with my realtor and the process of purchasing a home. It was totally a different field from being an engineer … sparked my interest so I went ahead and got my real estate broker license and started my own brokerage firm, North East Realty in San Jose.”
Priya’s passion for teaching comes from her grandfather, who is now 88 years old, still handling classes as a personality development coach.
“After the birth of my children I became involved in their education and enjoyed how they learnt by doing hands on activities. I enjoyed when their eyes lit up when they understood how things work.”
Supermoms, Deepa and Priya, are now partnering to bring the wonders of biomedicine, computer programming, engineering and STEM to the children in San Jose.
“These ladies with their exquisite careers exemplify how to take charge and reinvent. From corporate jobs to motherhood to back-to-work and entrepreneurship… what an amazing journey and what a wonderful opportunity for the children in SSJ!”, remarked Moni Singh, the Creator of STEM For Kids.