Paly Python's Parikrma Mission
Read on Medium: https://medium.com/@rohanphanse/paly-pythons-parikrma-mission-30780fdc9d40
The eager shouts of the students, proffering up the answer. Their determined faces, as they furiously typed away at the laptops they huddled around. The tight family of Parikrma, with the chorus of “annas” and “akkas” echoing in the classroom, signifying the warm bond between student and teacher. These are my memories of my time in Bangalore this summer at the Parikrma Humanity Foundation, and it was an enriching experience for me, and one that I will treasure for the rest of my life.
What is a Paly Python?
I can’t wait to tell you more about Paly Python’s Parikrma Mission, but first let me introduce myself and Paly Python. My name is Rohan and I am a senior at Palo Alto High School. I love creating web apps and solving big problems with computer science, unlocking the workings of the universe by learning physics and chemistry, and playing 70s songs on my guitar (you can't go wrong with the Beatles and Eagles).
I am the founder and president of Paly Python, a student-led non-profit organization with the mission of empowering students to develop the computer science skills they need to thrive in the 21st century and better the world. We are a group of students passionate about what we do, and we teach our students with patience, kindness, and respect. We’re committed to removing barriers to entry for all students, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, which is why we offer our high-quality courses and mentorship for free.
I founded Paly Python in 9th grade, and over the last 3 years, my team and I have accomplished many wonderful things for ourselves and the community, growing our programming club to 120+ members, holding Python and Javascript summer camps (read more here), and hosting a hackathon on the global challenge of climate change.
Last year, I helped my team launch the Paly Python Foundation, to channel our efforts towards empowering students from underserved backgrounds and communities. After observing the relative lack of CS opportunity in nearby East Palo Alto, the Paly Python team and I decided to tackle this issue in a small but meaningful way, by teaching a three-week Python course, attended by students (and a few adults!) in East Palo Alto. We launched a follow-up one-on-one mentorship program to allow our participants to continue learning, where they met with an experienced Paly Python team member and mastered advanced topics from Machine Learning to Web Development.
Having succeeded at making an impact on our local community in East Palo Alto, we set our sights higher, to the international stage. So here is how Paly Python partnered with the Parikrma Humanity Foundation and made a difference for 60 ninth-graders on the other side of the globe, in Bangalore, India.
Parikrma Prep
It was April 3rd when I first opened up the Paly Python gmail account and saw an email titled “Greetings from Parikrma Humanity Foundation”, sent by Kalpana, the academic director of Parikrma. When I saw this, I was excited and thankful that the countless hours we had spent sending out emails, looking to partner with organizations in India, had finally paid off. Milind, our marketing lead, met with them immediately to ensure we didn’t drop the ball, and I joined him later to speak with Kalpana and Latha over Google Meet. I was very impressed with what Parikrma was doing, running 4 schools in Bangalore and educating over 1,500 students from slums and orphanages in the city.
In our meetings, we discussed the logistics of holding a course in India, and one thing that came up was the difficulty of getting students online as Parikrma only had a few desktops and lacked laptops. I decided to bring 10 chromebooks to India, use them to teach the course, and donate and set them up as a permanent computer lab for Parikrma.
I packed them up, it was a tight squeeze in the luggage and I flew with my family to India. I was staying in India with my grandparents, and it was in their flat where I finished configuring all of the chromebooks with Linux, VSCode, and Python.
Setup
I got to Bangalore on Monday. The agenda for the day was to set up the computers and meet Kalpana, Latha, and the teachers.
The customs of Parikrma were charming and helped us feel at home. As the guests, we lit diyas and balanced them onto a bed of floating petals. Kalpana noticed me observing the playful blue and green paint on the walls, and told me that those colors represent the Parikrma student philosophy. The green base symbolized being grounded in your values and community, and the blue upper half represented reaching for the sky and letting there be no barrier for your aspirations and dreams.
The atmosphere was friendly and familial, as there wasn’t any tenseness or animosity between the students and the teachers, but a sense of understanding and loyalty. The titles Mr. and Ms.’s were not used to address elders, but rather “anna” and “akka”, which mean older brother and sister respectively in Kannada, which explained the warm feelings of family.
I met the local leaders of Parikrma, Kalpana and Latha. I met both computer science teachers, Saumya and Sujata, who graciously accompanied me to both Koramangala and Jayanagar. I met Uday, a university-bound engineering student who had come up through Parikrma. He was Parikrma’s posterchild, in his dashing white shirt and jeans, and Uday helped me out during the workshops.
The next person is Aaquib, a Bangalore native who was volunteering as my videographer and assistant. He is a state and nationally ranked fencer is India, which is pretty cool! He asked me about my brief stint with epee fencing.
And finally my family had come out in full force to support me, especially my younger brother Arjun, who was putting off reluctant “I’m being dragged along” vibes before Parikrma, but actually blossomed into the role and became a quick favorite of the students, who kept asking him to come and check their work.
Parikrma Koramangala
When I saw the students, I remembered the description Kalpana had given me in one of our prep meetings. The students were severely underprivileged, from the slums and orphanages of Bangalore. Their family situations were rough, and alcoholism and domestic violence were unfortunately more common that not in the community. In the meeting, I remember how Kalpana warned me not to ask any questions about their families, and I respected her advice, because it wouldn’t be right to pry into any potentially sensitive situations which the students had no control over.
Yet over the days, I realized that there was so much more to their story than being a poverty statistic. The students were optimistic, curious, and multilingual, being fluent in English, Kannada, and Hindi. They all had sharp uniforms in Parikrma’s color theme — green for the ground and blue for the sky.
I taught them Python, a popular and beginner-friendly programming. The emphasis of this course was CS fundamentals, so we spent time on variables, conditional logic, and loops. The students also learned how to use the code editor VS Code and run their Python files through the terminal. They also used this opportunity to improve their computer operating skills, and quickly mastered keyboard shortcuts and made great use of touchscreen. The students were grouped in teams of 3–4, each around one of the 10 computers.
One student I remember is Monish. He asked me during the break for help with a problem he was tackling, and I was impressed with his initiative. It’s hard to do a lot without guidance with only 2 days of Python knowledge, but he was using his newfound knowledge of loops and going past the syllabus by solving a problem of his choice. And Sahana, who was in Monish’s group, was also very talented.
Another student I remember is Vincye. She was bold, outspoken, determined, asked me a lot of questions, and even asked for a picture together at the end.
On Wednesday, I kicked off the day with video-calling the rest of the Paly Python team, who were strewn across the west and east coasts of the US, and had graciously stayed up late at night to make this happen. Jerry and Arav were all game for answering the many questions the students had, from favorite sports to foods, and I really appreciated Milind’s insightful and encouraging words about why the students should continue exploring CS. The Parikrma students also found the experience valuable, and many of them walked up to the computer and shared their names and interests with the team. I heard a lot of cricket and tennis, and one instance (or should I say serving) of chole batura.
At the end, we gathered in Parikrma’s auditorium on the ground floor for card giving, share and tell, and pictures. And at the end of our stay, the students presented my mother, Aaquib, Arjun, and me with personalized cards, with an artwork on the front, and a handwritten message inside.
Parikrma Jayanagar
Parikrma Koramangala went really well, but it was still a first trial with plenty of mishaps and difficulties. Some of which were me speaking too quietly, not being able to use the slides on that first day, and glitches with the chromebooks. So I brought over what worked to Parikrma Jayanagar, and found ways to overcome the hurdles I had faced in the first session.
We made Guess the Number together on Friday. I explained how the game worked and played it with them on the whiteboard, asking for guesses.
What stands out to me was the pure joy and fun the students had at testing their “Guess the Number” games. One group called their CS teachers over to have a try, and then me. The excitement in the air was palpable and I loved sitting back and watching the students marvel and play around with what they had created.
My teaching philosophy is something like the old adage of fishing. Instead of giving one a fish, teach them to fish. So when the students called me over for help and asked me to fix their error, I did not give them the answer outright or type on their computer. I guided them towards the answer or told the students which keys to press and why, but I had them type it so they would know what to do in the future. After lecturing, I visited each group individually and saw their progress and answered their questions.
The Parikrma students asked me many questions about myself, one of which was whether I had a YouTube channel. I do have one, where I upload original raps and songs, but I told the students I would only share it with them at the end of the course so they wouldn’t get distracted in the meantime. I ended up performing my “Ultimate Java Rap Tutorial” for them live and had a lot of fun doing so. After my impromptu rap, Kalpana proceeded to freestyle an entire song with the catchy refrain, “Paly Python is a lot of fun. Bring it on, bring it on.” Everyone was clapping and singing along. Like Koramangala, the students at Jayanagar gifted us with amazing cards and a beautiful framed hummingbird drawing to remember Parikrma by. I really appreciate reading my card, which each student had contributed an adjective to.
Next Steps — Continued CS Education through Computer Lab + Mentorship Program
I set up two permanent computer labs at Parikrma. Ten computers in total, spread out across two of their schools in Koramangala and Jayanagar.
I’m coordinating a mentorship program soon for Parikrma students. Over the course of 4 weeks, a Paly Python team member or handpicked student volunteer will meet with team of 2–3 Parikrma students and help them continue learning advanced Python and create projects. We are organizing it this way to preserve the small group teaching style which was so effective during the initial course.
I’m also working on creating a volunteering pathway between Parikrma and my school, Paly High. The goal is to create permanent bridges between the schools, which will persist even after I graduate. That way, students from my school in the US can volunteer and meet their counterparts in India, and both schools can share learnings and experiences with each other.
This is the end of this blog post, but only the beginning of Paly Python’s mission to empower students worldwide. Thanks for reading!