Wanting to apply herself as a leader, juniors Deetya Ladi, Saanvi Makkapati, Yvette Yaroshenko, Rithika Pendurthi and Anushka Suratia, collaborated to create the U.S. branch of the Aakkam Foundation.
“We wanted to start this club because many clubs give you certain leadership positions or have you focus on an activity, but there was never a club where you could learn to be a leader,” Ladi said. “Aakkam gives students the opportunity to create change in their own way.”
Originating in India, the Aakkam Foundation is a nonprofit organization that empowers students to create change in their communities by leading community-driven projects, according to the Aakkam Foundation website. In Tamil, ‘aakkam’ means creation.
The founder of Aakkam, Nithi Angamuthu, is a close family friend of Ladi’s family. He reached out to Ladi in 2024 and asked her to start a chapter of Aakkam in the U.S. Ladi now serves as the president of Missouri’s chapter of Aakkam.
Aakkam gives students more freedom on how they want to bring change into the community, Ladi said, so she and her team decided to focus on helping immigrant families, which led to the creation of Aakkam Navigate.
Aakkam Navigate, one of the foundation’s five programs, was started by Ladi’s team. Aakkam Navigate has courses that guide immigrant families in adjusting to a different culture and lifestyle.
“We wanted to start a project that helps immigrants with more than just learning English and really help them assimilate as a whole,” Ladi said.
Yaroshenko, secretary of the Aakkam Foundation, said Aakkam helped her develop her leadership skills.
“The platform was really created so that while you are helping the community and those around you, you inadvertently create and develop leadership skills that are necessary later in life,” Yaroshenko said.
While the team uses Instagram to advertise their organization, they also create podcasts to project their message. Yaroshenko said their team creates podcasts based on previous experiences or ideas they are passion ate about for the community. Posted on the official Aakkam Instagram page, @aakkam_foundation, past podcast topics have included networking tips, mental health awareness and financial literacy.
“Our first podcast was about Aakkam itself, introducing ourselves and the organization, and spreading their message and how the organization empowers students, which was my favorite podcast to do,” Yaroshenko said.
Makkapati, vice president of the organization, said her favorite project to work on is the Aakkam School Project, which provides desks and other school resources to underprivileged students in India. The Missouri chapter of Aakkam uses fundraisers and donations to fund different projects.
“I really liked this project because it allowed us to have a real impact on people outside of our community,” Makkapati said.
Makkapati chose to join Aakkam because she wants to encourage students to become leaders in their community.
“Even outside of Aakkam, that’s a great idea to maintain and think about, like ‘how can I make a change in my
community?’,” Makkapati said.
