High School Students’ Computer Science Project Will Help Their Peers Stay Fed

• By Haley Pritchett, TheStatehouseFile.com
• Dec 8, 2021

Students facing food scarcity at Hamilton Southeastern may have a solution to keep from going hungry, thanks to their peers.

On Wednesday during the Nextech CSforGood Showcase at the Indiana Statehouse, sophomores Lakshay Mahajn and Tanishq Thunga from Hamilton Southeastern and Sid Songirklar from Carmel placed first for their computer science project.

Students Lakshay Mahajn and Tanishq Thunga from Hamilton Southeastern and Sid Songirklar from Carmel placed first for their computer science project. They aimed to solve hunger in their school.

Titled HSE Shelter, it takes donations to schools that have previously gone unused and puts them on a website. Students then can go in and select what items would be beneficial to them and set up a time to pick them up at school.

Mahajn says there is a lot of negative stigma around asking for help. Their website is designed to eliminate stigma, yet ensure food doesn’t go to waste. More importantly, however, the boys do not want students going home hungry.

“We want to help connect those students in need,” he said, “because there’s a bunch of students that don’t ask teachers for help because they’re too embarrassed.”

Hamilton Southeastern and Carmel high school students hear feedback from judges. The students won first place.

Thunga said that they came up with the idea when they found out that one of their good friends was heavily impacted by food insecurity, he was too afraid to tell them at first. Their computer science teacher, Julie Alano, said that this issue is something that deeply affects their school.

“Most people wouldn’t think there will be a problem at our school, but there is,” she said.

Songirklar believes that food insecurity will be an even greater issue for schools in the future. According to Feeding Indiana’s Hungry, 15% of Indiana’s population struggles with food insecurity.

“Currently, all lunches are free, right?” he said. “So you don’t really see this problem now, but when we go back to where it’s only going to be reduced-funding lunches, that’s when you’ll start seeing the problem pop back up again.”

The boys plan to hand over the website to their school and help launch it next semester. They even have started a club at Hamilton Southeastern to help them perfect the website.

Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education, applauded the youth in the room who had utilized computer science skills to find solutions to issues at their school.

“Keep up the great work, maintain your curiosity about the world around you, and keep an eye on how you can use your unique skills and perspective to make the world a better place,” she said.

FOOTNOTE: Haley Pritchett is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

Amelia McClain, assistant professor of theatre at the University of Evansville (UE), has been announced as the recipient of the University Resident Theatre Association (URTA)’s 2021 Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Training in Acting. McClain is currently on leave from UE this year as a member of the Broadway cast in Aaron Sorkin’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” at Shubert Theatre.

McClain has been a faculty member at UE since 2018. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UE before earning her Master of Fine Arts from the graduate acting program at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. McClain is a member of the Actors Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild.

Before returning to her alma mater, she completed a year-long run on Broadway as Sandra in the smash-hit production of “The Play That Goes Wrong”. Also on Broadway, she worked on “Foor for Love”, “Noises Off”, “The Heidi Chronicles”, “The House of Blue Leaves”, and the Tony Award-winning “Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike”. McClain has been in over 20 productions off-Broadway and in regional theatres across the country.

“When I was a student at UE, Amelia encouraged us to take our insecurities as actors and reframe them as strengths,” said Madeline Easley, a 2019 UE alumna. “Her ability to perceive beyond the mask of stressed-out college students and cast us as professionals, fully capable of advocating for ourselves, our unique stories, and our natural talents, was the push I needed to pursue every opportunity to carve out a fulfilling and sustainable artistic career after graduation.”

“Amelia McClain taught me and my peers with strength, heart, and specificity to each of our needs,” added Jack Russell, a 2021 UE alumnus. “Amelia impacted me so much as a student because she led by example. The tools that she was giving to us were the very tools that she uses to book jobs on Broadway. She taught us to be selfless, aware, and precise with our work. She didn’t care about creating actors with talent. Rather, she cared about creating actors that knew how to work hard and care about the process. Truly, Amelia gave me the education I’ve always dreamed of. I am eternally grateful for her impact on my life. Without it, I don’t think I could pursue this career path.”

Founded in 1969, the University Resident Theatre Association works to ensure the continued renewal of the American theatre by supporting excellence in the professional training of new artists. The 2021 Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Training will be formally presented at the URTAs, an audition event attended by over 1,200 candidates who are pursuing graduate training in theatre.