University of Texas at Austin Chapter

Message from the University of Texas Austin Chapter Director

Greetings from the University of Texas Austin InnoWorks chapter!

Austin ISD serves about 85,000 students, and nearly 61 percent of those students are economically disadvantaged. Those students do not have the means financially to attend summer camps that would place them in a unique learning environment encouraging free thinking and development of crucial skills that are not touched on in school, such as in science and engineering. This need for such a Science and Engineering summer program sparked my passion to bring InnoWorks to Austin, and host it at the University of Texas at Austin.

My plan is to host this camp the week of August 17th to August 21st, and selected students will become enveloped in the amazing world of STEM2. With my newly formed team of highly enthusiastic and innovative college students, we aim to provide the best experience for underserved middle school students in the Austin area. We hope to host this camp in teaching areas that facilitate teamwork, creativity, and interest. Our goal is to introduce selected students to exploring STEM2 careers through activities that we conduct at our camp.

As a message to the parents, we hope to really nurture that curiosity within your children - my philosophy is that every child has a small spark that is waiting to start a fire. It is with your initiative to send your children into our program that we can start them on their path. Our goal is to get students who would not have considered going to colleges such as the University of Texas to have those high aspirations, which will get them to unveil that excitement to learn within themselves. During the camp, your children are paired up with a mentor (another college student who works great with middle school children) who will help them think and learn in groups of 3-4 students per mentor. In these small groups, we aim to develop team work, contributive learning, and self-development with the aid of mentors. After the camp, your children will be morphed and begin thinking on a whole new level. As assurance, the camp is conducted with the utmost safety - our mentors are specifically trained to work the experiments and have experience conducting such activities. None of the experiments we conduct would cause any harm to your children.

As a message to possible sponsors and companies - our camp would not be possible without donations from you all. We accept any and all donations, ranging from food donations for lunch for a day to money donations that we can use in purchasing equipment or materials to run the camp. The United Innoworks Academy is 100% volunteer run - which means that NO money is given to mentors, administration, or even the University. All the money goes towards organizing the camp for the children. Every penny that you donate to the University of Texas chapter will go straight to funding camps that we host and your name will be listed on our sponsor's page since the date of your donation. With several start-ups, small businesses, and large company headquarters in Austin (or Texas for that matter), we really look to all of you for help in making this camp possible.

Finally, as a note for the future - I intend for InnoWorks to develop into the greatest asset to underprivileged children in Austin. Looking at where I am now, with all the skills that I have in my 'tool bag' and the aspirations I have for my future, it would not have been possible without summer camps that I participated in when I was younger. I realized that not everyone has the capability to go to these camps, which is why I want InnoWorks to be the bridge that goes over that barrier of finances or availability preventing such bright students from attending a great summer camp.

With everyone's help and participation, InnoWorks can launch children into the stars as they shoot towards success.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or would like to get involved with InnoWorks!

Hook 'em, 
Praveen Vimal  
2015 Texas InnoWorks Director

Contact Us

University of Texas Chapter email: texas@innoworks.org

2016 Schedule Tentative

  • University of Texas Austin InnoWorks
    TBD

2015 Schedule Tentative

  • University of Texas Austin InnoWorks