Michelle Obama Picks 16-year-old Swetha Prabhakaran from Indianapolis for ‘Better Make Room’ Campaign

In 2016, young Indians in America were on a roll from publishing a debut book to winning spelling bee contests to helping the poor in India to contributing to social campaigns in some or the other way. 2107 is not an exception. Young Indian Americans will come out of the cocoon with innovations, inventions and campaigns for greater goals and causes to make headlines. The ball has started rolling with the selection of Swetha Prabhakaran, an Indian American student from Indianapolis, for the US First Lady Michelle Obama’s ‘Better Make Room’ campaign.

16-year-old Swetha Prabhakaran from Indianapolis will join ‘Better Make Room’ campaign’s inaugural Student Advisory Board and work to facilitate better educational opportunities for teenagers in the United States. Michelle Obama appointed her a member of the campaign in recognition of her exemplary efforts to educate teens in computer sciences. She is the only one from the first generation Indian American community in the team of 12 high school seniors and five college students selected for the campaign.

The Student Advisory Board of Michelle Obama’s ‘Better Make Room’ campaign will work towards creating and nurturing a college-going, college-persisting and college-graduating culture at their respective schools. The board members will also connect with fellow students of their schools and provide them with the resources they need. They will attend Michelle Obama’s School Counselor of the Year Ceremony at the White House today.

Swetha Prabhakaran is one of the youngest social entrepreneurs in USA. She is the founder of CEO of Everybody Code Now, a non-profit body which empowers youth with coding skills to help them become scientists and engineers. She was not in the know of what computer science was all about until she joined a Java class in her 9^th grade. Currently a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, she teaches kids coding and aspires to major in computer science in college.

Swetha Prabhakaran from Indianapolis traces her parental roots in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. Her parents immigrated to USA in 1998. The opportunity to serve on the board of Better Make Room is not her first recognition from the White House. in 2015, she was selected as one of the White House’s Champions of Change.

The goal of Michelle Obama’s ‘Better Make Room’ campaign is to make high school students pursue higher education and improve college completion rates, which is not absolutely new to Swetha. The principal objective is somewhat akin to what she does through her non-profit initiative, Everybody Code Now. She feels honored to be part of the campaign and share her passion for education with more students.

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