The Youth Are Already Leading: Meet Green Silicon Valley

About this episode

This episode features high school founders of Green Silicon Valley discussing their youth-led organization that promotes STEM and environmental education globally.

What happens when a group of high schoolers turns a $5,000 competition win into a global movement? In this episode, Dr. Joseph sits down with Abhi Tenneti and Ayush Garg — the high school founders of Green Silicon Valley — an organization run entirely by students, for students, bringing free STEM and environmental education to elementary and middle school classrooms around the world. We talk about how these young leaders scaled from a single middle school in Santa Clara to over 500 volunteers across seven countries — from Tunisia to Pakistan, China to Nigeria. They share the powerful story of their partnership with an organization in Lagos, Nigeria, where environmental education is being woven into a broader fight against poverty and violence — teaching not just STEM, but real skills to help young people build a future outside of military conscription and gang violence. We get into the nitty-gritty of running a youth-led organization: the fundraising struggles, the cold-emailing strategy that landed them international partnerships, the hands-on kits that turn saltwater into electricity, and their vision for a world where peer-to-peer climate education is embedded in every school…

People in this episode

Host: Lesley Joseph

Guests: Abhi Tenneti, Ayush Garg

Topics covered

• youth leadership
• environmental education
• STEM
• global movement
• climate action
• volunteerism

Keywords

• youth-led
• climate education
• STEM education
• global movement
• volunteers
• environmental justice
• fundraising
• partnerships

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Green Silicon Valley

Places: Santa Clara, Tunisia, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, Lagos

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