Ronak Suchindra is a one of a kind 13-year-old from Chester County, Pennsylvania. He is being honored big time as one of 20 finalists out of 5,000 applicants across the county for the first-ever Kid of the Year award by Nickelodeon, Time and Time for Kids.
"Out of 5,000, getting into the top 20 is really special to me. I think it's one of the biggest accomplishments in my life," Ronak told 6abc Philadelphia.
And boy is this 8th grader impressive. He's made a name for himself on the national level by creating the non-profit Kids Connect at the beginning of the pandemic. Ronak, with the help of other youth volunteers, offers free virtual workshops that kids all over the world can enjoy. Everything from how to solve a Rubik's Cube to robotics and coding.
"Teaching coding to kids has really been a passion. I love doing it," Ronak said.
Ronak realized the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is causing a lot of kids to have excessive downtime, so he came up with a fun educational outlet.
"We have about 3,000 interaction hours. We have about 800 kids attending our classes and 500 volunteer hours, so this has really blossomed really quickly and it's really cool I'm able to be at the forefront of this," Ronak said.
His father says Ronak has always been a natural problem solver.
"One of the key strengths that Ronak has is being able to identify a problem and analyze what solutions he can offer to it," Suchin Rengan said.
Ronak says winning the Kid of the Year would be amazing because he would be featured on national TV, have the chance to become a kid reporter for Time Kids and even more important, he could win a cash prize to help even more students during this difficult time of virtual learning.
The five winners will be announced during a special hosted by Trevor Noah (The Daily Show with Trevor Noah) that will simulcast across Nickelodeon, CBS Television Network, TeenNick and Nicktoons on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). And while Ronak hopes to be among the finalists, for him this is just the beginning of his accomplishments.
"What I want to do is become an ambassador to help solve the education problem because I want everyone to get an equal education. Because at the end of the day kids are going to be running the world," Ronak said.
To find out more about Kid of the Year 2020, visit http://www.kidoftheyear2020.com.
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