POOJA YERNENI AND SHWETA RAMAN: ON STARTING INTERCONNECTD

[Interview by: Alexandra Phan]

Upcoming juniors at Robbinsville High School in New Jersey, Pooja Yerneni and Shweta Raman have worked to start an organization with the intent of supporting patients and those who have been heavily impacted by COVID 19. Interconnectd has expanded their reach globally, with volunteers coming together to help. Today, the founders have come to talk more about the organization.

Could you give us a brief introduction of yourselves and background?

"Hey! My name is Pooja Yerneni and I am Shweta Raman, [and we're] the cofounders of Interconnectd!"

Yerneni and Raman started the organization in April of 2020, after empathizing with those affected by the pandemic. They collectively worked to expand their reach from their small town in New Jersey into a new prospect.

What extracurriculars do you do?

"In school, I play second singles for the girl's tennis team. I also am in the Mock Trial Club, the Debate team, Model United Nations, the World Language Honors Society, Research club, Future Medical Leaders of America, and our South Asian Dance club (RAADA)."

Likewise, Shweta was a former competitive swimmer for PTAC and is also a part of their mock trial and tennis team.

"I'm in the process of starting a forensics club. I [also] volunteer at Children's Specialized Hospital to teach disabled children how to swim, and I am also a lifeguard. I also played piano for 8 years and sang."

Pooja, you also do dance. How does dance and the sort of discipline associated with dance, prepare you to lead such a big project.

"Yeah, so dance has taught me so much about learning how to lead a disciplined lifestyle, as you said. You really learn many valuable skills out of such a demanding environment. For instance, you learn the value of hard work and persistence, which may have attributed to my "leadership" qualities that I am still working on improving!"

When did you start tutoring?

"I actually just recently started tutoring kids in November of my sophomore year."

"[S] I started tutoring kids [after volunteering] at the pre-school and Montessori that I went to."

Shweta, after you started tutoring, what motivated you to continue in so many different areas?

"Teaching the kids the basics of reading, writing and math gave me a lot of satisfaction. So I started to work at my local Kumon teaching younger kids how to read and write. I love teaching younger students because its the fundamentals and basic building blocks that they will need in life, and it is something that they will use forever."

How did you work to ensure the people you taught would succeed?

[S] I always tailored how I teach to each student. If the student relied on encouragement to do their best that's what I would do, while if a student needed a reward that was also done. I liked to teach them tricks and tips that I learned when I was learning that helped me a lot.

Did you take a leadership role in your extracurriculars?

Yes! I am the Co-founder and Co-president of the Mock Trial club and the Vice President of Debate.

I am the awards coordinator for robotics, along with heading a State funding initiative. 

There's a sort of association to be found between law, arts, and tech. Did that affect your decision to co-create Interconnectd?

"The aspect of art has especially impacted me the most as dance has taught me so much about life in general and how fun it is to be able to participate in activities that can express your creative side! Even the public speaking aspect from the law related clubs that I am in has taught me how to speak my mind and express myself even more. At least for me, these two things combined really are important skills and experiences that I believe all children should be able to partake in, no matter the circumstances they are in, which is why I wanted to make Interconnectd a reality."

"Yes, so I am almost equal in the exposure I have to different subjects. My musical background taught me discipline, patience, and focus. The law aspect that I work with is not directly related but is with the State Funding Initiative. Being the head of this initiative has taught me about leadership and teamwork. Through each part of the process I learned how to communicate with different people and adapt myself to change my manner depending on who I am working with. I learned to work under stressful beating the clock situations. The most important thing I learned is the value of teamwork, the impact that a group that works smoothly together can accomplish amazing things."

What do you want to do when you're older?

"I want to go into the medical field, specifically pediatrics. Combining my love for kids and science, I think that I want to become a pediatric anesthesiologist!"

"I want to be a doctor, specifically a pediatrician."

Raman later noted how their shared dream of entering the medical field would lead them to establish a closer bond. They both agreed that,

"[We] have always admired the hard work and care that doctors put in to help their patients, and this has inspired me to really do the same to make a difference in someone else's life."

What was it like living in New Jersey? How has the pandemic affected everything?

"New Jersey was one of the hotspots of COVID-19, but things have started to finally die down a little bit. Because of this, we weren't able to finish school in person, see all of our friends together, and return back to our "normal" lives, so this pandemic has really taken a toll on many people, but that just gave us another reason to start Interconnectd."

So you can say that the pandemic played a major role in your decision to start this organization?

"Yes, definitely I think that our minds were really put to work trying to make this organization during the quarantine. The many lives that were affected due to this were one of the reasons we chose to start it."

Now, onto the organization as a whole, can you walk me through everything - starting from the buildup up until the start of Interconnectd?

"Sure, so Shweta and I were very bored in quarantine and we felt almost helpless in the sense that we couldn't do anything. Our volunteer program had been canceled at that point, so we just thought to make the best out of our situation and create an organization that can still help people even during these trying times."

"Pooja and I were talking during quarantine and how we didn't get the opportunity to work with kids, and we were talking about Pooja when she was in the hospital and didn't get to meet anyone."

" I [Pooja] actually have had a personal experience of feeling alone in the hospital. I got sick around a year ago and had to stay in the hospital for almost a month and couldn't go back to my regular life for another two months. This meant that I couldn't really go to school or participate in activities that I loved such as dance, so we took into consideration my own personal experience and started Interconnectd to help others who have to face feeling lonely in the hospital. "

"And we thought about how lonely the kids must be due to restricted visitation hours. So that's why we created interconnected."

Why choose to call it, "Interconnectd"?

"Interconnected is all about the formation of new friendships and relations between our volunteers, ourselves, and the patients. Essentially, we wanted to spread the message that we all are connected no matter who we are, so we put that into our name."

What word do you want people to associate with Interconnectd?

"I think that I want people to associate the word, unity, with Interconnectd. Our organization's primary goal is to ensure that everyone is able to have company, create new relationships, and stay united as one community."

Shweta simply explained that,

"I want people to recognize us as an organization that helps bring together people, where we make a difference for them and leave a lasting impact."

What sort of volunteers were you looking for to help start Interconnectd? Why them?

For Yerneni it was centered on their ethics and what they would be able to contribute as a whole. However, for Raman, she hoped for people with the necessary goals and intent to make Interconnectd succeed. Together, they planned for a team that would be evenly matched while still bringing their own skillset to the table.

"The volunteers that we chose were people who we thought shared our values. These people show great interest in making differences in other peoples' lives. On top of that, our group of volunteers was specifically chosen to create a cohesive team that balanced each other out and showed diversity in all of our collective strengths."

"We wanted volunteers that were passionate about working with children and someone who can connect with them. Many people have different strengths and weaknesses and we chose them based on what they could bring to the table and if they could balance out other weaknesses. We wanted a strong team of members whose talents and passions shined in the work that they did." 

Where do you see this going?

I see this building into a non-profit organization that name is known. I think that we would break into chapters in specific regions of America and even abroad

As of now, what's your expectation for Interconnectd?

We really want to make Interconnectd a global organization. We already have volunteers from three different countries and around 10 different states in America, and we want to continue growing. Our first mission to build Interconnectd globally is to attain non-profit status, which we are currently fundraising for. After that, we want to get more opportunities from hospitals located anywhere in the world really and get more volunteers to join us!

What message does Interconnectd try to convey to future volunteers and supporters?

"I guess through Interconnectd we just want to continue spreading positive vibes and a feeling of togetherness that we strive to create in our organization!

If anything, what should volunteers and viewers alike take away from Interconnectd?

"We hope that people understand the value of holding onto relationships and even creating new ones because that is so crucial to upkeep especially during this pandemic where many of us cannot meet physically."