HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR INTERVIEW WITH ARJUN SHARDA, FOUNDER OF TLEEM
Q: Lone Star Standard
Why did you start TLEEM?
A: Arjun Sharda
In middle school, I became interested in technology, leadership and entrepreneurship, and was also interested in engineering. I was also part of a gifted program for math, where you study 8th grade math in 7th grade. So, I came up with this idea of TLEEM (Technology, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Engineering, and Math). It started off unofficial and kind of small. Then I thought about making a nonprofit about this because, at the time, there was a problem in our school of not having enough clubs for students to join focused on all of these things.
Without clubs or a lot of resources for a passion, some kids might just give up on it. And I wanted to change that. So, I created TLEEM as a small group with a frew friends. In late October, I moved to Round Rock but we kept hosting the club meetings virtually. Then we filed the nonprofit with the Texas Secretary of State on October 29th, 2023, with the help of my mom. She has been really supportive and helpful for me with TLEEM. We started posting on online forums and built the organization.
Our goal is to advance education in the TLEEM fields. We started getting volunteers, some internationally. We had our first international meeting on November 27th, 2023, and things have just gone up from there.
Q: Lone Star Standard
Why did you include Leadership in TLEEM?
A: Arjun Sharda
I thought leadership and entrepreneurship are important skills. You need to know how to be a leader even if it’s just in general life. If you suppose a scenario, whether it is the corporate world or anywhere, it’s really important to be a good leader. I don’t think that many organizations emphasize this. They focus on STEM and stuff but they don’t really emphasize how important leadership is. I’ve seen a lot of organizations that don’t have good leadership and not having good leadership can break the company. With leadership, team morale might be better, or worse. Worse leadership might demoralize employees, make less innovation.
So, it is important to know leadership, whether it is in your personal life, whether it is in the corporate world, to know what the right leadership style is. I think it is really important and many organizations don’t talk about it.
Q: Lone Star Standard
How much screen time do you think kids should get each day?
A: Arjun Sharda
That’s a great question. First of all, I think screen time should be regulated. But at the same time, I think parents need to give their children some freedom to explore their passions. I think they need to have that type of freedom., especially for kids who are motivated, who want to use it for good things. Honestly, when parents are restrictive, the kids might hide stuff from their parents even though they don’t like to. And I just think the more freedom you give your kids, I think it’s much better. But at the same time, you want to make sure they’re not doing anything bad as well.
Arjun Sharda, a 12-year-old student, is the founder of the nonprofit organization, TLEEM. The acronym stands for Technology, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Engineering, and Mathematics. TLEEM's purpose is to help his peers and beyond to better their skills in those areas.
This interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Listen to the full discussion here: https://texas-talks.simplecast.com/episodes/ep-9-arjun-sharda
