STEM access cannot be taken for granted. Many schools lack the budgets, staff, and opportunities to give kids hands-on experience in technology. At Union League Boys & Girls Clubs, Amirali Jivani, our Vice President of Technology and known to our kids as AJ, is changing that reality. Starting with a small budget and a handful of students, he has built a technology pipeline that now reaches hundreds of young people across multiple Clubs. What begins with curiosity often ends in college majors, career choices, and even small businesses.
The journey began with SeaPerch, an underwater robotics program where students build and drive robots to complete tasks in a pool. They learn the fundamentals of electricity, propulsion, buoyancy, and circuitry. Once they understand the basics, AJ’s team layers in advanced applications: waterproof cameras with AR glasses that give students a first-person perspective underwater, custom 3D-printed controllers that replace stock remotes, and sensors that allow robots to adapt on the fly. Students are exposed to systems thinking, iteration, and creative engineering under real competition constraints. It is not just play, it is applied science with immediate feedback.
The results have been extraordinary. Over the past seven years, our SeaPerch teams have not only consistently placed first, second, or third at Regionals but have also advanced to the International SeaPerch Challenge. Competing against teams from across the country and the globe, our kids have proven that their skills hold up on the world stage. For many, it is the first time they have traveled outside their neighborhoods to represent their city and their Clubs, and they come home inspired, validated, and determined to do more.
From SeaPerch, momentum spread. LEGO Robotics has taught students precision coding and teamwork, with our very first team winning an Engineering Excellence award. Drones followed, bringing robotics to the air. When educational drones disappeared from the market, AJ’s team pivoted to developing an in-house drone-building curriculum so learning would not stall. “We do not want kids losing access just because the market shifts,” AJ explains. “Our job is to make sure the door is always open.”
Not every child will go straight to a four-year college, and AJ knew we needed programs that also prepare young people to earn a living right away. That insight led to the IT Entrepreneurship program. Students spend two months mastering computer and phone repair, then a month learning how to price, market, and run a business. Each receives a toolkit. “Inspiration must be paired with a path,” AJ says. “We can give them that path, but only if we have the resources.”
Across all programs, the curriculum builds both hard and soft skills. Kids gain coding literacy, robotics engineering, CAD and 3D printing, hardware repair, and systems thinking. Just as importantly, they develop teamwork, resilience, customer service, patience, attention to detail, and entrepreneurial confidence. These lessons are portable. They prepare youth for college, careers, and life.
Providing these opportunities requires investment. It takes about $500 to support one student in SeaPerch and about $1,000 to support one student in IT Entrepreneurship. Those amounts cover the equipment, transportation, meals, competitions, and instruction that transform a program into a pathway. Each spot we can offer is a chance for a young person to discover their strengths and pursue a future they may never have imagined.
The outcomes speak volumes. One alum, Anthony, competed in SeaPerch for three years, earning second place in his first year and first place in the following two. He went on to serve as team captain before aging out of the program and is now in college majoring in architecture. Another, Jose, began as a Club participant with no clear career path. He later joined the Club staff and AJ’s team, shifted his interests toward computers, and eventually graduated from UIC with a degree in business and engineering and computer science. Brenda, one of our early SeaPerch students, later texted AJ to share that she was majoring in technology at Illinois State University — her Club experience had set her on a new course.
These are not isolated stories. They are proof that when kids are given the chance, they rise, from Club pools to the International Challenge and beyond. Every gift helps unlock the next story, the next journey, the next future. With your support, curiosity becomes capability, and capability becomes opportunity.
The only question is: which kids get that chance?