Scoring well in your boards may guarantee you appreciation from your family and friends, teachers and school management. But, without the right knowledge infrastructure, can you really succeed in attaining the options you want for yourself? Sometimes it is not the grades that will set you back but it can be the lack of information and guidance. In order to make sure students have everything they need in their arsenal, FUEL decided to fill that gap!
FUEL or Friends Union for Energising Lives, is an initiative started by Ketan Deshpande, whose call to action was his own personal experience post his board examinations. Ketan and his friends missed on several very lucrative opportunities simply because they missed seeing competitive examination guidelines, application deadlines etc as they were in the thick of board exam prep. Most of these guidelines and applications come out in November, a time when students are manically preparing for exams.
To make sure talented students don’t miss out on opportunities due to a lack of awareness and guidance, he was fueled to build an organisation that is especially essential for students from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Opportunities often overlook talent and whoever has first mover advantage stands to thrive. FUEL is a highly democratic set-up that equalises a world which is inaccessible to so many!
FUEL offers students courses, yes, but what sets them apart is how wholesome their learning system is - combining career pathway coaching with scholarship opportunities along with exciting internships, they are building a structure of not just skills but confidence in students. A real learning experience offers students the feeling and sense of belonging so when they are in the system, they are guaranteed that the system also takes full care of them - academically and aspirationally. This also helps aspirants tackle future anxieties through mentored goal casting, a method shown to yield results in students. Figuring out an entire life map in a matter of a few months or years can be daunting and this process is made less uncomfortable by the best folks at FUEL.
So, the visit at FUEL may seem a little offbeat to our usual ones, but it was one that Suyash felt the need to interact with. Here, we were fortunate enough to sit down with the people behind the magic - Ketan Deshpande and Santosh Huralikoppi and discuss the way forward in unifying our visions for future goal casting. We are truly enamoured by the work they do at FUEL and hope to collaborate in their shared vision of making education more accessible and talent more global.
Suyah ended the day on a high, interacting with the students there and giving them insights on entrepreneurial skills and building a mindset for success. What we saw at FUEL was a staff committed to changing the way students operate within the frameworks of academics post school and an inspired generation of students, secure and confident in their way forward. We wish for FUEL, a lasting impact and we can’t wait to see what they do next!