Germaine Jackson
Director of Service Learning & Science Center
Pacific Ridge School
Rancho Santa Fe resident Satvik Saripalli is hoping a celebration of Pacific Ridge School student art will benefit underserved girls in Bangalore, India. The Pacific Ridge School junior is spearheading an online art auction that will showcase art from Pacific Ridge students and the local community with proceeds going to Sahasra Deepika (meaning ‘a thousand lights’); which houses and educates underprivileged children in Bangalore, India.
Due to the pandemic, many students at Sahasra Deepika have been forced to learn from home. Moreover, most of the families live in extremely poor conditions and do not have devices for online classes or for completing homework.
Satvik’s family has been supporting the Indian school for years through various fundraising efforts. After learning about different ways to positively impact communities through Pacific Ridge’s service learning program, Satvik is taking a solo turn at supporting the school.
During his freshman and sophomore years, Satvik has worked with three different student service groups. He has helped provide tutoring to the Bressi Ranch Boys and Girls Club and fundraised to purchase computer consoles for children in hospitals. Currently, he is a part of a group working with various organizations to support communities with large migrant and refugee populations.
“After seeing how much of an impact I could make through service learning at Pacific Ridge, I was inspired to do more and take on this challenge.” Over the summer, after coming up with the idea for the art auction, Satvik teamed up with Pacific Ridge’s new Director of Service Learning, Germaine Jackson and studio art teacher Raymond Oakes. Through Pacfic Ridge, Satvik connected with Bret Schanzenbach, CEO of the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Matt Hall, who provided advice about how to involve the community and introduced Satvik to Auctria, a web-based platform for holding the auction.
“This year’s service learning theme is Moments into Momentum. Satvik is taking a moment like the pandemic and creating positive momentum around service and student support,” Jackson said. “We are proud of his efforts to ensure children at the Sahasra Deepika Institute have access to an equitable education.”
Satvik is in the process of acquiring artwork from the PRS student body for the auction. Bidders will also have the opportunity to purchase photography or videography services such as a one-hour photoshoot or video coverage of an event contributed by Pacific Ridge School community members.
The auction will take place from November 15 to January 5 and will be held online through Auctria. Satvik’s goal is to raise at least $1,000 for the Sahasra Deepika Institute which will go towards buying devices that will support remote learning and can be used in the classroom once the pandemic passes. “Contributing artwork or bidding at the online auction is something we can do in spite of the coronavirus,” he said. (UPDATE: the auction is now open, click here to see all the offerings)
“The donations will help people who are struggling far more than we are.”
For more information or to donate, please contact Satvik at [email protected].