Indian American teen entrepreneur to get White House award

Swetha Prabhakaran, an Indian American teen has been selected for the prestigious 'Champions of Change' award in the US. Prabhakaran, who is an entrepreneur and CEO of Everybody Code Now! will receive the award on September 22 at the White House.

The 15-year old Swetha is a junior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in Virginia. She founded the non profit Everybody Code Now! with the aim to empower the next generation of youth to become engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs.

The White House said that, "Under Swetha's direction, Everybody Code Now! has taught hundreds of students how to code and has raised thousands of dollars for STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) activities in schools."

"Her mentorship programmes have transformed shy young girls into confident students, community leaders, and budding technologists," it said.

Prabhakaran is among the 11 young women selected by the White House as recipients of 'Champions of Change'. In addition to her passion for science and computers, Prabhakaran, who was born in Indianapolis, is an avid Bharatanatyam dancer.

She did her Bharathanatya arangetram - the debut on-stage performance of a classical art student, after undertaking years of training - in Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu) on August 2 this year.

Swetha's father, Prabakaran Murugaiah, is the founder and CEO of techfetch.com. The family lives in Ashburn, Virginia.