Notable Teens

NOTABLE TEENS ISSAC LUND

WRITTEN BY DENA DAW PHOTOGRAPHED BY JONATHAN FREDIN

ISAAC LUND, a rising senior at Green Hope High School, first reached out to the editor of Cary Magazine in January 2022.

“My name is Isaac Lund,” he wrote. “My dad, retired Colonel Eric Lund, has been struggling with terminal ALS for the past six years, and I am reaching out to request a story on how I used overcoming his illness as inspiration to have raised over $40,000 worth of electronics and $10,000 of supplemental funds to similarly empower hundreds of underprivileged students in Honduras and lessen their opportunity gap.”

Our editor receives hundreds of emails every day, but this one stood out. Not many high school students reach out to local magazines, and certainly not with stories as inspiring as this. We soon received another email with an update — the total raised had increased to over $140K.

“Just as I overcame the turmoil of my father's ALS, I will never stop fighting for the empowerment of others despite any obstacle they face,” wrote Lund.

When the time came to look up notable teens for our June/ July issue, Lund was an obvious choice. While most of his classmates were on the hunt for dates and part-time jobs, Lund had started Service Beakers, a nonprofit providing free science lessons to elementary-age children throughout the Triangle. The organization has educated over 3,600 young students across eight North Carolina schools, with a focus on empowering young students despite the pandemic. This year, Service Beakers expanded its impact beyond NC by partnering with St. Michael’s Church in Cary, bringing educational support to students in Honduras by crowdsourcing electronics.

Lund comes from a military family — his father, Colonel (Retired) Eric Thomas Lund, MD, and his mother, Maria, were both in the US Army for well over two decades. During that time, Lund was born in Germany and moved to several different states before his family settled in Cary. Lund attended St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School in elementary and middle school before starting his freshman year at Green Hope.

“Moving around taught me to be able to think on my feet and adapt, and it made me really close to my family,” said Lund. “The one constant throughout all of it was being together as a family. I have three older siblings — we’re four boys, so we’re all pretty close.”

In light of how close the family was, Lund’s father’s ALS diagnosis “Just as I was particularly devastating. ALS is a progressive overcame the neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells turmoil of my in the brain and spinal father’s ALS, I cord. And although Lund was initially too young to will never stop comprehend what that meant, the following years fighting for the allowed him to really pro- empowerment of cess what his dad, and the entire family, was going others despite through. “My diagnosis has any obstacle had a profound impact on they face.” Isaac, more than I knew,” said Eric Lund, Isaac’s father. “He has seen my — Issac Lund wife, Maria, and I struggle since he was in fourth grade. He has seen how family loyalty, love, and support were able to give me life, even after being given last rites on two occasions. Service Beakers blossomed from Isaac’s classroom experiences, through church, my illness, watching his mother love me through it, and the pandemic. He found his voice in helping others, especially those most in need.”

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Isaac Lund sits among a mountain of donated laptops secured by his nonprofit, Service Breakers, to bring educational support to students in Honduras.

NOTABLE TEENS

ARYAN SHELKE

SAI MARADUGU

SMARAN

SIVASHANKAR WRITTEN BY DENA DAW PHOTOGRAPHED BY JONATHAN FREDIN FOR YOUNG BY YOUNG (FYBY) is a youth-led organization that offers free tutoring for students throughout the Triangle, but this article isn’t about the organization itself. Meet the three remarkable young men who have invested their time, energy, and resources into helping other students succeed — completely free of charge.

Sai Maradugu

Sai Maradugu, a Morrisville resident and graduating senior at Panther Creek High School, never set out to start up an individualized tutoring program. The ball started (unexpectedly) rolling during a quick game of basketball.

“It was June 2020, and my friend and I were playing basketball, and he had just had his schedule released for the next year as an incoming freshman,” said Maradugu. “He had a really hard schedule. I had gone through many paid tutoring programs that were like $50 to $60 an hour, and I really didn’t learn that much. I didn’t want my friend to go through the same experience, so I said I’d tutor him for free.”

In the ultimate show of friendship, Maradugu did what many students his age wouldn’t bother to do: He created tutoring material himself and met up with his friend once a week, without fail. As word spread throughout his neighborhood, what started out as a favor for a friend quickly started to snowball.

“Kids started needing help with chemistry, so I reached out to my other friend, Smaran, who was really good at it,” said Maradugu. “After Smaran and I established a good base, we realized that

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The principle of overcoming an obstacle and becoming stronger on the other side is exactly the message that Service Beakers is trying to convey, Lund says. With classes taught by local high school students completely free of charge, Service Beakers has made a concerted effort to help kids stay enthusiastic about learning throughout the pandemic.

“We have taught particularly to a lot of underprivileged schools in the Triangle. After Covid, at least a third of students were regularly not even attending class anymore, and many kids were losing their enthusiasm for learning,” said Lund. “We found that as high schoolers, who are essentially only a few years apart generation-wise, we could connect with them really well.”

Outside of Service Beakers, Lund has won over 20 medals in Science Olympiad at Green Hope. Lund also works as a research collaborator for ALSUntangled, based out of the Duke ALS Clinic. The clinic exists to evaluate alternative and off-label treatments of ALS found on the internet and publishes research papers to help patients and families make more informed decisions regarding treatment.

As a rising senior, Lund’s biggest goal is to head off to a four-year college and possibly major in biology or neuroscience.

“I haven’t decided whether or not I want to continue Service Beakers in college, because I kind of want to keep it a high school-led initiative and pass the torch to other students,” said Lund.

Described as extremely gifted and highly motivated by his teachers, Lund possesses every ingredient for success.

“Isaac inspires students with his work ethic and how much he cares about his education,” said Stephanie Burwell, Lund’s biology teacher. “You can tell how much he wants to make a positive difference in everyone's life that he interacts with.”

When asked about his biggest inspiration, Lund responds with no hesitation — his father. And in the case of Isaac Lund, the apple certainly didn’t fall far from the tree.

“He was a physician himself, and he dedicated his whole life to helping other people,” said Lund. “After his diagnosis and all of that was kind of torn away, I felt like I could maybe step in and carry on his legacy, so to speak. With his huge emphasis on helping others, and doing his best to make other people’s lives better, I thought I can carry on what he’s trying to do. Obviously, he’s physically not able to do that anymore, but he had four sons for a reason.” t

Service Beakers partnered with St. Michael’s Church in Cary, bringing educational support to students in Honduras by crowdsourcing over $140,000 worth of electronics.

Taught by local high school students, Service Beakers provides fun and educational classes throughout the Triangle, completely free of charge.

Sai Maradugu takes some time out of his busy schedule to enjoy a NERF war with fellow seniors.

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SAT tutoring was the biggest need. At that time, we reached out to my friend Aryan, who began teaching an SAT course that had around 200 students in it. In that program we found a lot of success, and it was all for free.”

Thanks to his tireless networking efforts, Maradugu made many connections in the community, including a partnership with the Wade Edwards Learning Lab (WELL), an after-school program for Wake County high school students.

“Sai actually reached out to us during the pandemic,” said Betsey McFarland, executive director of WELL. “He had created a tutoring program and wanted a way to connect more broadly to students throughout Wake County. We were excited to have the opportunity to add peer tutors as a resource.”

In addition to FYBY and his involvement in the Data Science Club, Maradugu also founded the first student-run business club at his school, the Finance and Economics Club, combining two of his biggest passions. In the future, Maradugu plans to study finance at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and continue his work with FYBY.

“I believe Sai wants very much to ‘do good’ with whatever program or career he is associated with,” said McFarland. “He has a good heart and understands the importance of giving back.”

Smaran Sivashankar

Smaran Sivashankar, another graduating senior at Panther Creek, is more than happy to share his love of chemistry with others. As the founder of the Medical Careers Club at school, Sivashankar, who plans to study biochemistry in college, has an infectious passion for science that goes a long way when tutoring.

“We know our heart beats; we know we’re able to move our limbs, but we don’t know specifically how that works and what molecular mechanisms allow us to do that,” said Sivashankar. “I think that’s what fascinates me — I’m able to delve deeper into these mechanisms that are so important for life function.”

After Maradugu contacted him, Sivashankar jumped into teaching a chemistry course of around 30 kids. Once parents discovered that FYBY was offering both math and chemistry, word spread fast throughout the community.

“We kind of just kept expanding our course selection. We were able to recruit volunteer tutors and find people who had a passion for education just like we did,” said Sivashankar. “We would be on calls for two or three hours with organizations trying to partner with them, trying to spread our message, trying to get more students. We wanted to make an impact on the community.”

Sivashankar’s biggest inspiration is his grandmother, who dreamed of becoming a medical doctor as a young girl in India. Although her family refused to pay money for medical school, she was a professor for many years before becoming a counselor and doctor of alternative medicines during retirement.

“She’s my inspiration because she was able to pursue her dream, despite all the obstacles,” said Sivashankar. “There’s so much gratitude in the community because of the work she does, and she doesn’t charge any money at all. The number of people who come to her house and thank her is immeasurable.”

In addition to his work with FYBY, Sivashankar has played tennis and run cross country/track at Panther Creek for the past three years.

“Smaran stands out because he is kind, smart, feisty, funny, hard-working, humble, and treats people with respect,” said Stacie Fernstrum, the Panther Creek High School tennis coach. “He has a lot going on in his life, from tennis to qualifying for nationals with DECA to tutoring students. All of that is in addition to being an exceptional student.”

Sivashankar says his drive for success has been heavily influenced by Ranveer Singh, a popular Indian actor known for his method acting. Singh famously locked himself in a remote location for months with no interaction to become the villain in the hit movie Padmaavat.

“Since freshman year, I’ve had this drive, and I work hard on whatever I do. Regardless of the career I pursue in my life, I’m going to try and match that level of dedication wherever I go,” said Sivashankar.

Aryan Shelke

A year older than his co-founders, Aryan Shelke has spent the past year studying at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. Prior to that, the Morrisville resident and Panther Creek graduate was instrumental in setting up curriculum for FYBY and running free SAT classes.

“After March 2020, I realized that I had a lot of time to study for the SATs, so I got that out of the way,” said Shelke. “After that, Sai asked if I wanted to start teaching SAT classes because I had experienced a huge score jump. He said if someone was looking for a tutor, would they want somebody who was already at 1500 at the beginning, who doesn’t understand everyone’s struggles, or would they rather have someone who was at 1200 and then moved all the way up to the 1500 range? That’s how I started working for FYBY.”

His SAT prep served him well. During his time at the Kelley School of Business, one of the top business schools in the nation, Shelke was accepted into a research group on campus called the Financial Investment Review as one of only eight freshman analysts selected out of 260 people.

“The research skills and lessons I’ve learned as a mergers and acquisitions analyst from them will forever help me,” said Shelke. “But FYBY was a large part of my life for those two years, and moving away has obviously limited my ability to engage in FYBY activities. I did talk with Sai and helped create SAT videos from time to time.”

Shelke plans to play a much larger role in the organization this year, with plans to transfer to UNC-Chapel Hill in the fall.

In addition to his love for business, Shelke also enjoys playing ultimate frisbee — so much so that he started an ultimate frisbee league during his time at Panther Creek High School. But like his co-founders, Shelke’s biggest challenge over the last two years has been trying to find the time to do all the things that he loves.

“I wake up around 10 and don’t go to sleep until 1 or 2 a.m. simply because of the magnitude of the work I’m getting. I’m also working on a project with Charles Schwab Ameritrade right now, and I’ve been assisting their mergers and acquisitions deal, plus the whole transfer process to UNC is taking a lot of my time. I’m not a time management guru by any means,” said Shelke with a laugh.

Shelke says his biggest inspiration is the Shelke family name. His great-grandfather was a pro wrestler in an Indian village who never lost a fight and always provided for his family. His grandfather moved from the village to the city of Mumbai, working long hours to provide for his entire family.

“When my dad came into this world, my grandfather was already providing for nine people and my dad already had two other siblings,” said Shelke. “He kind of fed off of this Shelke mindset, seeing what his father and grandfather had accomplished and wanting to expand on it. He studied extremely hard during his time in India. Just seeing how much my heritage has accomplished, I want to further that and create a legacy for my children and their children. I want to help people.”

Shelke’s father, Anil, may be his biggest inspiration — but when speaking to Anil, one has to question who inspires whom.

“Aryan is a smart, determined, and funloving person with a zeal to help students achieve their dreams,” said Anil Shalke. “He has earned many accolades at a very young age — winner of DECA, receiving the Top Investor Award, and his work with FYBY, to name a few. He is very focused on his work, extraordinarily disciplined, and always strives to give his best in whatever he does.” t

“Since freshman year, I’ve had this drive, and I work hard on whatever I do. Regardless of the career I pursue in my life, I’m going to try and match that level of dedication wherever I go.”