Ajay Bhavan

A Bright Life

25-year-old Subbarao Polineni arrived in New York with nothing but 7 dollars in his pocket. With his last relative, his mother, passing away in South India, he immigrated to start a new life. He had no family, friends, or even a pair of shoes. Today, Polineni is an eminent hand surgeon, a beloved father, and the founder of a school for orphans in India.

He is my grandfather.

Although enigmatic without context, my grandfather’s prosperity stems from a humble origin: education. 8 years ago, I first learned about his mesmeric story. “How did you do it?” I asked. “How did you succeed with nothing but 7 dollars?” He replied, “Education. Education is the greatest gift of mankind. It should be our goal to ensure that each generation receives it.”

Puzzled, I ruminated on this notion about education. As an elementary schooler, I couldn’t quite comprehend education as a gift. With the exception of silent reading time, all I really cared about was recess and lunch. I genuinely had no idea as to why education was even necessary. However, I began to think about the Bright Life Foundation - the school created by my grandfather. I was going to see Bright Life for the first time in June. While I had no prior knowledge of the school’s mission or purpose, The Bright Life Foundation forever altered my perspective on education.

When I first arrived at Bright Life, my initial instincts were to play cricket with the students, enjoy the cafeteria food, and tour the campus buildings. Before I could do any of that, however, I noticed Bright Life’s mission statement plastered on a wall. It read, “We are committed to providing orphans, street children, and those affected by HIV a free education of the highest quality, room and board, health care, and counseling services to empower them with tools for a brighter future.”

Bright Life’s mission statement perfectly captures why education is a gift: because it creates opportunities and promotes growth. It allows the future Subbarao Polineni’s of the world to arise and succeed. On that day, I swore to become an earnest learner, taking advantage of every academic opportunity that I have been blessed with.

As I have gotten older and spent more summers at Bright Life, I’ve realized that, eventually, my Grandfather wants me to run the school. Those are big shoes to step into. He has allocated the majority of his earnings towards philanthropy, fighting for social justice his entire life. While his magnanimity is inimitable, it has inspired me to follow in his footsteps. Recently, I’ve spearheaded my own fight for educational equity on a local scale: with a school supply drive.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dallas Independent School District endured a plethora of setbacks. Educational resources were limited, months of learning had been lost, and disadvantaged students were still expected to return for in-person instruction.

As the President of Jesuit’s Key Club, I began my initiative by contacting DISD schools in need. With the help of United to Learn, we determined that the drive should benefit Joe May Elementary School.

I collaborated with Key Club members to help me raise awareness of the drive. We created posters, made announcements, uploaded videos, and wrote an article for the newspaper. Even Key Club’s faculty moderator - an AP Statistics teacher - provided an extra-credit incentive to his students who donated. As soon as the word got out, we set up bins in front of the cafeteria. The collection was set to last for two weeks, but the bins were completely full by the end of week one. In total, we raised over six hundred school supplies for Joe May.

That drive was my attempt to bring some Bright Life to Dallas.