This week I filed the paperwork to start the Sujeeth Foundation. I want to use the foundation to unlock the opportunity of education. Education can train our youth to undertake professions that can enrich their lives.

Today, education is broken:

  • Only 34% of workers in the US are engaged. This means that most people are not happy with their jobs.
  • Student borrowers accumulated nearly $30,000 in undergraduate debt. This debt can be a burden for years after graduation.

It doesn’t have to be this way:

  • Teaching youth growth mindset unlocks the potential for development. Failure is part of success and embracing failure helps people take risks that lead to change.
  • Passion for what you do stems from learning what you do well and investing to develop your skills to solve a meaningful problem.
  • At their best, academic institutions are a place where experimentation thrives and opportunities to grow are abundant.
  • The mindset of the student matters.

The Sujeeth Foundation provides scholarships to college students pursuing a STEM degree or graduate studies. Scholarships are awarded based on Grit scores. All applicants can take advantage of provided growth mindset training and other services.

I was raised in a family that believed in education. I was told that if I studied hard, I would be recruited by employers and be ushered into a rewarding career. The formula for success was simple - get good grades. I ended up earning my B.A. in Economics from Saint Louis University in three frantic years. During that time I also worked to support myself. I didn’t sleep very much. I also didn’t spend a significant amount of the time in the career center. At the end of three years, I went to work at a call center.

I felt that the promise was broken.

In hindsight, I realized that I missed the point. People don’t hire you because of what you have done, they hire you because of what they think you can do. I couldn’t say what I wanted to do. I couldn’t explain how my skills were valuable. I didn’t have a framework to launch a career from.

Later, I went back to school full time to earn my MBA from Washington University. This time I was focused on entering consulting. I had a clear picture that I needed to show that my accounting and analytic skills could contribute to a consulting team. I eventually found a home at Microsoft that my valued my analytic skills, my technical propensity, and my sales experience.

In a moment, the opportunity I received changed my stars.

This organization, this effort, is my attempt to pay forward the opportunity I was given. I want to help people get jobs they love. I think school is a great way to accomplish that if you keep the goal in focus. That is why I filed the paperwork.