Women Who Reign: Aashka Patel

“You should never view your challenges as a disadvantage. Instead, it’s important for you to understand that your experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of your biggest advantages.” — Michelle Obama

Tell us about yourself along with a fun fact!
Hi there. My name is Aashka Patel and I am a senior at Morris County School of Technology in the Academy of Computer and Information Sciences.

I am a strong advocate for women’s rights globally (especially their right to an education). I am involved with Girl Up, a UN Foundation, that lets girls advocate for girls’ education, health, safety, leadership, and their need to be documented globally. I co-founded my school’s chapter to fundraise, advocate, and educate about issues that affect women in developing countries. Through Girl Up, I even had the chance to interview one of my girl heroes, Malala Yousafzai, during the NY premiere of He Named Me Malala.

I also love hackathons. After attending a few hackathons and building web applications, an Android app to help college students with budgeting, and a VR simulator to promote safer ATM transactions, I decided to bring the experiences to my school. I co-founded hackMCST (hackmcst.tech), a high school hackathon, to build a stronger hacker community in my region and create a space for those who love coding and…