Sonia Leo (left to right), Diya Rajan, Aryash Srivastava, Arunabh Pratik and Deven Butani of the STEMPower Network at the 2025 STEAM Expo in Willingboro on April 16.
Members of the STEMPower Network – a group of STEM-driven high-school students founded by Moorestown resident Deven Butani – participated in the 2025 STEAM Expo at Hawthorne Park Elementary School in Willingboro on April 16.
The interactive event, in partnership with the Willingboro school disrict and the All Things Are Possible (ATAP) Foundation, is designed to inspire students and the community by showcasing the world of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). While vendors included 1st Colonial Community Bank, the Willingboro library, Rowan College at Burlington County, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), the Willingboro police department, Studio Diva and PSE&G, among others, the STEMPower Network was the only student-led organization at the expo.
“It was surreal, because I remember about a year ago, we had just started to connect to these outside communities – Willingboro is one of those communities – and then a year later, we have already established ourselves as one of these organizations within the whole community that has been recognized by people like the deputy mayor of Willingboro (Nathaniel Anderson) and Dr. Worthy (Dr. Tiffani Worthy, co-founder and CEO of the ATAP Foundation) as an organization that’s pushing STEM forward,” Butani explained of participating in the STEAM Expo.
“We have the passion, and we have the drive to promote STEM within this community, and it (the STEAM Expo) went better than I could have ever imagined.”
The STEMPower Network is committed to providing STEM opportunities to as many underserved students as possible. The group has created various STEM programs in communities with limited resources in STEM learning. The STEMPower Network provides experiential learning through engaging experiments and long-term establishments such as makerspaces. Members include Butani, a senior at the Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, Sonia Leo, a junior at Moorestown High School, Diya Rajan, a junior at the Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, Aryash Srivastava, a freshman at Moorestown High School, Arunabh Pratik, a sophomore at the Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science, Anjali Shah a junior at Moorestown Friends School and Jason Youssef, a junior at Moorestown Friends School.
The ATAP Foundation serves over 500 children annually with out-of-school-time (OST) programs, including before and after school care, full-day fall, spring, and summer programs, STEAM workshops and other academic and cultural enrichment programs for K-8 and teens. Founded in 2007 by Tiffani and Dr. Carlos Worthy, the ATAP Foundation helps students discover what they can achieve by broadening their knowledge and experiences beyond the borders of their own community.
“Everything that the community needs is within reach, and we’re able to establish partnerships year after year to make this event highly attended and very impactful,” Worthy said of the STEAM Expo. “Accessibility to people who are doing things that are amazing helps the students know that this is something attainable, and it’s right here in their community … It was a great opportunity for the students to partner with different STEAM professionals doing the type of work that the students may aspire to be able to do.”
