CreatED

Giving Students the Freedom to Build

For Aashna Saraf, the path to founding CreatED began with a child’s curiosity and the freedom to explore an idea.

A few years ago, Aashna was building Legos with her seven-year-old nephew when they began thinking about what they could build without instructions. That evening, they went on a “problem walk” around their neighborhood, looking for problems they might be able to solve using Lego robots. Her nephew pointed out the smell from open sewers and gutters, particularly during monsoon season when waste could overflow onto the streets.

The two spent the following week designing, building, and programming “Fresh-o”, a Lego robot that moved around and sprayed air freshener. They then spent hours taking it to different parks and streets and deploying it. For Aashna, watching her nephew move from an idea to building something himself showed her what could happen when children are given trust and the opportunity to explore.

That experience became the inspiration for CreatED, an innovation hub that gives high school students opportunities to ideate, create, and build projects that address real-world problems. Students can explore areas including AI, sustainability, biotechnology, and design, with their work extending to prototypes, research, and startups.

CreatED also responds to what Aashna sees as a growing need for critical thinking in education. As AI makes it increasingly easy to produce polished work, the venture is developing tools and approaches designed to make conceptual thinking visible and validated, alongside expert mentorship and competition opportunities.

For Aashna, the goal is to create the kind of environment where students can move beyond following instructions and take the lead in turning their own ideas into something real.