Thread by @MubeenMasudi

2022 marks 10 years since I started @RiseWithRiSE
With my student @tak_adeeba graduated from University of Pennsylvania earlier this week, makes this year even more monumental for me & Rise.

However, my 10 yrs journey has been full of challenges and learnings.
1/n

In 2012, I just quit my job at ZS, and with a naivety of a 22 yr old moved back to Kashmir, with a seemingly simple aim of improving the representation of Kashmiri students at premier institutes of the world. Using my little savings (~$1000) I started Rise.
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I was helped by @tanujb to setup the website of rise (rise-institute.com then) and the content of my first lecture. I had never taught before. I started writing in local dailies about the benefits of studying at top universities.
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I failed miserably. For first year I had a total of 5 students. They used to joke, if one of them were absent - they would fit in my car. I would pretend to find that funny. The first year involved a lot of self-reflection and unlearning.
4/n

I was focusing on solutions without understanding the unique context of Kashmiri students who typically lose years of schooling due to frequent lockdowns. The conflict makes them think short term and focus on just school exams instead of IITs or IVY leagues.
5/n

I became empathetic & focused on gaining deeper understanding of Kashmiri students' challenges instead of solutions that worked for me in mainland India. I got 99.99%ile in CAT'13 & offer from IIM AC. Didn't join but leveraged it for Rise's PR (kashmirlife.net/serving-people…)
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By end of 2103 Rise was finally growing by word of mouth and gaining the trust of student & educator community. However, in 2014 floods struck in Kashmir. And Rise was under 14ft water for months. I lost all the money invested in study material and other resources.

7/n

We resumed operations after 3 months. Srinagar looked like a warzone. That day has been the most difficult lecture of my life. I made a 20 minutes passionate speech in that broken classroom filled with 20 young students. The content of that speech is a topic for another day.
8/n

In 2015 I was joined by @imbesatahmad who then got in @iShahidSalman. Two of the best things that have ever happened to Rise. And I consider myself extremely fortunate for this.
9/n

With a bigger team we grew multifold. We conducted the largest ever talent search in the history of Kashmir. We identified numerous talented students from across Kashmir. And one of them was @tak_adeeba :-)
10/n

In 2016, for the first time, 4 of our students made it to IITs. Our first achievement in the direction of creating relatable role models in Kashmir. Something critical for anyone who is working in conflict zones.

11/n

One of them Aneeb from Shopian. So here is the thing, in 2015 I was shocked to learn that I was the first ever Kashmiri muslim to pursue undergrad at @iitbombay. Turns out the second was my student, Malik Aneeb who got into IIT Bombay!
12/n

As students started making it to premier universities, Rise grew multifold.
We had our setbacks
- 4 months lockdown in 2016 (Used to teach at 5 am in the morning to escape the curfew)
- 3 months lockdown in 2019 post article 370

But we strived.

13/n

Covid related lockdowns in 2020 added to our woes. But unlike most of the world we were not new to lockdowns. We kind of became experts in dealing with them.
We leveraged our deep and unique understanding of education to solve for challenges beyond Kashmir.

14/n

Digressing a bit

I also went viral :P
thequint.com/my-report/covi…

15/n

We started @askfilo (by @imbesatahmad ) to solve for lack of access to quality tutors across India. I created @wiseapplive (with @extraremarks) to help educators across the country struggling to teaching online!

aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/2…

16/n

Fast forward 2022. @RiseWithRiSE continues to work closely with Kashmiri students to get them the success they deserve. Last year 10 of our students made it to IITs. Next year, among many other things, @moinmir6 will graduate from Princeton University.
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And, Filo (askfilo.com) and Wise (wise.live) have been backed by marquee investors across the globe to create a worldwide impact.

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In 2012, in a classroom full of just 5 students if you had told us that this is where we had end up I would have called you crazy just like most of my students' parents and school principals in Kashmir called me in 2012.

19/n

If you want to work in Education or want to create the next EdTech focus on students' problems. To understand then it takes a lot of humility, empathy and unlearning.

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