Amitha Harsha is no stranger to creating change.

"My parents taught me the most important lesson of my life: knowledge is mobility, and education is the vehicle."

As the daughter of immigrants to the US, Amitha’s parents lived in India in near-poverty conditions. Growing up, she was surrounded by family looking to change their financial futures by pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Her mother and father, both engineers, instilled the value of education in Amitha and her siblings from a young age. This was a huge generational shift from the traditional roles that had been the cultural norm for her family in India. For Amitha, education was the catalyst that created this change in her family, and ultimately, her own future.

“When my parents moved to the US, their education was crucial to creating a life of opportunity for themselves and their three children,” says Amitha. “Without this education, the American dream would have been just that—a dream. Their example motivated me to pursue my own passions and pay it forward.”

Today, Amitha is a senior manager at Deloitte and one of the founders and architects of its Smart Factory Believers program, where she spearheads the development and execution of the program’s strategic vision. The Believers program is a Deloitte-led education and skills initiative, created for The Smart Factory by Deloitte @ Wichita. It’s designed to help students build the skills they need to thrive in the growing manufacturing industry and beyond, provide access to high-quality STEM learning, and prepare the next generation of students to enter successful careers in the future workforce.

From its start, she designed the program’s mission to intentionally support lower-income communities where high-quality STEM education was unattainable. “Given my own personal journey, I wanted to empower students and teachers who may not have the most robust resources in their schools. I wanted to give children the opportunity to explore and reach their highest potential through innovative learning experiences,” she says.

Thanks to Amitha and her team, the Believers program has distributed more than 3,190 STEM kits, impacting more than 25,980 students in 145 schools to date—and the results are powerful: Nearly three-quarters of teachers using the program report increased engagement from their students in STEM, and increased interest in STEM career paths. Many teachers in the program say it has increased their students’ 21st-century skills with hands-on learning, programming, and coding using the Smart Rover, the STEM kit provided by Deloitte and its collaborators.

Beyond numbers, Amitha has experienced several moving moments in her role. One occurred with a high school Robotics team in Wayne-Westland Community School District in Michigan, which quickly rose to the top of state Robotics competitions after its initial foray with the Believers program. Amitha had the honor of informing their Robotics team that the Believers program and Deloitte would help send them to the 2023 FIRST Robotics Competition in Houston, Texas—something their school and families would not have been able to do. As part of the trip, the students experienced a day at Deloitte, where employees and volunteers showed the team STEM career possibilities.

“A comprehensive STEM program in school districts is a win-win. For teachers, students, and administrators, it means enhanced educational experiences and better learning outcomes with career-connected skills. For Deloitte, our clients, and our ecosystem and alliances, it’s an opportunity to develop STEM skills in early education, creating a pipeline of talent for the future workforce,” she says.

As the Believers program continues to grow, Amitha often reflects on the opportunity to align her personal values with daily work—all to give under-resourced communities a chance and career pathways just like she had.

“I BELIEVE that our program will inspire the workforce of the future—not only providing under-resourced students with options for career mobility, but also showing children that there is a place for them in the workforce, no matter their economic status.”