Round Square International Service Project

King Constantine award Ishaan Surve

Ishaan Surve, recipient of the prestigious King Constantine Award, exemplifies exceptional leadership marked by empathy, innovation, and entrepreneurial drive. At a remarkably young age, he has transformed his vision into meaningful, large-scale social and environmental impact through his initiative, Praakruti. What sets Ishaan apart is not only his creativity and diligence, but also his ability to unite diverse communities, from rural villagers to urban schools, around a shared commitment to ecological sustainability.

 

 

Praakruti reflects Ishaan’s belief that children’s play can also be a powerful instrument for environmental change. In a toy sector dominated by plastic, Ishaan has pioneered eco-friendly DIY toy kits that reconnect children with nature through materials like pinecones, seashells, and pods sourced ethically from tribal communities across India. What began as a personal investment of $180 has grown into a venture with $21,500 in sales, with 50% of profits—over $4500 —reinvested in tribal welfare. To date, Ishaan has empowered 56 tribal families across 19 states, providing sustainable livelihoods and a secondary source of income of $7200.

 

 

Ishaan is committed to building a cyclical economy where the profits achieved from Praakruti are reinvested for the benefit of the local rural communities. He has organised multiple hands-on interactive toy-building workshops and donation drives for essential supplies including stationary, school bags and blankets in 23 government-aided schools for 8,000+ students. These initiatives have had a major impact with local principals and teachers noting that their students have been inspired to pursue eco-entrepreneurship by refashioning the natural materials found nearby into creative toys, artworks or other use cases and they have gained a deeper appreciation for nature through the treasure hunt workshops Ishaan conducted. In recognition of his sustained impact, he was awarded with the IB Global Youth Action Fund of $1500 which has supported him in scaling up his rural impact initiatives further. His work has drawn appreciation from eminent personalities such as Mrs. Sudha Murthy, Ms. Namita Thapar, Ms. Kiran Rao, and Dr. Srikanta Panigrahi—leaders in fields ranging from sustainability to business and philanthropy.

 

 

 

Ishaan has utilised his profits to launch environmental sensitisation campaigns in rural and urban areas. For example, Ishaan being a Thespian himself, identified passionate students in the Wada village and mentored them in Speech and Drama. He launched a Rural Street Play Collective and collaborated with a local NGO to help 25 students discover their love for theatre and sparked conversations in villages on essential issues like firewood conservation and plastic consumption. All the students have become self-driven, eager to explore more theatre and have started experimenting with blending Indian ‘qawali’ styles with monologues and mimes. Till date the troupe has sensitised 18000 villagers from 35 villages generating major change.

 

 

To inspire more changemakers and encourage more people to adopt greener lifestyles Ishaan participated in 9 trade shows including the Ananta Exhibition organised by the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and gave leadership talks in 15 schools through which he inspired many students to start their own changemaking journeys. For example, students who thought that they could start their changemaking journey only after getting much older, realised from Ishaan’s example that they could begin right away. To provide structural support to all such enthusiastic green warriors he established Praakruti’s Young Eco-Hero Program, through which he started environmental clubs in 10+ schools and partnered with 50+ student volunteers to support them in inculcating sustainability at their schools. Ishaan has also been featured by local and national level newspapers and podcasts through which he has reached out to more people to make a positive change for the environment.

 

At DAIS Ishaan served as the Round Square Student Committee Chair, participating in multiple initiatives to engage the student community with Round Square IDEALS from the EKTA Conference, World Food Day and Earth Day Events and the Recyclathon Initiative. He introduced Sustainable Innovation Challenge to explore the intersection of STEM and environmentalism by developing tech-driven solutions to real-world eco-issues. He guided students on how they can leverage their skills to build real world solutions to global problems and his efforts translated to making a real difference to the students. For instance, teachers noticed that students who were very shy and reserved before the competition became more self-confident and capable leaders.

 

 

Ishaan is committed to solving real world social and environmental problems and his goal is to bring about sustainable change at the national and international level. Round Square has been an integral part of Ishaan’s high school journey. He will forever cherish and remember the multitude of experiences, lessons and skills he has gained while organising Round Square conferences, interacting with delegates from all over the world and mentoring junior leaders. Round Square has truly supported Ishaan in growing into a passionate changemaker and he aspires to continue followings its IDEALS while making his impact on the world.

 

 

 

 

Website link: www.praakruti.com/