Sanjana Makkuni
Sanjana Makkuni is a student at Walter Payton College Prep in Chicago with a strong commitment to expanding educational access. She began tutoring in fifth grade through Queen’s United Chess, where she first discovered her passion for teaching.
As she became involved in debate, she noticed that students from underserved schools weren’t held back by a lack of ability, but by a lack of access to resources and support. Motivated by this realization, she returned to National Teachers Academy—the CPS elementary school she once attended—to lead debate workshops for younger students.
In middle school, Sanjana became a key contributor to XL in MATH (xlinmath.com), a free platform designed to make math more visual and accessible for K–12 learners. Today, she continues to run debate workshops at NTA, leads math sessions through Inspired Youth Tutoring, and grows XL in MATH—all driven by her belief that every student deserves someone who shows up for them.
Ajay Makkuni
“I think, therefore I am,” wrote the great French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes—a quote that first resonated with me through my high school mathematics teacher and sparked a lifelong passion for the subject.
I am Ajay Makkuni, a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, and I have been fortunate to learn from exceptional teachers, advisors, and mentors throughout my academic and professional journey. This early fascination with mathematics naturally evolved into a focus on mathematical modeling, process simulation, and computer programming within my field. It has also shaped my strong personal interest in finance and investment analysis.
Beyond my professional work, I find deep fulfillment in teaching and mentoring. Although an engineer by training, I have always been drawn to the broader dimensions of education—content development, effective presentation, understanding the target audience, and, most importantly, fostering comprehension, retention, application, and independent thinking.