Inspired by unused school infrastructure, Class 11 student comes up with a project

Mesmerised by the ambience of his school German International Academy Chennai (GIAC) and saddened by the unused infrastructure of the school due to the pandemic, Sunil Kumar, a Class 11 student at GIAC came up with the idea of Thinkbar in January this year. Thinkbar project is a workspace initiative that allows people to use the infrastructure facilities of the GIAC. “I started this Thinkbar project with the help of my business teacher Sathya. It all started when we were having one of our business classes and she was talking about how to use infrastructure better and use what is available to us. This made me ponder upon the school and its unused infrastructure (due to the pandemic) that we have here and wondered how we can put this infrastructure to better use. Then, I came up with the idea of Thinkbar, where we put the school infrastructure to better use and ensure that other people can also benefit from it,” says Sunil Kumar.

The Thinkbar project provides a workspace surrounded by nature, classes on yoga, swimming, surfing and martial arts, plant-based food from the German bakery, business solutions by experienced professionals and tuitions for students. “We conduct extra-curricular activities like classes for swimming, surfing, yoga and martial arts; in addition to that, we have our bakery here that serves healthy food. This will help the visitors have fun, relax and enjoy. Apart from that, we also have our business solutions -- so if a person wants to start a business, he/she can come here and get the ideas, and support he/she needs to start a business. Right now, not many people have visited, only the students of the school and their parents as we are yet to open it fully. Once the pandemic situation is over, we will be able to fully open it up,” adds the 16-year-old student.

“The fees would depend on what the people want to do like if they want it for two days it would be different from the three-day package. Since it would vary from person to person, they can contact us directly regarding the fees,” says Varshini, front office manager, GIAC.