Each week, Sharon Patch will seek suggestions from readers for individual kids, youth groups, teens, and even sports teams that wow us with their accomplishments. We want to hear about these amazing children and teens and select one each week as the Patch Whiz Kid. Submit your nomination in our comment box below or e-mail the information to Michael.Gelbwasser@patch.com.
Here's our story on this week's Whiz Kid:
Rohit Krishnan, 17, Sharon
Senior at Sharon High School
Whiz Kid’s Accomplishment:
Sharon High School senior Rohit Krishnan helps his elderly neighbor shovel out from snowstorms.
Local seniors and the disabled will see more of such volunteer efforts if a project Krishnan is developing gets some help.
Krishnan is working on www.FriendlyNeighborhood.org, a website he says would allow the elderly and the disabled to find volunteers willing to do odd jobs.
"I just thought it would be useful if my neighbor could actually say that she needs help, and then people in my community could help, because people are looking for places to volunteer," Krishnan, 17, says.
"So far, I know bits and pieces of coding and HTML -- enough to do this. But I don't know the intricacies of how websites like these work in the law perspective, to keep others safe."
Krishnan hopes to include a counter allowing volunteers to track their hours.
One friend suggested integrating social media into the site, he says.
Such a feature might point potential volunteers to where their friends are helping out, he says. Logging into FriendlyNeighborhood from one's Facebook account is another possibility.
Krishnan hopes to launch the site this summer, before heading to college.
"This is going to be a hobby," he says.
"I don't know where it's going to take me."