In front of old polyvinyl chloride pipes and pots of plants, senior Manav Choudhary works on assembling a hydroponic garden — a garden in which plants are able to be replenished by nutrient-rich water instead of soil. His years of building experience culminated in his most major achievement during his junior year.

“The garden was my most complex build, especially because I had never really worked with electrical parts before,” Choudhary said. “There were small motors in my past projects, but, in this one, everything had to be controlled.”
Choudhary first discovered his interest in building during Boy Scouts in middle school, where he crafted small side projects such as bird feeders. Since then, his passion has blossomed into increasingly advanced projects, like his garden. Choudhary considers himself as being a self-taught builder, as he learned from YouTube tutorials and designed many projects from scratch. This hobby taught him many lessons, including perseverance and creativity.
“I had to engineer my way through,” Choudhary said, “For example, a problem I had with the hydroponic garden was trying to get the water pump to distribute all the water properly. It was a challenge to figure out how to supply the water equally to each plant and have it come back into the bucket.”
Furthermore, Choudhary hopes to share his projects with the public, such as the working amplitude modulation radio he constructed for a science fair, as well as his recent hydroponic garden design. He is currently creating an updated hydroponic garden.
“Once you start small, you can only go up from there,” said Choudhary. “Learn as much as you can, focus on small things first, and once you’ve learned enough you can advance to more complex projects. Soon enough, you’ll feel really proud of yourself.”