How It All Started: A Boba Shop, a Big Dream, and a Lot of Heart

Every idea has a beginning.Ours started with four friends, a table sticky with matcha, and the warm hum of conversation at our favorite spot: Cha Cha Cha.

We were just hanging out, laughing over tiger milk tea and strawberry matcha, when the conversation drifted — like it always does — to India. All of us have roots there. And all of us have vivid memories of walking down the street and seeing kids our age — or younger — selling snacks, wiping car windows, or sitting quietly with empty bowls in their laps. No tablets, no classrooms, no access to the world of information that we so easily take for granted.

That stuck with us. It still sticks with us.

Somewhere between a shared order of popcorn chicken and a few more polaroid pictures, the idea sparked:What if we could do something — even something small — to help bring access to education and technology to kids who need it most?

That was the beginning of Project Pathway. Not a giant nonprofit. Not a perfect plan. Just a bunch of determined teens with laptops, passion, and a vision: to open pathways for students in underserved communities through tech literacy and support.

Since that day at Cha Cha Cha, we’ve hosted our first coding workshop, launched this website, and started building connections with organizations in India. We’ve made mistakes (turns out people don’t donate much just because you ask nicely 😅), but we’ve also learned so much — and we’re only getting started.

We hope you’ll join us on this journey. Because change doesn’t have to start big — it just has to start.