About Us
Two students.
One real problem.
We started Solar Scholars because we kept reading the same stat: hundreds of millions of kids can't study after dark, and it felt like something that shouldn't still be a problem.
Vrishak Lingineni
Co-founder
Nagasai Lohith Anumula
Co-founder
The Founders
Nagasai Lohith Anumula & Vrishak Lingineni
We're both 10th graders at Uplift North Hills Prep in DFW, Texas. We started Solar Scholars because the more we learned about energy poverty, the harder it was to just do nothing about it.
The specific thing that got us: in rural Kenya, a lot of families still use kerosene lamps after dark. That stuff is expensive, it's toxic, and it barely even works well enough to read by. So when the sun goes down, studying basically stops. That felt fixable to us.
We're not going to pretend we have everything figured out. We don't. We're still fundraising, and we haven't shipped a single lantern yet. But we found a real partner on the ground in Kenya, and we're working hard to make this actually happen.
Transparency Report
Honest update, June 2026
We are actively raising money toward our first distribution.
We have not distributed any lanterns yet — we are preparing with WestLight Solar CBO in Kenya.
Every dollar donated is matched dollar-for-dollar by Unite to Light. Your money goes twice as far.
Why This Matters to Us
“We don't think access to light at night should be a privilege. It's not a complicated problem. It just needs people to actually do something about it.”
Nagasai & Vrishak, Solar Scholars co-founders
Help us reach $1,000 by the end of 2026.
We are two high school students raising money for something real. WestLight is ready. Unite to Light doubles every dollar. We just need the funding.