Del. student’s nonprofit grows from 300 to nearly 58,000 users, expanding free STEM access globally

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For many students, academic enrichment — especially in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM fields — depends on access. Access to tutors, expensive textbooks, competition fees and even awareness that opportunities exist. For students without those resources, curiosity can stall before it ever has a chance to grow.

That inequity is what pushed Satya Kokonda, a sophomore at the Charter School of Wilmington, to create CompetifyHub. The student-run nonprofit provides free academic competition resources to students worldwide.

“Back in middle school, I was more invested in math competitions and I saw many of my peers, one of my friends particularly, was extremely bright, but didn’t really have access to these competition resources for math that seemed almost standard in these really high-level competitions,” Kokonda said. “That did set him back, and I felt that that wasn’t really fair because they loved math. They had a very obvious passion.”

What began as a small, informal Discord group has since grown into a global nonprofit reaching tens of thousands of students, a rapid expansion far exceeding Kokonda’s expectations.

“I thought it would be amazing if I could have just a few hundred people that are interested. I thought it would be a weird niche in some random corner of the internet that maybe some people if they were really looking might find it, maybe a few hundred at best,” he said. “More people started to actually find out about it. Those people told their friends. A few people saw our resources then wanted to join us.”

CompetifyHub officially published its free textbooks in November 2024. While Kokonda said the organization had already been distributing resources through various partnerships before the launch, growth accelerated rapidly after the platform’s official release.

In its first month, 306 students used CompetifyHub’s math textbooks. That number grew to 3,511 within three months, reached roughly 13,000 by six months, and, as of early January 2026, Kokonda said 57,751 students worldwide have used the platform’s materials.

One of the organization’s guiding principles is free access, a deliberate choice rooted in what Kokonda learned about barriers faced by students globally.

“Competitions themselves are heavily gate-kept and with high entrance fees. Even to access competition or to start training, there seems to be such a high level of barrier,” he said. “Free access, I think, is the epitome of creating a venue for people to compete and show who really cares the most and enable that sort of social mobility that I’m looking for.”

In November 2025, CompetifyHub hosted its Fall International Math Championship, a virtual, weeklong competition involving students across dozens of countries.

“The most challenging part of hosting it would be the logistics,” Kokonda said. “Because over 60 countries participate in the competition.”

While CompetifyHub began with math, it has expanded into biology, chemistry and research-based competitions. The nonprofit also recently secured a Delaware Foundation for Science and Math Education grant to help launch a local research equipment library, allowing students to borrow tools they might otherwise never have access to.

Looking ahead, Kokonda said the global nonprofit will continue to serve the underserved community and work alongside schools and school organizations.

“It’s meant for students who are interested but not able. They don’t have the traditional tutors, they don’t have these expensive textbooks to really pursue that passion,” he said. “I think the most life-changing aspect of this and something that I’m really looking forward to bringing through school partners and really bringing it to the forefront of students’ minds.”