A group of Mason High School sophomores has donated more than 22,000 social-emotional learning resources to classrooms across three states through a nonprofit they founded earlier in 2026.

Sonali Kulkarni, a sophomore and founder of the Handmade Gifts Initiative (HGI), started the organization around March 2026 to give teachers ready-made lesson kits that blend science instruction with social-emotional learning (SEL), The MHS Chronicle reported Sept. 18. SEL teaches students skills like teamwork, anger management and conflict resolution.

The group's biggest project so far: 20,000 hoop gliders packaged into 667 classroom kits, each built for 30 students. The kits paired aerodynamics lessons aligned with Ohio academic standards and Next Generation Science Standards with SEL exercises. HGI donated the materials through a summer 2026 partnership with Crayons and Beyond, a Cincinnati-based nonprofit formerly known as Crayons to Computers that has provided free school supplies to teachers since 1997.

Those 667 kits reached classrooms in 16 counties across Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. The kits were free.

Kulkarni told The Chronicle that each kit let 30 students build their own hoop gliders. The lesson "focused on the aerodynamic concepts" of the glider "and combined teamwork, anger management, and conflict resolution from social-emotional learning," she said.

Kulkarni said she created HGI to remove the awkwardness students sometimes feel around SEL topics and to give teachers practical tools they can use without extra prep time.

The team behind HGI includes several Mason High students. Nyx Shek, a sophomore and founding member, co-leads a bilingual books project. Navisha Ranjan, also a sophomore, heads the group's communications. Freshman Kiara Kanade and sophomore Sophia Li helped package the 667 classroom kits.

Ranjan told The Chronicle that SEL matters to the team because, as teenagers, they are still learning to handle unfamiliar emotions themselves.

Kulkarni said she sees the 22,000 donated items as a starting point and wants to keep expanding HGI's reach. The group is developing bilingual books that teach SEL concepts and launching a virtual SEL club for students in grades five through nine. No launch dates for either project have been announced.