October 2016 - Blog Post 1

This past month, I received the amazing news that I would be a part of the Youth Leadership of Greensboro Board. I was in the organization as a leadership member last year and tried for board, but unfortunately did not make it. However, a vacancy opened up and I was the first one to be called! I was so excited, because I had faced many rejections from other programs I had signed up for and it was nice to finally see something work out. It is also pretty funny and ironic how last year, I did not originally make the position as a member in the organization but a month after the program started, a vacancy opened up and I was also the first one called for that. I am a believer that everything happens for a reason, so I am grateful to ultimately receive this opportunity! I had my first meeting with the other board members and it was exciting to see the thinking process and amount of organization needed to plan the meetings. We have to have a lot of ideas, contacts, and plans to make sure the day events are successful. I also noticed how much reflection is emphasized to ensure the next meetings are even better, if possible! I was a little overwhelmed, but my excitement only grew for being a part of this amazing organization and a promising group of leaders.

Youth Leadership Greensboro: Batch of 2015 - 2016

September 2016 - Blog Post 1

Recently, I performed in the National Folk Festival! It was truly the most amazing experience. I did not have the opportunity to visit the folk festival last year, but I had heard about how colorful and lively the event was, so I was extremely enthusiastic when I found I would be able to go (and even perform!!) to it! I performed a classical Bharatnatyam dance at the Greensboro Historical Museum; this dance was one of the hardest dances because of the time (10 minute dance!!) and amount of footwork and hand gestures implemented. It was an honor to perform in a room full of people, who were intrigued and appreciative of the art form I practiced for the last eight years. The dance I performed was a dance I learned years ago, so it was a frustrating process to remember it on top of the bazillion other things I needed to do aside from dance. However, after practicing it a few times, my muscle memory took over and I was effortlessly able to perform it multiple times. I was ecstatic the week before the performance and I was unable to think about anything else (even the ACT on the same day... yikes!). It was a surreal experience and the venture I went on to explore the festival after my performance was incredible. I saw so many other beautiful performances, a street market, and the most number of food trucks I have ever seen. Along the way, I had three people photograph me because of my costume; I wonder if that was what a celebrity felt like!! Truly, one of the most exciting experiences in my life and I am so thankful to have had that amazing opportunity.

August 2016 - Blog Post 1

As a youth representative for the Indian Association of the Triad, I am in charge of brainstorming, initiating, and organizing cultural events. Aside from those events, I contribute to creating educational and enjoyable events solely for the youth representatives. We are currently working on a science fair to be demonstrated at the Natural Science Center. Two other leaders and I began this project, starting with a few fun experiment ideas and currently working with a fully developed science fair involving over fifteen volunteers and five large experiments and projects describing and explaining the phenomenons behind the experiments. We have carried out biweekly meetings, where we continue to discuss experiment ideas, organize and assign students to each experiment group, and practice the experiments in the meetings to ensure that the science fair runs smoothly. It has been a lengthy process because my dad, who is the vice president of the Indian Association of the Triad, frequently requires my assistance as he is the one who runs the youth leadership meetings, so I am always involved in finding meeting places, creating an agenda for the meeting, and helping to carry out the meeting under his instructions. In the end, however, I am definitely sure that everything will be successful and all of the children who contributed a lot of time and effort for the science fair will be proud of their hard work and accomplishments. Initiatives such as this make me proud to be a part of this wonderful, integrated community!

IB CAS Hour Table

Experience (2016)	Creativity (hours)	Activity (hours)	Service (hours)
Bharatnatyam	20
Flute	15
Voice	10
Hospice			10
Indian Association of the Triad			50
Service Learning Leadership Camp			55
Moses Cone			30
Cross Country		24
Basketball		6
Lifeguarding and Teaching Swim Lessons		76
NC A&T Research Internship		50
Total Hours Overall:	Total Creativity: 45	Total Activity: 156	Total Service: 145

June 2016 - Blog Post 2

I have continued to grow as a person, leader, and community member throughout all of my experiences for this CAS project. I gained so many new skills that will assist with my success in the future like time management, organization, and leadership. I was put in multiple different positions and I had to adapt to my position by adopting new skills and implementing different work methods to get the job done. I did a lot of creative, active, and service learning events that I have definitely learned a lot from and will help contribute to my abilities in the future. I have made new friends, learned so much, and participated in so many activities! I am pretty impressed with myself, if I do say so myself, because I approach this project using activities I have been doing my whole life or activities I have been doing before because I was genuinely interested. I don't just do these activities because they look good for collegea or because they fill up hours for CAS and service learning, I love everything I do and I am happy with what I have accomplished. All of the activities I have done which I will list out to show how amazing I am and to brag a little, including three different sports (cross country, track, and basketball), five clubs (Student Ambassadors, Mathletes, Science Olympiad, Lunch Buddies, IB CAS Club), three outside organizations (Youth Leadership of Greensboro, Indian Association of the Triad, and Girl Scouts), four musical instruments/activities (flute, voice, piano, and dance - Bharatnatyam), and the hard labor of IB on top of that has made it fun because each of these activities allows me to experiment with different opportunities and they act as nice outlets for me because of the stress of juggling it all! I have learned so much from these experiences, and this is in reference to life, and these are what I will be able to look back on in many years to come and think "I am so lucky to have been given this many opportunities because I was able to experiment with my many interests; I have learned so much from those experiences and am thankful they have contributed largely to the great and successful pediatrician (who has probably cured cancer) I am today."

June 2016 - Blog Post 1

IB CAS Hour Table

Experience (2016)	Creativity (hours)	Activity (hours)	Service (hours)
Bharatnatyam	23
Piano	23
Flute	11
Hospice			10
Indian Association of the Triad			25
Lunch Buddies			23
Youth Leadership of Greensboro		23
IB CAS Club			5
Basketball		30
Track		15
Total Hours Overall:	Total Creativity: 57	Total Activity: 68	Total Service: 63

May 2016 - Blog Post 1

I am an active dancer in the art of Bharatnatyam, and I have been since fourth grade (so I am going into my ninth year). Prior to that, I did ballet, tap, jazz, and hip hop at the downtown Greensboro Cultural Arts Center! I practice Bharatnatyam every Sunday morning for an hour with my wonderful teacher, Veena Argade, and my great dance partner (Janavi Mehta, one of the many classmates I have had over the years). Bharatnatyam is a type of classical Indian dance and it is something I thoroughly enjoy because the dances are complex, yet so meaningful and I feel a lot closer with my culture when participating in it. I am working towards achieving my Arangetram which is a grand performance (sort of like a graduation where you have to book a stage, typically at a school, hire catering, hire photographers, and invite lots of friends and family to see what is supposed to be your official introduction into performing) where you perform ten dances for a few hours, by yourself, to represent that you are officially ready to perform in public. I only have three dances left to learn this summer before I can finally set up and organize my Arangetram! I have learned an incredible amount from this dance class: I learned how to work on my toes to create new dances, I learned how to work diligently, I learned how to manage my time, and I have become much more disciplined because of the strictness of the art. Dancing is a side passion of mine and I am so happy to be able to participate in this beautiful dance with ties to my cultural background. (I have actually attached a picture to one of my first dances and a picture from a recent one)

April 2016 - Blog Post 2

On April 9, I also volunteered at the UNCG International Festival. I helped to set up booths and clean up after the event ended. I also got to watch the different performances and participate in the activities from the different booths. There were many cool, cultural dances and I actually knew some of the dancers from previous cultural festivals I had been to. There was also a performance by a diverse group of girls in the IB program in my grade and it was so amazing to watch! It was completely unexpected how talented those girls were in dancing because of how quiet they are in school and I truly enjoyed seeing them perform. I got to try different delicacies from different cultures, play games like ring toss and guess the country the displayed flag belongs to, etc. It was definitely a cool experience because I got to enjoy the event with my friends and I learned a lot from different cultures. I loved seeing the diversity among the crowd and it was so exciting learning about all of the places everyone came from. I definitely gained more knowledge on cultural backgrounds and I would say I learned about time management here too because I acted according to the schedule and had to learn when I needed to transition from setting up, to taking a break to walk around, to helping supply the booths, to watching performances, and finally to cleaning up. I loved the international festival and it was definitely a really cool way to learn about other cultures!

April 2016 - Blog Post 1

On April 9, I volunteered with the Earth Day celebration at the Kathleen Clay Edwards Library. I helped to set up the booths for the numerous organizations that signed up for the affair. It was a very exciting experience because there were so many different groups that came to talk about how their organization helps the environment and how they contribute to preserving the planet. There were clubs from school there to talk about projects they were working on specifically aimed at helping the planet, groups there to talk about different animals and their habitats, and groups there to set up fun activities like animal face painting, games, etc. It was intriguing seeing the different booths, I felt like I learned so much just from helping the organizations set up and briefly viewing the actual information on display. I felt like I gained some time management and organizational skills because I had to help the lady in charge keep track of all of the groups set up and make sure things were going according to schedule. I also had to work on my feet, like when groups didn't show up or when the parking lot was jammed but overall I had a lot of fun and learned an incredible amount of cool new stuff about our planet!

March 2016 - Blog Post 2

On March 27, the Indian Association of the Triad hosted a Holi celebration that was attended by over three hundred people. As a youth representative of this organization, I helped in distributing information, supplies (color and water guns), and entertainment. The weather was pretty dreary because it had rained a considerable amount the night before and the day of but it was awesome seeing how many people still bothered to show up and this is extremely cheesy but it really did not rain on our parade (ha ha)! I loved seeing how many people from our community, and not necessarily the Indian community, came to celebrate and join in! Even the staff members at the place we were at were joining in. I love celebrating my culture and being able to share it with my friends and family! I truly feel like a leader within the Indian community because I get to help with organizing the event and making sure it runs smoothly and I learn so much more about culture through events like this. It is events like these that make me feel more connected to where I am from.

March 2016 - Blog Post 1

On March 23, I had my last meeting session with the Youth Leadership of Greensboro. The theme for the day was Economy and Environment. First, we visited Syngenta. We specifically got to see the packaging room where we observed the different tests performed on packages to ensure their safety and durability. Next, we visited the Proximity. We took a tour of the entire hotel and learned about how energy sufficient the hotel was and it was probably my favorite part of the day. I had no idea this hotel was so invested in saving energy; every aspect of the hotel was dedicated to conserving energy and this tour intrigued me so much. The last place we visited was the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. We toured the building and I find it so interesting and neat that the business is dedicated to advising and assisting smaller and local businesses. The environmental part of the day was interesting to me and I very much enjoyed learning about different applications of environmentally dedicated business. Something that does not typically interest me is the economy, but the Nussbaum Center really caught my attention because I really like how this organization is the root of many small businesses that have since grown into something much bigger and more successful than it was when it first came to Nussbaum. I really enjoyed the day and reflecting back on the activities, I definitely think it contributed to my leadership skills because I got to look at different aspects of my community and learn more about how I can help in the future and what is going on presently.

February 2016 - Blog Post 2

A club I am frequently involved with at school is Lunch Buddies. I have been the president of the club for the last three years. Once a week, I sit with the disabled students in Mrs. Miller's class. This experience has been extremely enjoyable and something I look forward to every week. I love talking to the other students because they are so much fun to talk to and sit with. They lead interesting lives and I love getting to hear about what they do. I have made some new friends with this club and it has been a lot of fun getting to know new people. I make a new friend each time and it's nice having people open up to me. Many of the kids are pretty shy and quiet at first but once they get used to me being there, they talk to me more and I love how much more confident and open they are. This is an experience I am grateful to have been a part of for the last few years and I definitely want to keep this up until I graduate.

February 2016 - Blog Post 1

I am a member of the Youth Representatives of Greensboro and we meet once a month to discuss and explore different issues and aspects of the city of Greensboro. For the February day session, our topic was Serving Society. We got the opportunity to go to Backpack Beginnings and help sort out food to be donated to Guilford County Schools and given to students who do not have adequate meals at home. This experience was so much fun and definitely a lot of work. We had to split up the food into over ten different categories based on expiration date and then further separate those by fruit, vegetables, pasta, etc. We had to put the food in giant boxes, seal them, weigh them, and put them in storage. This activity is definitely something I am going to go back and do on my own because it was an amazing experience and it is a solution to an issue that impacts a lot of children in Guilford County. Sadly, North Carolina is home to counties with some of the highest rates of hungry children, who do not have available food at home, in the entire nation! It was eye-opening hearing the statistics on how many children do not have basic necessities available to them and it really makes me want to do more to help out and this is definitely one program I want to be more involved with in the future.

January 2016 - Reflective Blog

Throughout my volunteering experiences, I think I have definitely grown as a person. A lot of the activities I take part in involve helping others in need. Volunteering to help those who need help has been a passion of mine since I was younger and I have my parents to thank for that. They have taught me from a young age to put myself in other people's shoes and really take advantage of what I am privileged to have. I know this sounds incredibly cheesy but it's extremely true! I like that I get to serve my community and help those in need and it truly is amazing seeing how small, kind actions can have a large impact on someone's life. I mean, it's nice and all getting CAS hours and contributing to my IB Diploma with these service learning opportunities, but I would still volunteer and help if I did not have these requirements to fulfill. Honestly, all of these experiences have allowed me to see life from different viewpoints and I enjoy having these opportunities to grow as a person and to help others!

December 2015 - Blog Post 2

1. On December 23, 2015, family and I volunteered at Urban Ministry as part of the Triad Hindu Temple. We made and served food to the homeless people, set up tables for people to eat at, and cleaned up afterwards. This was a fun experience because we got to help out those in need with a special holiday dinner and come together as a group.
2. I developed the thinker, communicator, open-minded, risk-taker, and caring IB learner profile attributes through this experience. I had to think about where help was needed and how I could best incorporate my assistance to benefit the people we were serving. I had to communicate with other people in the kitchen about tasks and the agenda for the night. I had to be more open-minded because I was assigned duties I was not familiar with but that needed help with. I had to take risks because I worked many sharp and hot objects, which was pretty unusual for me to be around because my parents typically do that sort of task at home. I had to be more caring towards the homeless people because I wanted to show that my sole purpose there was to help.
3. I got to make and serve food to the homeless people. I helped with creating the ingredients for meals and putting meals together. I helped with pouring drinks into pitchers and pouring the pitchers into cups. I also helped with the setup of the tables by putting chairs out and cleaning the dining room so it would be clean for the people we were serving. I also helped clean up at the end of the night by cleaning the dining room, kitchen, and all the resources used.
4. Of the seven learning outcomes, I addressed numbers two, three, four, five, and seven. I need to address one and six because in the future, I need to be able to help out with larger and more global problems to make a larger impact on the future and on issues.
5. This experience was an amazing experience because I got to help out many people who were in need of nourishment but lacked the necessary resources. I enjoyed being able to help out in different areas because it was fun doing different tasks and experiencing different things. It was saddening to see how many citizens were in need but it was great seeing the large number of volunteers and the huge amount of effort that went into this successful operation. This was something my family and I had done when I was younger but we slowly drifted away from this because holidays became more hectic as my brother and I grew older so it was nice being able to reunite with this beautiful tradition.

December 2015 - Blog Post 1

1. On December 12, 2015, I volunteered at Santa's Workshop as part of the Youth Leadership of Greensboro. I spent four hours helping families, in need of help, collect and pack toys (the toys were either donated and bought) for free to gift their children on Christmas Day. This experience was amazing because I got to help so many families who really needed this program during a stressful time.
2. I developed the thinker, communicator, and caring IB learner profile attributes through this experience. I had to think about which gifts were the most plausible for the ages and genders of the children they were packing for. I had to communicate with the families as I took them around to look at the gifts and I had to talk with them about which gifts were the best for their kids. I had to be more caring about the families because I wanted to provide as much as help as I could so they could have a wonderful holiday season.
3. I would take a family around a large gym organized with groups of different toys and help them with their selections. I assisted in their choices in picking from the donated toys, stuffed animals, and books area and I also gave advice on what they should choose from the new toys and stocking stuffers area.
4. Of the seven learning outcomes, I addressed numbers two, four, and five. I need to address one, three, six, and seven because in the future, I need to learn how to more of a leader and role model.
5. This experience was a wonderful experience because I got to help out many families who were in need of this program. I enjoyed being able to help parents and guardians pick out great toys so that their children would have a fantastic Christmas. It was saddening to see how many families were in need but it was great seeing the large number of volunteers and the huge amount of effort that went into this successful operation.