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!