We are happy to announce results of the Art Contest.

Red Group 4-5years

1st place  - Ashvika Agrawal  
2nd place - Shataneek Dasgupta
3rd place - Arjun Badenehal
Blue Group A 6-8 years
1st place - Aayushi Das Gupta
2nd place - Riana Sukhija
3rd place - Yashika Pal
Blue Group B 6-8 years
1st place - Soumili Dey
2nd place - Sathveega Karthik
3rd place - Prachi Nayak
Yellow Group A 9-12 years
1st place - Mishka Chellappa
2nd place - Ishita Agrawal
3rd place - Saanvi Basu
Yellow Group B 9-12 years

1st place - Tanvi Badenehal

2nd place - Sohan Hegde 

3rd place - Jagruti Mazumdar

Green Group 13-17 years
1st place - Esther Antony
2nd place - Smrithi Krishnaswamy
3rd place -  Tanushree Nekenti

Congratulations to all the winners!! 

ISW Symphony initiative is bringing to you an Art Contest for all ages. The platform is  to express all our local artists, artists from all over the country, their inner creativity, emotions through drawing, painting and artwork.

  In the effort of giving a platform to artists, Shviangi Das Gupta came up with an idea of Virtual Art Contest. 

   The concept and idea of this event was seeded by one of our brilliant and ingenious IYG (Indian Youth Group) members - Shivangi Dasgupta.  This young lady had worked hard on planning and chalking out the format of the contest, registration form, themes, and many other logistical aspects. 

The goal of raising some funds from this event for ISW was visioned by Shivangi and team. The goal was pretty much accomplished. 

   More than 60 artists participate in the contest.  The contest was held via live zoom sessions, when more than 15 IYG volunteers conducted these sessions while contestants were engaged in their creativity on the morning of Saturday April 24th. The contestants were  given themes to work on their art and they were working on their art work during this event on Saturday. 

  ISW is fortunate to have an amazing Judges’ Panel of Avni Chheda, Aradhita Sarkar, Sharmistha Bhattacharya Dutta, Rashmi Pitre, Dr. Java Joshi. (meet our Judges) 

  The winners will be recognized by certificates and rewards. The winners’ artwork will be published on our website for some period of time.

 Our Volunteers 

Shviangi Dasgupta - Initiator, Coordinator, Main Lead

Swara Gurao,  Prachet Mahawar, Atharv Deshpande, Arnav Sharma, Siddharth Deshmukh, Soumya Warty, Tanvi Gahlot, Pranav Manjrekar, Devishi Jain, Surabhi Dindore

Advisors: Anu Debaroy, Shiamin Melville, Sarita Deshpande

ISW University Summer Camp 2021:  REGISTRATIONS are now closed

We have summer classes in English, Math, Introduction to Robotics, Arts/Crafts, Scratch Programming etc being scheduled.  The cost per class is  approx $40 for 8 sessions.  If you sign up for two classes, the cost is $80, and so on.  The Introductions to Robotics camps is $25 for 5 days. Each class is  45+mins

Camp  starts  June 28 to August 13 for 8 weeks. The classes are all online. 

UPDATE:

For now we have assigned  the tutors, who signed up as of May 30, 2021.  If you are interested in being a volunteer, you are welcome to  enroll, however we are unable to assign any classes to you until we get students to sign up with our current schedule.

Thank you for your interest, and depending on demand Usha Aunty will contact you for an interview.

If you are interested in signing up, register asap

Any questions do contact our Summer 2021 Team, we can add you to our email group.

Usha Yadav, and Kalpana Choudhary 

Shiamin Melville, Advisor 508-353-4316

June 12, 2021 College application process: Standardized Tests - Everything you need to know:

Link to ISW YouTube recording.

Speaker: Donna Cox of Cox Tutoring Group:

 Donna answered many of the questions parents have about standardized tests and walked the parents and students through  a step by step guideline to SAT & ACT tests and spoke to the following:

*Differences between the SAT and the ACT*Timing of tests - when the SAT and ACT are offered and when detailed reports are available

*Timing of prep - when to start, duration of weekly tutoring

*Difference between SAT optional and SAT blind

*Score Choice and Superscore

*ACT single-subject retesting

We heard from Mahathi Gopinath, current HS student and her experience on preparing for the SAT tests, and retakes. 
Donna holds a magna cum laude Mathematics degree from Salve Regina University and was a National Merit Finalist. Donna spent the first thirty years of her professional career in the computer industry, as a programmer, a systems analyst, and a trainer. Donna has been preparing students for the SAT and ACT tests since 2003.

Moderators Poonam and Sanjay Hingorany

Please send any questions to collegeconnect@iswonline.org

---Dr. Mayank Jaiswal and Poonam Hingorany

May 22, 2021, Saturday: 11.00 am  Financial planning and College Advisors.

Kanan Sachdeva, MBA, CFP®️, ChFC®️, Financial Advisor, Northwestern Mutual and Patrick Herndon,  Certified College Advisor were the panelists.  Our moderators were Mayank Jaiswal /Ramendra Chauhan

Recording on ISW Youtube link

April 17, 2021 Summary

College application process: College Essays: Crafting a great college application.   

Ms.Susan Goodkin, a graduate of Harvard University, Harvard Law School, and Oxford University, spoke about crafting/creating a great college application. For the college essay, it was key to have a captivating opening sentence plus she cautioned against using humor or dark cynical views.  The college counsellor has two minutes to read an essay that the applicant has spent countless hours on, so it is important to be upbeat, and perhaps share what one has learnt from a struggle or a hobby.  

For the second half, Dhriti Aiylam, Junior at Northeastern University, Aditya Hoque, Junior at  Brown University and Aditya Khanna, Sophomore/Junior at Rochester Institute of Technology shared their personal experiences. In order to view their insights, click here. Session was moderated by Mayank and Shiamin.

From Tanvi, one of the attendees:  I thought the personal statement examples that the students as well as Ms. Goodkin gave were really unique and informative. Furthermore, the tips the students gave, to research the college was really helpful. Dhriti’s idea about the specific structure and planning a few sentences about the personal statement and then giving it some time, and also reviewing it with  an outsider was really great and helpful.  

MARCH 20, 2021  summary

Summary: College Application Process: 'Let's talk ! Keeping the lines of communications open'

---Dr. Mayank Jaiswal and Poonam Hingorany.

Please send any questions to collegeconnect@iswonline.org

We had more than 20 attend the webinar on March 20 as part of ISW's initiative on providing information and support for  parents and students  whilst they navigate the college application process.  Led by Shubh Agrawal, School Counselor, Worcester Academy and IYG Advisor and Ramendra, Ruchi and Yash Chauhan , we delved into how to keep sane and keep family relationships on an even keel throughout the college application process, with emphasis on students in high school.  Shubh used the analogy that parent's role at this time is similar to their role when their teenager first learns to drive.  The student is in the driver's seat and the parent is there as a guide.

Thoughts shared by Yash Chauhan, Freshman at Northeastern University , Boston

Whether it be debating between taking the SAT or ACT or attempting to figure out the so called “formula” that admission’s departments use, the American college admissions process is already an overly complicated task. However, it is made far more difficult and strenuous when there is a lack of open communication between parent and student. This is especially true for individuals with parents who were brought up in India and as such, are not as familiar with the American application process. In such a situation, the student should realize that when their parents asks them questions about certain aspects of the application, it isn’t due to them attempting to criticize the student or micromanage them, but usually just because they are genuinely curious about the process. Conversely, parents too should understand that this is a process that is primarily incumbent on the student. Although parents should always provide guidance and encouragement, they should never just take over. The skills that students develop during the application process will serve them well in the future, but only if parents let go a little and allow them to go through this experience. Even though parents should not take over, keeping an open dialogue throughout the process such as discussing what the family can afford, allows for students and parents to get the most out of the process while mitigating future conflicts. Finally, it is important to keep in mind that what matters more than where you go college is what you do during your time there; so aim high, but remember that wherever you end up going, you still have the opportunity to accomplish great things.

College Stress Management_Shubh.pdf

Recording

Next sessions are as follows: 

Future 2021: High school graduates discuss the process on how they made  their college/major selections.

Future 2021: Workshop on College Essays.

College Connect Team

Mayank Jaiswal, Facilitator & Professor at Rider College

Shubh Agrawal, Counselor, Worcester Academy

Poonam & Sanjay Hingorany, parents of undergrad and grad college students

Ramendra & Ruchi Chauhan, parents of middle school and college freshman children

Snehlata & Jagan Srinivasan, parents of middle school students & themselves college professors

Aaryan Bhatt, HS Senior from Harvard, MA.

Shiamin Melville

FREE ONLINE YOGA  open to  Adults & Youth 40 mins

Daily 6.30 am Yoga Hemant Gera, disciple of Bharatiya Yog Sansthan, Delhi. WhatsApp contact +91-98102 48623

Mondays 10 am Chair Yoga by Latha Radhakrishnan 

Tuesdays 11 am Chairobics by Stuti Khanna

Saturdays 11 am Chairobics by Stuti Khanna

TBD Meditation by Sreedhar Shanmugavelu (Heartfulness.org) WhatsApp contact +1(510) 361-9839

Request to be added to WhatsApp group for above sessions

Ragini Seth 508-330-0884

Shiamin Melville 508-353-4316 

For membership information go to www: iswonline.org

In person TBD: India Center, 152 Main Street, Shrewsbury, MA 01545

 

ISW Puzzle Challenge - II

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HatYxmulZa8

Over the February vacation week, Feb 12-21, ISW successfully conducted its second Puzzle/Lego Structure Challenge. Due to popular request, we included Lego structures in addition to 1000 piece puzzles. We had over a dozen families participate this time around. Doing the puzzle and building Lego structure gave families a much needed break from screen time after a year long online schooling in the case of most students. The interest in the challenge was so high that many families completed not just one item, but multiple puzzles or Lego structures.

Here are our winners:

1000 piece puzzle:

Beena Krishnan

Debbie Goswami and family

Lego structure:

Moksh Manmode

Arin Shinde

Even though this challenge is over, we strongly encourage families to continue puzzling. We are working on setting up a puzzle exchange at India Center. Thank you to everyone who participated and we look forward to seeing you all soon at our next challenge.

-Puzzle Committee

ISW Harvest Festival 2021

On Sat, Feb 13, 2021, we kicked off the first major event of the ISW calendar year – The Harvest Festival. And what a great way to start!!

This was our way of beginning the new year with positivity, prosperity and happiness. As per Indian mythology, Harvest festival (which is known by different names in different regions in India) marks the end of an unfavorable phase and the beginning of a holy phase. Particularly in the villages of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Himachal, West Bengal and Punjab, people celebrate the harvesting of new crops with bonfires, carnivals, songs, dances, kite flying and rallies.

For obvious reasons, we could not gather in person as in previous years. However, we invited the extended ISW community to come participate in the cultural event and dance competition virtually. And it was met with tremendous interest.

The event was kicked off virtually and streamed LIVE on ISW’s Facebook page.

The program ran for more than 3 hours and consisted of 35 performances ranging from Indian classical dances to semi classical dances interspersed with Bollywood medleys, poem recitations and even a very lively debate. All the dances were brilliantly choreographed and extremely entertaining to young and old alike.

If you missed the event, you can still view it at the following links -

Live 1 - https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=923983718407338&ref=watch_permalink

Live 2 -https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=901184797402446&ref=watch_permalink 

As always, these events are not possible without our ISW family and community participation. Each one of them contributes to the success that we talk about here.

We thank our participants for sharing their talent and love with us.

We thank our judges for sharing their knowledge and time to encourage our participants.

We thank the ISW Cultural committee and our volunteers for putting countless hours into making this event a success.

And we cannot do this without our sponsors, a BIG thank you to them as well.

COngratulations!! Nartika (dance contest) winners!

Semi classical/Bollywood

Classical

Below 9 years: Ekta Dance Academy - 1st winner Street Dancers - 2nd winner Academy of Creative Arts - Little Kids - 3rd winner 9-12 YEARS: Odhani - 1st winner Girls on Fire - 2nd winner Performing Arts of New England - 3rd winner 13-17 years: Performing Arts of New England - 1st winner Vande Matram - 2nd winner Girls of the Galaxy - 3rd winner 18+ years: Boston Desi Hoppers - 1st winner The Dholikaars - 2nd winner Hellaro - 3rd winner

Below 9 years: Amudhasri Dance School - 1st winner Mona's Dance Academy - 2nd winner 9-12 years: Upasana - 1st winner Amudhasri dance school - 2nd winner Amudhasri dance school - 3rd winner 13-17 years: Performing Arts of New England - 1st winner

Please use this link to Donate for this event only via credit card

https://iswonline.org/page-18126

SCENER link

https://scener.com/keerthanab5?eventId=71105

if you click the link it will automatically lead you to create an account which takes only a few seconds! 

With February marking Black History Month, it’s more important than ever to recognize the ways we can use our resources to help aid racial equity efforts. Throughout the month of February, SAYAA is encouraging those who can to donate to organizations such as The Boys and Girls Club of Worcester. Donating helps those who are disproportionately affected by economic downturns, and even a small amount can go a long way.

SAYAA will screen "13th" in an online Movie Night.  We would love to have you, your family, and your friends join us!  Funds raised will be donated to The Boys and Girls Club of Worcester (https://www.bgcworcester.org/).

SAYAA South Asian Activists and Allies at ISW is dedicated to disseminating resources about important social justice and racial equity initiatives while also increasing our own self-reflection of the role South Asian communities can play in supporting social justice and promoting activism to combat such trends.

If you are between the ages of 15-35 and are interested in joining us or learning more, please contact sayaa.eb@iswonline.org with any questions or inquiries.

January 23, 2021

The webinar was held on January 23, 2021, with 57+ attendees. It was a 90-minute webinar, the first part was an information presentation led by Dr. Mayank Jaiswal as the facilitator and Ms. Shubh Agrawal. It was followed by a question and answer session with a parents’ panel comprising Poonam & Sanjay Hingorany, Snehlata & Jagan Srinivasan, Ramendra & Ruchi Chauhan, and Aaryan Bhatt.

Mayank took the discussion through the step by step process of applying for college.  He compared the process akin to presenting a bouquet of flowers where different flowers take different amounts of time to bloom, where the charm of each flower is best brought out by the careful nurturing during different phases of its horticultural cycle. It is important to track what interests the child, how s/he spends his/her free time, and Mayank gave suggestions on exposing the child through micro internships to different experiences or doing an assessment through the ‘Innate’ website.

To help in choosing the right fit with a college, he suggested research using the MYFIT option in  US News and choosing different kinds of volunteer opportunities to build up credibility in defining the student goals.

The slide presentation outlined the many moving parts of the college admission process, and the session addressed topics such as school grades, standardized tests, essays, extracurriculars, and financials. Shubh stressed the importance of ensuring the children's wellbeing throughout the process. The panelists had children ranging from the middle school to high school to college graduates and they offered brief insights into the admissions process, how to plan on saving for college and help families navigate the college selection process with minimal stress.

The survey results confirmed the need for more information on Financial Aid, test preparation and volunteer opportunities. There was an interest in hearing from high school graduates on how they navigated their volunteer work and chose their college and their major.

As a follow-up, we are proposing mini seminars on various topics of interest. We have also created a network of parents and students via iswcollegeconnect@googlegroups.com, in the hope that we can create a community support framework for the families navigating this process.

 Upcoming Seminars: Saturdays 3.30 pm February - July 2021

Overview Session (repeat of January 23 Session): July 2021: – free for all attendees

Tentative Monthly: Mini Sessions - Free

1.       Financial planning and college coaches.

2.       Mental Wellness and time management.

3.       Essay & Resume writing.

4.       How to tackle Standardized Tests and College Interviews.

5.       High school graduates discuss their college/major selections.

6.       Negotiation and comparison of college financial packages and fees between big-name colleges and in-state colleges and universities.

 

College Connect Team

Mayank Jaiswal, Facilitator & Professor at Rider College

Shubh Agrawal, Counselor, Worcester Academy

Poonam & Sanjay Hingorany, parents of undergrad and grad college students

Ramendra & Ruchi Chauhan, parents of middle school and college freshman

Snehlata & Jagan Srinivasan, parents of middle school & themselves college professors

Aaryan Bhatt, HS Senior from Harvard, MA.

Shiamin Melville

Attachments

PDF of Slides

Link to ISW YouTube Zoom recording.

Please send any questions to collegeconnect@iswonline.org

----------Dr. Mayank Jaiswal and Poonam Hingorany.  

ISW Puzzle Session 2 challenge for vacation week. begins February 12 at 5 pm. and ends February 21, 2021 at 5 pm. Last time 21 families joined, and we hope to start a puzzle exchange library in ISW Puzzles (Whatsapp group), so do contact us soon. Send a picture of the new puzzle to snehalata.kadam@gmail.com & lucky.hoque@gmail.com on Feb 12 and your phone number.

There will be public recognition for (a) the first completed puzzle/Lego, and (b) the most complicated puzzle/Lego. So 4 non-monetary prizes.

Last challenge was a lot of fun.

A 1000 piece puzzle or Lego can be used.

---Snehalata Kadam & Lucky Hoque

Puzzling with Puzzles ----Snehal Kadam

As a parent, how many of you have bought the world map and map of India to hang it in your family room? Well I have! The hope was that my kids will look at it often. Clearly, I wasn’t right about it. And one fine day, I saw my friend finishing a very complex 1000 piece world map puzzle. Looking at the intricacy of the puzzle, gave me an idea. How better to educate my kids about geography of the world and reduce their screen time! :) It seemed like the perfect fun family activity. One problem though, how do I get my kids interested in this and yet make it engaging? I decided that having a reward-based puzzle competition sounded a great idea. Incentives are a good way of getting kids engaged in activities that are usually dealt with groans and whys!!

We all know puzzles have many benefits like:

1) it improves your short-term memory.

2) it exercises the left and right sides of your brain at once, (thanks to my neuroscientist hubby!)

3) improves your visual-spatial reasoning,

4) a great meditation tool and stress reliever

5) a great way to connect with family

6) great for some needed alone time

7) And You'll live longer

My biggest bane as a teacher/mother/parent is getting into the winter vacation and having my whole family stuck to electronics. So the idea of getting away from the electronics accompanied with the puzzle competition made perfect sense. I borrowed the puzzle from my friend, Lucky and decided to get started with the kids. We even cleared out our kitchen island and all of us got together to separate the puzzle pieces. The task though overwhelming was a challenge as the first day was spent more about strategizing how to solve it. I was surprised to see each member of the family come up with different ideas. As we got on solving the puzzle, little did I realize that it was so much fun and rewarding to even figure out where a single piece went. Days went by and the puzzle started to come together. The smiles and discussions that went on the kitchen island was music to my ears. Remember all this went on with a 3 year old tugging our PJs to find out what the fun was ! So by the 6 th day, we had solved almost all of the puzzle, I mean we had 999 pieces on the board. But we were unable to find the last piece. The whole house got searching for the missing piece. Frustrations rose among the kids and us, as to where could the last piece have gone. Little did we all know that our 3-year old wanted to be involved in the puzzle. She had carefully hid the last piece in the partition of our sofa! Once found, the smiles returned and she placed the final piece in the right spot. The joy of a completed puzzle bought out our inner child and we all gave ourselves a group hug !

When I decided to start the competition, I did not imagine so many families joining in. The excitement in the community was amazing as 21 families participated in the competition. Some of the families even rushed to buy the puzzles to participate in this fun family event. One common message I got from all families was how this brought all of us from their screens to the dining and kitchen tables as a family! So thank you to all who participated. Happy New Year to all of you and may we solve many more puzzles in the coming year!

1.Kinkin Kumari and Divya Singh

2. Lazers: Yajas and Sai

3. The Piparia sisters

4. Shaurya and Suhani Aditi Jain

5. Deshpande family

6. Navin Jain Family: Dhruv and Rishi !1st Dec24th)

7. Gupta Girls (4th)

8. Shiamin and Raj Melville

9. Dhruv Arush Urvi & Jagan

10. Lucky Hoque 

11. Tanushree Nekenti

12. Dixit Brothers

13. Rajit and Kashvi Naik (3rd Dec 25th 7 PM)

14. Anika and Rohan Savla (Yashodhara)

15. Shilpa Nikte (2nd Dec25th 330PM)

16. Anu Melville and Jack Saxe Staral

17. Ayan Mishra (Neha)

18. Khanna (Stuti)

19.  Peerzade's (Sahar)

20. Karishma Babani (Manju)

21. Mukta Munjal

WINNERS

Puzzles are fun and a great way to pass time when you are bored. They are also challenging as they make you think how to put pieces in the right place and forces you to look carefully for differences in the pieces. The puzzle we solved was named “The Mystic Maze”. We really enjoyed solving the puzzle as it was mysterious with a lot of very small details and a lot of different colors. We had a lot of fun doing the puzzle as a family!
– Dhruv (9) and Rishi (12) Jain.  They have donated the gift card to the ISW’s Crisis Committee’s fundraising efforts.  So inspiring

We enjoyed doing our first 1,000 piece puzzle (star wars). It was challenging but our family had a good time. In the beginning me and my sister organized the puzzle pieces based on color, borders, faces etc. This method helped us to focus and sort out where everything goes. Thank you for hosting this event! It was a great experience! -- Rajit & Kashi Naik. They have donated the gift card to the ISW’s Building Committee’s fundraising efforts.  So inspiring