By Snehalata Kadam

ISW Women Empowering Women (WEW) held its summer event on Thursday, August 12, inviting a panel of 5 professional women from varied backgrounds. The rationale behind this event was showcasing how different talents leads to one’s contentment. Each speaker shared their intriguing stories, career choices and hurdles they faced in their journey so far. It was fun to hear their stories, ask questions and the engaging audience appreciated the insights.

Priya Vaidya, A multi-talented personality:

After completing her M. Tech. in Biomedical Engineering from IIT Bombay, Powaii, her desire was to pursue further studies in United States. Per the demands of a conservative society in India, she got married. Instead, she came to the US on a student visa and completed her Masters in Electrical Engineering from Brandeis University. Though she was keen on pursuing her PhD in the Bio-Medical field, she concluded that her happiness was more important than her potential academic profession. Fast forward to today. Not getting a PhD degree did not stop her from being any less successful as a professional. She has published 15 papers and has 12 patents. While being at the peak of her successful professional career, she followed her creative intellect with poetry, art, and culinary skills. She has also poured many hours and days volunteering and fund raising.

Sarmistha Bera, Singer

Just like many of us, Sarmistha went through the norms of an arranged marriage and moved to the US on a dependent visa. Prior to her move, she was a college teacher back in India and was quite sure of continuing with a career in education in the US. She kept an open mind and investigated available opportunities and what she could enjoy professionally beside teaching. She decided to do her masters in Computer Science. At the same time, she had a very young child at home and another on the way. With her hands full, she had to keep aside her love for music. As she was hoping to get back to her world of music once she was free of familial responsibilities, she brought her musical instruments with her when she moved to US.  She also thrives on experimenting with growing unique plants at home. She has grown a three foot tall Jamun tree. Nature and gardening has taught her to be grounded.  One day you are planning to harvest your precious cauliflower in your vegetable garden. The next day you see an animal has cleared it all. It is such a bummer yet such an experience grounds you to go ahead and try again next year.

Amita Naik, Environmentalist

Amita also came to US on a dependent visa, but the stay at home scenario didn’t stop her from exploring opportunities to understand and learn about the difference between tropical agriculture and temperate one. She did not let go of her love of agriculture and environmental sustainability. She joined the library, attended green and suitability conferences, volunteered at the environmental health department through a connection she made at one of the conferences. Once she got her Employment Authorization Document, she worked at Price Chopper to build her employment record. As she had done a Masters, she did question whether she was doing the right thing. She felt working at Price Chopper made her a resilient person. At the same time she updated her resume, made connections, and never gave up until she finally got a  job in her field. Initially the struggle was inevitable with working odd shifts at Price Chopper. Now she has a great job at the MassDEP (Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection).

Radhika Bisht, enjoying the constancy and the unconditional love with her dog Zeus

Radhika grew up with dogs in her house back in India. After moving to the US, doing a Masters in Software Engineering and joining the workforce, the ups and the downs on the professional front, the effort raising the family, she really yearned for the unconditional love of a pet. Once she got her pet Zeus, she felt complete. She got a feeling of contentment and closer to nature through him. She found the weather wouldn’t bother her and her work stress would disappear with the smile that Zeus would bring to her face. The one thing she truly treasures with Zeus every single moment is reliving her childhood.

Karuna Gurbaxani Bhatia, a multicultural accounts expert

Karuna has done a masters in business management from India. She has worked in multiple countries- in India, in the UAE and now in the US. As a management leader working with employees from different cultural backgrounds has broadened her perspective and trained her to be a robust learner. She is very passionate about yoga and uses it to create a family environment of togetherness at home and to build a better future. Her lesson in life is that the definition of perfection is unique for each individual, three is no general definition that fits everyone. 

Hello Everyone

Thank you for supporting our summer programs. With the help of our volunteers we were fortunate to hold 20 summer sessions over the last two months.  Looking forward, we now want to share our upcoming academic  programs, please see below

August 2

ISW University: Introduction to Lego Robotics (second session)  1st grade to 4th Grade  $25 for 5 sessions starting August 2, ending August 6

August 2

ISW UnIiversity: Tutoring: Preparing for the upcoming academic year, one-on-one six sessions $30, ending August 31, schedule is mutual

August 11

ISW University: QI (key) Skills: Middle Schoolers Guide to Managing Time (free webinar), August 11 at 11 am (45) mins

September 20 session start date

ISW University: Tutoring: Support during academic year, $90 for 18 sessions, starting September 20, 2021

September 11 (Saturday)

ISW University: Learning how to program a robot using LEGO Mindstorms 4th grade to 7th Grade $80 for 8-10 sessions

ISW University Team

Contact: iswuniversity@iswonline.org 

Usha Yadav Advisor

Tanvi Gahlot Registrar/Manager

Poonam Hingorany, ISW Executive Board

Shiamin Melville, Chair, 508-353-4316

  Under ISW Symphony's Culinary Arts wing, this very first program of 'Achaar Making workshop' was held at the India Center on July 10th. 

  The three demonstrators were Reeta Tandon, Suchitra Agrawal and Neena Sehgal. 

 Reeta ji showed a unique way of making sweet and sour raw mango pickle. The pickle which is very popular to the people who like sweet and especially in the hot summer days this kind of pickle can accompany any menu of the meal.

 Suchitra ji revealed a secret traditional with her own creative inputs in the recipe of making 'carrots, cauliflower and turnip sweet and sour pickle'. The pickle itself was looking so tempting that the attendees could not resists but showed an interest to taste it as soon as it got ready. 

 Neena ji Sehgal started her demonstration by showing a fresh, green chilies to the audience. Many of the attendees asked her that 'isn't it going to be too spicy?' Neenaji answered them very quietly 'you better taste it!'. Believe it or not but when I, myself could taste that 'chilie' with curd rice and realized what she meant to say.. The green chiilies when it got mixed with all other spices and some vinegar sprinkles; diluted the extra spiciness of the chillies .

  The overall event was very well appreciated by the 25+ attendees. There is a demand of many more such demo and workshops in this series. 

 The next one in this Culinary Arts series will be 'South Indian Achaars'. Stay tuned for the more details. Till then, keep cooking!! 

--Sarita Deshpande, Chair ISW Symphony

ISW Symphony

- Tanvi Gahlot

My name is Tanvi Gahlot and I am one of the volunteers for ISW. I am going to be going into my sophomore year at WHS. Below I have listed some of the volunteer opportunities at ISW with a small description and links to forms. 

1. IYG - https://iswonline.org/page-18066 

The Indian Youth Group is a group of 7th-12th graders for the youth, run by the youth. We have meetings once every month and have many volunteer opportunities. Some of these include dance events, walks to raise awareness for issues, and many other fun events. I have been a part of  IYG since 7th grade and I have learned a lot and truly enjoyed the whole experience. 

If your child is interested please email iyg@iswonline.org for more information and to join. 

2. Tutoring- https://iswonline.org/page-18129 

ISW has a great program called "ISW University". Currently, over the summer we are running a 8 week long summer camp with subjects ranging from Math and English to Robotics and Coding. Additionally, there is a year long tutoring program where high schoolers can tutor younger kids in varies subjects. I am a tutor year long and am also volunteering for the summer camp, I’ve loved teaching kids a lot since the pandemic hit and this program started. 

If your child is interested please email iswuniversity@iswonline.org for more information and to join click here . 

3. eSandesh- https://iswonline.org/eSandesh-Newsletter 

Each month ISW publishes 2 newsletters. In this newsletter there is a "youth corner" which many high schoolers and middle schoolers volunteer for. I actually write for the eSandesh and do career profiles and interviews of people in different career fields. However, the eSandesh has a variety of topics, such as poems and articles. 

If your child is interested in writing for the eSandesh please contact newsletter@iswonline.org, rajmelville@gmail.com , ragoo_93@yahoo.com . 

4. Events- https://iswonline.org/page-18090?EventViewMode=1&EventListViewMode=2&SelectedDate=7/8/2021&CalendarViewType=0 

Each year ISW has many event would never be as fun without all the hardworking volunteers. Currently, the India Day Event is coming up and we need may volunteers.

India Day Event Information: https://iswonline.org/event-4380319?CalendarViewType=0&SelectedDate=6/8/2021 

If your child is interested in volunteering for the ISW India Day Event please fill out the following form: https://forms.gle/zR4ygHEuHzi51kKc7 

For questions about the India Day Event please contact president@iswonline.org 

I hope this helps! 

- Tanvi Gahlot

    ISW organized an event on May 23rd at the new India Center. The event was organized to give a tribute to the loved ones who were impacted by COVID in India. The musical evening was designed as a gesture of respect to our healthcare professionals and an expression of solidarity and unity.  The program was held at the India center with a limited capacity (taking into consideration of state guidelines)
    The program opened up with its title song ‘Hum Honge Kamyab’ (we all will overcome these difficult times and will be successful one day). This song was presented and sung by our very own cultural chair ‘Amita Rao and her kids Kian and Tanisha Rao’. ‘Hum Honge Kamyab - portrays a simple fable that regardless of the difficult path ahead of us, we will succeed!  The simple poetry by Vasant Bapat  with beautiful Marathi words - ‘Gagan Sadan Tejomay - Timir Harun Karunakar’ a prayer was sung by Dr. Vidya Bhide. Many performers, volunteers, and members have got connected to the ISW community during this pandemic. Many distant members from out of Massachusetts, out of the country;  were able to be a part of our ISW community during this time when we did many live stream events. Vidya ji Bhide is no exception to this- Dr. Bhide started learning and practicing for her musical love at the age of 60+ and has been keeping herself busy with melody. 

  A well known Classical music teacher, an entrepreneur and a great vocalist Vandana Rao presented a nice musical rendition of the song ‘Teri Mitti’ from the movie ‘Kesari’. A group of youth artists - Nivetha, Sruthi, Sravya and Pranav offered a beautiful song from the film ‘Razi - Aye Vatan Vatan in the honor of Motherland India. This mellifluous presentation was very well appreciated by the audience. The Shrewsbury School Principal Mr. Jonathan Kelly sent a special message to those whose families / friends have been affected by COVID in India. ISW Language and Culture School students’ devotional bhajan of ‘Hey Ram’ , Mr. Ernest Gulla and Mrs. Manjula’s prayer and text from the Bible were presented to maintain the peace and serenity in the environment of these tough times. Ashita Shekhar talked about the importance of Meditation during these difficult and tough times to keep oneself positive and strong.

    ISW School teacher and a passionate Hindi Poet Asha Singh recited a poem, portraying the message ‘Together we will win’. ‘काम हो अच्छे हमारे और नियत साफ हो -  a lovely song on Humanity was presented by Dr. Jagan Srinivasan - A professor at WPI who is passionate about music, sports and one of the  enthusiastic volunteers of ISW.  The  great words written by Mahatma Gandhi -  ‘Vaishnav Jan To’ were rendered by Sharmishta Bera in her beautiful voice. Nisha Bawa (ISW Religious Chair) performed another sweet bhajan in the line up of the program.  Nityajit Hem- a great anchor/ music maker and event manager;  recited a poem written by Priya Vaidya ( An engineer by profession but a versatile artist at heart) followed by a Hindi song ‘चलो हसने की कोई वजह ढूंढते है’   (Let’s find a reason to laugh) composed and sung by Sarita Deshpande.
 The musical evening was concluded by the chorus ‘We Shall Overcome’ performed by all the committee members to display Unity and Solidarity. The song lyrics were improvised by Aditi Tayler and music arrangement was done by Sarita. 
        Let’s all hope for the bright light at the end of this tunnel, let’s hold hands together and walk the path ahead with positivity and optimism. The program was conceptualized by Snehalata Kadam and Shiamin Melville  and designed by Puneet Kohli and Sarita Deshpande.

ISW University presented online webinar on QI (key)communication skills for middle schoolers on May 8, 2021.

The Facilitators were Dhruv Jagan and  Aashi Gupta, 8th graders, Oak Middle School, Shrewsbury, MA . They give tips on how to  strengthen student's confidence in speaking up and communicating. With better communications skills, students will then be less fearful of asking a “wrong question,” or feeling shy about asking a question or making a statement in front of a class. They introduced the concept of Qi (pronounced 'key') skills which are mostly communication skills, but they also included emotional aspects such as confidence and courage. These skills include ME and WE skills.

• ME skills are self-management skills and includes keeping track of your work, good behavior, and respecting other people and teachers.
• WE skills, or playing Well with others, includes group work, teamwork in sports, and working together with your friends.

The webinar concluded with a Kahoot game,  a list of resources for the attendees and feedback from the attendees as they introducted themselves.

Next session is on Time Management in June 2021

Link to the ISW YouTube recording

Here's the consolidated list of COVID Resources, complied by Amita  Not all have been verified by ISW, this is just a listing

List of Resources:  Please send email to Amita if you have others you want to add

  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