by kfi | Jul 1, 2022 | Archives |
Russel de Valois 2021-23 – Scholarship
Recipient Name : Aanya Chadha | Grade : 11 | Awarded for 2 years
At KIS, we truly believe that learning happens in many forms. When your roommate is from a different culture or nationality and your friend is from a different background, we learn through our differences and this is fundamental to shaping a child’s worldview and perspectives. As of today, our student body comprises students from 23 different countries. About 25% of our students reside in international locations and represent 12 faiths. Of as much importance to us is social economic diversity in our community. Through our staff benefits policies, financial aid program and scholarship offerings, an approximate 150+ students are able to access a KIS education at a highly subsidized cost. The Russel de Valois Scholarship is a phenomenal program that helps KIS attract meritorious students into our IBDP program offering them a full scholarship through their two years of study at KIS.
Aanya Chadha was chosen as the recipient of the Russel de Valois Scholarship for the Academic Years 2021-23. Aanya was chosen from a pool of Indian students, aspiring to study at KIS however requiring substantial financial assistance. Aanya was chosen for her meritorious accomplishments apart from showing a deep interest in Football and Music. It is no surprise that Aanya continues to perform exceeding well at KIS. (AY 2022-23: 4.00; AY 2021-22 : 3.96)
Aanya has represented KIS in our U-19 Football teams in the annual Ooty Sports Tournament and also in our very own Kodi Football League, where KIS was placed runners up for the AY 22-23. Aanya’s dorm parent describers her as a charming young woman! She is very hard working and dedicated towards whatever she undertakes– be it academics or sports. Her teachers find her to be an intelligent, sincere, and hardworking student who has an inquiring mind and a positive attitude.
NOTE OF APPRECIATION FROM AANYA CHADHA
Dear Scholarship Committee,
As my time at KIS is coming to a close, I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the scholarship opportunity that has been provided to me. The financial assistance that I have received through this scholarship has been instrumental in allowing me to pursue my academic goals at KIS.
My experience at KIS has been truly transformative, and I am grateful for the opportunities that the scholarship program has provided me. These last few weeks have been especially pensive, it’s hard to believe that I have been here at KIS for almost two years now and will be leaving in less than a month. I have been able to take advantage of various academic and extracurricular activities that have helped me grow both personally and academically. Coming from a nuclear family myself, suddenly living with twenty seven other girls in a dorm was truly an invigorating experience, and I will cherish the tomfoolery we have created. From playing cricket with a piece of wood as a bat in the courtyard of our open dorm to continuing the legend of the ‘Kennedy Ghost’- this has been nothing short of a dream. From being able to sit on the hammock and just look up at the stars at three am to being denied the wish to cry alone, living in this dorm and developing and working on different kinds of relationships has transformed me as a person and has altered some of my beliefs. Just a few days ago us seniors had a rough day, it seemed as though nobody got any studying done that day and we needed a break. Eight of us crammed up in a single room and played UNO cards. We spiced it up with some really childish bets but I didn’t lose so I didn’t have to do the chicken dance. We got scolded multiple times by our dorm relief as technically it was study hour. After a bit we played cards and returned back to our respective rooms. I have gained a family here and I could not be more grateful for the sense of belonging I feel. The scholarship program has not only provided me with the financial support that I needed but also with a supportive community that has encouraged me to strive for excellence in all aspects of my life.
Thanks to this scholarship, I have been able to explore my academic interests and pursue my passion for learning. I successfully completed an Extended Essay in Higher Level Biology this year that boosted my love for this subject and learning in general. Spending three months solely conducting my experiment, while waiting for my fungi and bacteria to grow in the incubator and tediously repeating trials, I spent a lot of time at the lab and created fulfilling relationships with the lab assistant and the ‘aakas’ that help maintain the lab. Ms Jasmine (the biology and chemistry lab assistant) just happened to walk in when a set of 80 petri dishes showed no results. Miss saw my face, and gave me a hug, told me to take a break and come back the next day. I hope she knows how much that one interaction meant to me. The opportunities to engage with faculty members, participate in research projects, and attend conferences have been invaluable in helping me develop my intellectual curiosity and critical thinking skills. Having recently received the subject awards for Biology, Chemistry, French, TOK, CAS and a ‘K’ for football, I have been flooded by so much love and encouragement that I am quite frankly overwhelmed. The eleventh-grade higher level Biology students have an in class formative tomorrow and two of the kids came up to me for help today since I received the Biology award. KIS has introduced me to a kind of pseudo mutualistic relationship with peers concerning academics, it’s a rather wholesome way to approach learning. We don’t let the fact that boys and girls reside in dorms on separate campuses stop us, being on a discord server or google meet with friends on East Hill (senior boys’ campus) or getting permission to go to Upper Boyer (senior girl dorm) at ten at night isn’t uncommon. Slipping and tripping (and pretending it never happened) on your way to Upper Boyer is also not uncommon. These academic pursuits in the IB diploma program have helped my future too, I have committed to University of California San Diego for Bioengineering: Bioinformatics (so excited!) which I believe would not be possible without my time here at KIS.
As I reflect on my time at KIS through the scholarship program, I feel immensely grateful for the experiences that I have gained here. The scholarship has provided me with a platform to pursue my dreams and make a positive impact in the world.
Once again, I would like to express my sincerest thanks to the Scholarship Committee for their generosity and support. I am truly honored to have been a recipient of this scholarship, and I will always remember the impact that it has had on my life.
With the kindest of regards,
Aanya Chadha
by kfi | Apr 28, 2022 | Archives |
Russell De Valois Scholarship | $5,100
Funded by classmates, friends and family of Russell De Valois ’43, interest earnings from the endowed fund is offered every other year to a student entering grade 11 for the duration of his/her study at KIS to graduation at the end of grade 12.
The 2018-19 scholarship recipient, Anuja Baldota, is completing her senior year at KIS.
Dear De Valois Family,
I am writing this letter to express my sincere gratitude for awarding me the Russell De Valois Scholarship and deciding to continue it for another academic year. This scholarship has helped me in many ways. Not only did it significantly reduce the financial burden, but it also gave me an opportunity to study at KIS and make the most out of my junior year here. Right from the start, I gave highest priority to my academics and as a result, it got me on the Principal’s list with a GPA of 3.8.
But at the same time, I involved myself in a variety of extracurriculars to develop my other skills too. I have a liking for nature and hence decided to hike and at the end of the hiking season I earned a Tahr pin along with the innumerable lessons only outdoors could offer. Besides hiking, I was also part of the basketball team and an entrepreneurship club and will continue the club by leading it as the president for my senior year. In addition to the classes and clubs, life in dorm and living in an international community has given me a priceless experience and pleasant memories.
Overall, my time at KIS has been wonderful and extremely enriching and this wouldn’t have been possible without your generosity. I would once again like to thank you for awarding me this scholarship and I am eagerly looking forward for another year to learn beyond the books and live the “Kodai experience” to the fullest.
Yours sincerely,
Anuja Baldota
KIS Class of 2021
by kfi | Aug 24, 2021 | Announcements, Archives, Projects - completed |
Dear KIS Alumni and Friends,
We want to express our deep appreciation to all of you who joined us in our recent Kodai Friends International (KFI) Leadership Matching Gift Challenge.
Thanks to the generosity of those who donated, KFI met – and in fact exceeded – our goal and raised $110,072 by the end of June to support two important and worthwhile projects at KIS and in the Kodaikanal community, both of which have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Education in Kodai Project (EKP), initiated by KIS students, will improve the educational outcomes for many children in Kodaikanal and surrounding villages that have suffered from the pandemic. Corey Stixrud, KIS Principal, in expressing appreciation for your support, writes:
“On behalf of all of us here at KIS, please accept our gratitude. Your contributions have been essential during an extremely difficult time for the people of Kodai. The vast majority of young people in our town have simply not had access to school, even virtually, for over 16 months. Your generosity has allowed us to supply learning materials for students, build classroom and IT infrastructure in local government and government-aided schools, and conduct professional development sessions for over 200 teachers so far. The principal of one of our partner schools put it best: “KIS and the Education in Kodai Project has been a godsend to the community. You have provided many things, but the best thing you have provided the students and teachers of Kodaikanal is hope for a brighter future.”
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Photos were taken during the inauguration ceremony of the Education in Kodai Project
at the CSI Middle School in Packiapuram where a computer lab, art room, spoken English room (with projector and screen), and waste management bins have been
installed.
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KFI has already transferred all funds raised as of the end of June to KIS where they can be immediately put to use to meet the needs of the school and the community in these challenging times.
Scholarships for KIS students continue to be an urgent need at KIS as many KIS families have faced economic difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, making it difficult to continue their KIS education without financial assistance.
While the Leadership Matching Gift Challenge has ended, you can still support the KIS COVID-19 Relief Fund by donating online at https://www.kfi-us.org/donate-kfi/ or by sending a check to KFI at the address listed below.
With appreciation for the difference you have made in the lives of students in Kodai and at KIS through your support.
Stan Kuruvilla Jane Cummings
President, KFI KFI Board Member
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Emotional Wellbeing Teacher Training
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Eco-Club and Teacher Training on Waste Management
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by kfi | Mar 2, 2021 | Archives, North America Alumni Events |
Kodai Friends International (KFI) and Kodaikanal International School (KIS) jointly present to you “Quad Talks,” a unique opportunity to connect and engage with KIS alumni worldwide through a series of talks featuring notable alumni speakers on a wide variety of topics, sometimes familiar, sometimes new.
Upcoming Quad Talks:
Saturday, March 13
(Rescheduled from Jan. 16, 2020)
11:00 AM EST
The Politics of Meritocracy: A conversation on caste and the privilege of education in India
Prof. of History Dwaipayan Sen ’00 interviews Prof. and Chair of the Department of Anthropology and South Asian Studies, Harvard University, Ajantha Subramanian ’86 on the topic of caste in modern-day India, its effects on the educational system and Indian diaspora.
Register HERE to register for this Zoom presentation (free)
Saturday, March 27
11:00 AM EST
Murder He Wrote: Alan Johnson ’79 discusses his page-turning mystery Family Plot
English Professor Alan Johnson ’79 is the author of Family Plot, published in 2020. A work of fiction based on characters and settings he experienced as a child, the plot rivets around events taken place in South India.
Register HERE to register for this Zoom presentation (free)
Missed past Quad Talks? No worries. You can view past Quad Talks by clicking this link: Kodaikanal International School – YouTube and select “Videos” or “Alumni Corner.” More recent Quad Talks will be added once the recording is edited.
This one was a sell-out!
Hiking in the Sky Islands
Watch this community discussion with Sandy Schoeninger, Barbara Block, Ian Lockwood and Pippa Mukherjee about
the history of the hiking program, the changes brought by environmental and social impact, and stories and photos
of hiking through the ages.
by kfi | Dec 19, 2020 | Archives |
Three NYU professors were elected as American Academy of Arts and Sciences fellows — one of the most prestigious scholarly honors — on Thursday, April 23.
The new fellows are English Professor Emerita Mary Carruthers, Psychology Professor Gregory Murphy, Psychology Professor emeritus and Anthropology Professor Susan Antón. They are three of 276 members elected in 2020.
“It’s more like the Nobel Prize than anything else in Humanities,” Carruthers told WSN in an email. “I just got an email out of the blue one morning last week saying that I’d been elected to the Fellowship.”
In addition to the professors, the AAAS also inducted Vice-Chairman of NYU’s Board of Trustees Chandrika Tandon, although this was not stated in NYU’s initial press release. Following a 2015 donation of $100 million to the Tandon School of Engineering, the school was renamed after her and her husband. Tandon is the founder and chair of Tandon Capital Associates and chair of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s Board of Overseers.
The award is multidisciplinary, encompassing fields such as education, democracy and justice, energy and environment, the arts and science and technology, the AAAS website states. Former recipients include Martin Luther King Jr., Georgia O’Keeffe, Toni Morrison, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein.
The academy has elected more than 13,500 members since its conception in 1780. The election process begins with a nomination from two already-existing members — each from a different institution — and then prospective inductees are placed on a ballot.
Members vote on these ballots in sections and then place 12 members from each section to advance to a further round. In the next round, six out of the 12 members are chosen and forwarded to The Academy’s Council and Board of Directors, who then officially elect the members, according to the AAAS website.
“The primary criteria for election are excellence in the field and a record of continued accomplishment,” the website reads.
While inductees are generally chosen because they excel in their fields, the exact selection criteria remain unclear. Inductees are generally not told why they are selected, Carruthers said.
“Since the whole process is secret, I don’t know why I was selected,” Carruthers said. “I would guess it has to do with the range of other people’s research which my work has influenced over thirty years, in ways great and small.”
Though Carruthers is categorized as an English language professor, she believes that the category doesn’t reflect the interdisciplinary nature of her work, which includes research on art history and aesthetics. When her book “The Book of Memory” was published in 1990, she received correspondence from scholars in fields ranging from anthropology and sociology to computer science.
“I still regularly get questions from doctors who treat geriatric patients, and from people who work in secondary education,” Carruthers said. “I like having such a multidisciplinary audience.
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