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Vedic Graduation Pooja At Sarva Dev Mandir In Oxford, MA

Jaya Asthana
07/06/2016

Eight Hindu-American high school students and their families, along with some members of the community, gathered together on June 11, 2016, in Sarva Dev Mandir, Oxford, MA, to celebrate their graduation from High School in a traditional Vedic service. The graduates, their proud parents, friends, scholars, pujaris, and several Temple committee members assembled early on Saturday morning to participate in this unique Samskara, held in the United States for the ninth time. The Ninth annual graduation pooja was cosponsored by Sarva Dev mandir and Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America.

The service began with the lighting of the lamp by the Chief Guest, Dr. Anuradha Annaswamy, followed by the Ekta Mantra, flawlessly recited by Srinidhi, Krishna and Amruth. This mantra reminds us all of the underlying unity among all Hindus, regardless of their background or social standing. The Emcees, Srinidhi and Amruth, both high school juniors, conducted the entire ceremony and guided everyone through the morning. After a recitation of the Saraswati Vandana, Shri Ravi Sreedhar introduced the keynote speaker, Dr. Anuradha Annaswamy, who addressed the graduates and their families, and inspired them to do their best and keep going in the face of all odds.  

The Vandana of the Devi of Learning had a calming effect on the audience, with the graduates prepared to participate in the ensuing pooja and absorb the messages from Pandit ji and the various speakers.

The temple pujari, Pandit Shivram Sharma ji, conducted the service beginning with Sri Ganesha Pooja followed by Ma Saraswati Pooja. He emphasized that everyone should respect his/her parents, teachers and Ishwar. By respecting your parents and teachers, you are respecting Ishwar as well. Each graduate participated individually and collectively in the Pooja seeking success in college and future educational efforts.

All students were called individually, their accomplishments acknowledged, and awarded a graduation certificate with a bag of gifts on behalf of the Temple by Pandit Shivram ji. They all had a chance to talk for 2-3 minutes about their accomplishments, goals, and aspirations as they accepted their awards.

The final remarks and blessings were given by Dr. Abhaya Asthana. He inspired the students to continue on their quest for higher learning, and always leave room for Ishwar and Self development. He reminded everyone that the Hindu culture is a culture of gratitude, respect, acceptance, self-discipline and service. The students are fortunate to have their education, their families, and their supportive community.

The ceremony was followed by a delicious lunch which was lovingly prepared by the families of the graduating students. All the students agreed that this was an event that will live forever in their memory, as a motivation to excel above and beyond. The education samskaras are considered most important as Hindus recognize education to be the stepping stone to future enlightenment for eventual liberation from the bondage of rebirths. A samskara ceremony creates a positive imprint or channel in the mind of the recipient akin to a little path. The purpose is to guide future thoughts and resulting actions to travel along this familiar path assisting the individual to think and act in an appropriate manner conducive to living in accordance with dharma. The students are fortunate to have this samskara service conducted by interested friends. Indeed, all present were blessed to be in the direct presence of Sri Ganesha and Ma Saraswati, with the accomplishment of all four goals of life: dharma (right living), artha (wealth), kama (pleasure), and moksha (liberation).

All students were asked to bow to Sri Ganesha, Ma Saraswati, their mothers, their fathers, and all others present in the congregation, as God resides in all. They were further asked to go out fearlessly in the world and to be proud to call themselves Hindu Americans.

Families interested in participating in next year’s Graduation Service should contact Sanjay Gupta: sgupta_per@yahoo.com.

The Graduates
 
Takchha Singh
         
My name is Takchha Singh. I am graduating High School this year from AMSA (Advanced Math and Science Academy) in Marlborough, MA.  I currently live in Hudson, MA with my parents (Nimesh and Sangeeta Singh) and my younger sister Kriti Singh. I am going to attend the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the fall of 2016.

I have been involved in my school and charity organizations. I have participated in AMSA math team and I was a math team captain. I have also participated in both the track and field team and the cross-country team. I got silver medals for the National Latin Exam (NLE).  I have been involved in Karate and Habitat for Humanity. I started going to Bal Vihar at the age of 4. I learned so many important things which I am sure going to use in my life. Bal Vihar not only taught me academically but I also learned how I can do seva to our community. I have volunteered in many Bal Vihar events/programs and I will love doing it in the future.  

Madhumita Rao
 
My name is Madhumita Rao and I was born on August 26, 1998. I currently live in Natick with my parents, Chaitanya and Anjana Rao, and my sister, Rishmita. I am graduating from Natick High School this year and will join the Honors Program and 6 Year Pharmacy Program at Northeastern University this coming fall.

During my time in high school, I have taken the initiative to find myself opportunities to further my learning, and have been an active community member. I have pursued several internships, including one in India at the Sankara Nethralaya Eye Hospital where I shadowed ophthalmologists, viewed cataract surgeries, and visited rural camps. This past summer, I interned at a research laboratory at Boston University. I was accepted into the RISE Program at BU, and worked with a professor to learn about HDL biogenesis and lab techniques such as western blotting. It was a rewarding experience since I was able to publish and present my poster representing my research at the end of six weeks at a symposium.

Outside of internships, I am a sprinter on my school’s track team and I have volunteered at the local hospital since 2013. I have dedicated over 300 hours for community service during my high school years for various events, and I plan on continuing doing community service at college. I have also played the piano for 11 years and flute for almost 8 years, and I am a board member of my high school band.

 
Sindhu Banerjee
 
My name is Sindhu Banerjee. I am currently graduating from Milton High School and will attend Johns Hopkins University for biomedical engineering next year. I am very fortunate to have the love and support of my parents, Haimanti and Kanchan Banerjee. I have been very involved in the Milton community; I helped organize multiple civil rights events at my school including a Woman Empowerment night as well as "50 Years Later", which celebrated the achievements of the civil rights movement. I also try to keep in touch with my roots; I have participated in Sanskrit Camp, took part in VHPA's Vivekananda camp several times and won a "camper of the year" award for my efforts and commitment. I also used to recite Bengali poems and perform Indian dance-dramas at the local pujas every year. In the future, I hope to improve the quality of human life through engineering, especially in the fields of oncology and neurobiology. 
 
Karan Chopra-Tandon
My name is Karan Tandon, and I am the son of Roochi Chopra and Amit Tandon. I was born in Santa Cruz, California on February 5th, 1998, and graduated Cum Laude from Tabor Academy on May 30th, 2016. I have been a high honors student for all of my high school career, and have been a recipient of the Tarik A. Toukan Scholarship for high achievement in academics and arts. This fall I will be going to Skidmore College on a Porter scholarship for Math and Sciences, majoring in Biochemistry with Pre-Medical Concentration. My extracurriculars include Crew, Chess, and Theater Tech work.
 
Over the past 4 years, I have worked diligently at my school to connect the international student population with the American one. The international students have a difficult time adjusting to life in America, and therefore find it difficult to connect with those who have lived here their entire lives. Being a seasoned member of the VHPA camp and my Hindu culture has taught me how to include newcomers to a group and make them feel welcome, and I have successfully used these teachings at my school to include the international students into the school community and help them adjust to life in America. When I become a student at Skidmore next year, I know that I will have no problems making friends and being inclusive towards new students who may be nervous or shy.
 
Gopi Rao
 
My name is Gopikrishna (Gopi) Rao. My parents are Ramakrishna and Pramila, and I have a younger brother named Vishwa and sister Priya. This year I graduated from ABRHS (Acton) Class of 2016. Next year, I will be studying at the Vanderbilt, Tennessee where I plan to major in Biomedical Engineering. For the past four years, I have been involved in my school’ Science, and Frisbee clubs. I love helping the community. I volunteered over 700 hours of hospital volunteering (VA Hospital, LGH, Genesis Center, Lifecare Center, Acton) for which I got National Presidential Volunteer Award (3 Years in a row).  I am Karate blackbelt holder and we won TYE Globals International in 2015. I have been tutoring students at an intensive mathematics institute for the last 2 years.
 
Sowmya Kuruganti

My name is Sowmya Kuruganti. My parents are Padma and Subu Kuruganti and I have a younger sister named Medha. This May I graduated from the University of Connecticut, with an Honors B.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology, where I participated in Bioinformatics research. In the Fall, I will be attending Yale University to complete my M.P.H. in Healthcare Management. During undergrad, I served on the executive board for our Indian Students Association (and was President my Senior year). We held events such as Garba, our Diwali Culture Show and Holi. I also served as a mentor through both the Honors Program and the Asian American Cultural Center.

Bhumika Giri

My name is Bhumika Giri. I was born in September 30, 1997. I live in Springfield, MA with my parents, grandmother and my brother. Currently, I am a senior at Springfield Central about to graduate. I will be attending Umass Amherst in fall. I plan to major in Biology in college. My goal is to become a Pediatrician in future.

In my past years of high school, I was a member of National Honor Society, National Math Honor Society, Key club, and Red Cross Club. Outside of school I am a member of BSEP program. Through this program I was able to gain lots of experiences in Health care field. I got shadow doctors few times and I was able to learn new things.  I also got the opportunity to do a TAHSS program, at the TUFTS University last summer. I was able to take classes such as Physical Diagnosis, and Anatomy. Along the classes, I was able to do a research in Epilepsy and present it to my other peers and the instructors from my classes.
 
I am also the president of our Bhutanese youth club. I help other member of Bhutanese community to organize cultural programs. As a president of the youth club I was able to get new experiences on being a leader. I took responsibilities in setting up the time for everyone for the meetings, communicating with each member of our club, teaching dances to the club members for the cultural events and I had to make sure everyone of the club members were equally participating in helping our community. In future I plan to help our community to be better and my plan is to unite all the youths of our community.

Surbhi Daryani

I graduated from Southboro high school.



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