On April 5^th 2014, the Indo-American Youth Group  and the South Asian Student Association of Newton South High School hosted a conference on Identity and Culture and what it means to be a South Asian student.  Although the first of its kind, it drew a wide audience of parents and children from middle school and up. 

The afternoon was kicked off by a keynote speech by Nitin Nohria, the dean of Harvard Business School, followed by an interactive discussion.  He spoke about the experiences he encountered when he came to America and how “only in America" could a first generation immigrant be leading one of the premier education institutes of the country.  This was followed by panel discussions on identity, Language and culture and Academic Expectations and Reality. Panelists included students as well as high school and university faculty, psychologists and prominent Indian-Americans involved in art and politics. These included Neena Gulati, founder of Triveni Dance ensemble, Lakshmi Ramarajan, faculty at Harvard Business School, Soundhari Balaguru, a psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, Saatvik Ahluwalia, the youngest person to run for elected office in Lexington and Nilay Roy from Northeastern University.

The three panels led to a lively and insightful dialogue on topics close to the heart of the community. The open conversation and atmosphere lent itself to the students speaking very freely and thoughtfully. 

The panel discussions were followed by interactive workshops on bhangra; cooking and art of South Asia which gave people a chance participate and learn.  One of the students spoke about the cause the conference raised funds for---the Veer initiative, under the auspices of American Indian Foundation (AIF) which enables people with disabilities to unleash their true potential. 

It was a very successful afternoon and both groups look forward to this conference becoming an annual event and creating an ongoing conversation within the community. 

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