My family includes my mom, dad, and my sister Shraddha who is currently in 8th grade. I was born in India and have lived there for 8 years. We then moved to the United States in 2016. Currently, my parents work in Boston but one of our favorite activities to do together is watch movies and comedy shows together. I personally love to travel and go on road trips with family friends. My family has mostly been to different parts of India and all of the New England states (plus Florida) in the US. An interesting fact about me is that I am terrified of snakes and that a car once ran over my toes!
I have been doing Indian Classical Dance since I was 6 years old. My dance form is called Kuchipudi and it originates from Andra Pradesh, India. Although I wanted to quit in my initial years of learning, I am forever grateful to my mom for pushing me to persevere through the rough stages. I learn from Sailaja aunty who has been the most wonderful mentor and runs the dance school, Sri Kuchipudi Natyalaya (SKN – click on the link to learn more!). As you can see, I enjoy dancing a great deal and the friendships I have made along the way are truly worth it. I have participated in many dance productions as female and male roles and it is such a fun environment. In dance, I was elected captain of Tarang for two years in a row, which is a varsity level dance team for highschoolers that started two years ago. Through leading the team, I have enhanced so many valuable skills such as leadership, public speaking, and time management. We got to perform at the Boston Science Museum and also at the SKN’s annual day celebrations. In addition, I also do Bollywood dance and have taught it to others before too. This is a completely different style that everyone loves to watch during parties and holidays. At my sending school, I was part of South Asian Dance Team during freshman year and also Dance Club during sophomore year. Both years, we performed at a school event called Asian Culture Night (ACN).
One of my hobbies that I picked up on during COVID was acrylic painting. I self-learned how to paint through watching YouTube tutorials. For me, painting is a great way to relax, and it helps me calm down during stressful times. I’m really sad that I don’t have the time to simply paint anymore. Anyways, my most recent paintings are from summer of 2023 which are the New York piece and the waterfall piece.
Volunteering is a great way to give back to the community. For the past few summers, I have volunteered at a Youth Service Institute called WooServes. This program only runs during the summer and is for people who are 13-17 years old (high school age). I completely love this program because we get to go to different sites around Worcester every day and directly help out people in need. This program is really flexible and only runs for 6 weeks, so we can pick what days and times to volunteer. My favorite place to volunteer was the Grafton community harvest and also the Yes We Care program in Worcester. This program makes such a difference in people’s lives that it goes unmatched. It is a great way to show commitment, make new friends and address community issues. I would recommend WooServes to everyone who wants to do community service over the summer! WOOSERVES
