The 4 Shanti Bhavan finalists: Rahul, Akash, Catsiya and Yeshwini
Have you ever dreamt of spending a summer in Japan? At Shanti Bhavan, 7th-9th graders have a great summer opportunity to attend ISAK, a leadership summer camp near Tokyo, on full scholarship. The summer school program is offered entirely in English and emphasizes diversity, leadership and creativity. Students attending ISAK (which stands for International School of Asia, Karuizawa) get to participate in a rigorous curriculum that includes a variety of courses from Science, Math and Literature to International Negotiation, Theater and Non-verbal Communication, Sports/Yoga, Music and Japanese as well as various leadership and diversity seminars. ISAK focuses on creating a diverse student body from countries all over Asia and the four Shanti Bhavan students who attended last year were praised by the staff for adding a very unique perspective to the group.
We have no doubt that this year will be the same! For the past few months, 11 of the best 7th-9th graders at Shanti Bhavan went through a rigorous application process to apply to the program. In order to be considered, the candidates had to write two essays, answer several short answer questions and get letters of recommendation from their teachers; sounds a lot like college applications to me! The pool has now been narrowed down to four students: 8th graders Rahul, Akash, Catsiya, and 7th grader Yeshwini (We sponsored her with tie-dye cupcakes!) who will have to go through a series of Skype interviews with the ISAK faculty. If chosen to go, these students will be leaving India for the first time and experiencing their first-ever airplane ride. It will be an eye-opening experience to interact with and learn from children in other countries and gain confidence by traveling to a foreign country. We wish Rahul, Akash, Catsiya and Yeshwini the best of luck!
To learn more about ISAK, check out their website!