Indian Appreciation Club Attracts Many Students
Kayden Kadri (11) and Sohum Joshi (11), presidents, of the Indian Appreciation Club, pose with their poster promoting the Indian Appreciation Club’s first meeting. The club was created just this year in hopes to appreciate Indian culture.
November 3, 2019
With the start of the 2019-2020 school year, there are now over 120 clubs on campus, the most ever. One club however has caught the attention of many. The Indian Cultural Appreciation club holds its meetings in room J202 on the second Wednesday of every month, and both of the meetings the club has held so far have attracted over seventy members.
At the first meeting of the SJH’s Indian Cultural Appreciation club, Presidents Kayden Kadri and Sohum Joshi enterd the meeting blasting Indian music and wearing Kurtas. This commenced a meeting that included samosas, Indian games and lessons from the Presidents on Indian culture.
Presidents Sohum Joshi and Kayden Kadri have been met with recognition from many students for their club. “People have come up to me and said ‘It’s so fun, I’m definitely coming next time!’” said junior Sohum Joshi, one of the club’s co-presidents. The positive feedback that has come from students for the Indian appreciation club illustrates the club’s purpose of creating an environment for any student to embrace India.
“We are here to teach people to appreciate Indian culture” said junior Kayden Kadri, the other co-president.
This reflects the uniqueness of the Indian Cultural Appreciation club, as many students of different ethnic backgrounds have shown up to the first two meetings the club has held. A clubs with a racial or ethnic identity can sometimes only attract members from that specific group, yet this is not the case for the Indian Cultural Appreciation club.
The club’s popularity beyond the Indian population at SJHHS has proven how the club has accomplished its initial goal of appreciating Indian people. “I think its cool that a whole population at San Juan is now getting the spotlight, especially when it’s one of the smaller minorities,” said junior Sri Gosh.
“It’s a way to get our message of helping people learn about Indian culture across,” said Joshi. In order to push this message, at meetings Kadri and Joshi play Indian trivia games, and have even had a lesson on differentiating between Indian culture and cultures of nations in the same region as India.
It’s evident Kadri and Joshi have had an impact on campus. “[The club] has actually given me a huge sense of community,” said Gosh.
The club has created a space for Indian students to feel proud of their ancestory and at the same time, share common identity with people who come from the same ethnic background.
