Association of Indians in America-“Graduation Celebration”
A salute to outstanding students
awarded the Vinod K and J. Gail Sahney Scholarship for academic excellence by the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Wunsch material
handling prize at UW- Madison.
     The AIA, aside from celebrating Indian American students’ achievements annually, also holds a number of gatherings that highlights Indian culture and
traditions. “There are a lot of things that we want to do , but given the time frame, everything might not be accomplished,” Rajagopal said. “What I wanted to do
at least is bring in more visibility to the Indian community. One of our plans is to move India Day from the Library Mall to some place which is more visible. The
next event is Mother’s Day, and after that, the biggest event is Diwali. This year, we’ll make it even grander.”
By Heidi M. Pascual

      The Association of Indians in America (AIA) recently
honored outstanding graduates and students with certificates of
recognition at a dinner in Zhor Shrine Place. “There are 18
graduating Indian high school students: 11 from Memorial High
School,” AIA President Aruna Rajagopal said in a brief interview
with Asian Wisconzine before the program. “It’s a great pleasure
to have students here and honor them and celebrate their
success. Honorees this year include a post graduate and a 12-
year-old middle school student.”
      Students honored were:
• Bhabna Patti (age 12, Kromrey Middle School):
recipient of 'The President's Call to Service
Award- Gold Star level, presented by the
President's Council on Service and Civic
Participation. She is also involved in the UW-
Arboretum project, “Clean and Green Middleton
Festival.”
• Nivedita Prabakaran (8th Grade, Spring Harbor
Middle School): winner of Wisconsin Center for
Academically Talented Youth (WCATY) Award;
member, Field Biology Club. Her interests:
Bharatanatyam, Volleyball, Bollywood dances.
• Suman Gunasekaran (9th Grade, Memorial
High): WCATY award winner;  3rd place in
Capital Science Fair 2009;  member of Spartan
Youth Service. His interests: Camping (recently
attended Boy Scouts camp at the Grand
Canyon); tennis.
• Nisha Pillay (HS graduate): Member of Verona
Conzimius Program-a prestigious club with invited
The current AIA Board with Dr. & Mrs. Chandra: (Back row,L-R) Nitin Saini
(Youth Coordinator); Shashank Partha (Treasurer); Gopal Krishnan (Board
Member & Emcee of the event); Biswajeet Pati (Board Member); Amit
Mangar (Gen. Secretary); Badrinath Lankella (President Elect); Shayam
Koppikar (Immediate Past President); (Front row, L-R) Kamlesh Saini (Board
Member); Preeta Guptan (Cultural Secretary); Dr. & Mrs. Chandra; Aruna
Rajagopal (President); Subhra Pati (Board Member)
(First row, L-R) Bhabna Patti, Suvai Gunasekaran, Dr.
Suresh & Mrs. Sunitha Chandra; Nisha Pillay; Dashini
Sathasivam. (Second row, L-R) Nivedita Prabakaran; AIA
Pres. Aruna Rajagopal; Suman Gunasekaran; and Debjit Roy
The Gunasekaran family
members involved in community
service. Her interest: Bollywood
dance.
• Prashanth Prabakaran (11th
Grade, Memorial High): Winner
WCATY scholarship. Interests:
Athletics, guitar.
• Dashini Sathasivam (HS
graduate): Volunteer and Vice-
President of Spartan Youth
Service; co-editor of The
Independent student newspaper.
She plays club soccer at premier
level, and interests include
Bharatanatyam and bollywood
(From top) Dr. Suresh Chandra was the guest
speaker, and he showed a video of what his
organization, Combat Blindness does to
help poor people in India find sight. (L-R)
Suvai Gunasekaran, Dashini Sathasivam,
Nisha Pillay, Nivedita Prabakaran;
Meenakshi Ganesan entertains with a
Bharatnatyam number.
dance.
• Suvai Gunasekaran (HS graduate,  joining Harvard University in Fall 2009):
president of Spartan Youth Service; captain of Science Olympiad of Memorial
High School. She has played at the regional level as part of the Math Team;
president of Spanish Club; and editor in chief of the school paper. She is also one
of 141 Presidential scholars this year.
• Debjit Roy -(Graduated with a masters in manufacturing systems engineering
from UW- Madison; now pursuing a Ph.D. He holds a bachelor’s from India;