1Spirit of India - 2016

May 22, 2016

Dear Visitor!

Welcome to the Spirit of India 2016 celebrations.

For the first time, the Michigan Indian community is coming together to celebrate our talented kids and youth. These young

individuals have a natural aptitude and have the potential to be the leaders of tomorrow.

Academic success, excellence in sports, commitment to serve our country, exceptional talent in the fields of arts and entertain-

ment are areas where our awardees shine. Notably, we have several individuals that are also involved in community service and

some run their own charitable organizations. On behalf of the community, miindia.com is proud to honor these exceptional

youngsters who are focused and determined to succeed.　

Thank you for all your support and participation.

Best Wishes

Anand KumarPresident

Indian Community Statistics:• There are over a 120,000 residents of Indian origin in Michigan

• Indian American community is the fastest growing ethnic group in Michigan (US Census)

• Metro Detroit area is one of the top destinations for engineers and Information Technology professionals from India

• AAPI (American Association of Physicians from India) was founded in Detroit

• Rockin’ Raaga is the only live radio program playing songs in multiple Indian languages

• Miindia.com is the communication medium of choice for the Michigan Indian Community

2 Spirit of India - 2016

Michigan India Young Talent Awardees - 2016Celebrating the young leaders of tomorrow

Varun’s military career began when he joined the University of Michigan Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and simultaneously enlisted as an infantryman in the Michigan National Guard. He completed basic training and advanced individual training at Ft. Benning, GA. Upon graduating from the University of Michigan with a dual degree in Neuro sciences and Political economics, Varun was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He continued on to Ft. Sill, OK where he completed the Field Artillery Basic Officer Leadership Course. He was then assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division based out of Ft. Drum, NY.

Varun Hollabbi

In the summer of 2015, Varun deployed with 1-89 Cavalry to southern Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. During the deployment, he served in various positions in both Kandahar and Helmand Provinces. Varun was first sent to Kandahar Airfield to act as a liaison officer between his unit and the regional command. Upon completion of his duties as the liaison officer, Varun went on to take charge of an 18-man scout platoon for the remainder of the deployment. For his actions and leadership throughout the deployment, Varun was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service.

Shriya S Yarlagadda is a 12 year old 7th grader at Grand Blanc East Middle School in Grand Blanc, Michigan. She has varying interests like speech, robotics, swimming, Piano, Karate, Geography and more. Shriya secured 2nd place at the “The National Geographic Bee” in 2015. Since the National Geographic competition in 2015, she has led her middle school team in Quizbowl and won regional competition in Mid-Michigan. She is also part of the all girls Grand Blanc East Middle School Robotics team, which won the “Amaze” Award at the World Vex Robotics Competition in Louisville, KY in April, 2016.

Shriya Yarlagadda

Akshay in an 8th grader at Walnut Creek Middle School who excels in sports and academics. He started playing soccer at an early age and led his team in scoring for 3 straight years and was integral part of them making it to the State Championship Finals in 2015. During the past 2 years he has achieved many laurels in Track and Cross-Country, both at the State and National level.

He is the reigning AAU Outdoor National champion in the 3000 meters (U13) and AAU Indoor National champion in the 800 meters (U14). He runs for Waza Track Club.

Akshay Reddy

Divyesh graduated from Windsor University School of Medicine where he com-pleted a 6-year M.D. medical program in 4 years, making him one of the youngest MD graduates in town. How did he do it? Answer: He took 3 semesters per year, worked very hard, and never took a break while finishing all USMLE exams. He passed and received the 99th percentile on all USMLE exams. He received the “Best Student Award” for basic sciences and graduated with a 4.0 GPA and the valedictorian award (nominated to the best student of the graduating class). While doing research at MD Anderson, UThealth, and Northwestern, he submitted 5 publi-cations as the primary author to major medical journals and also helped start a major clinical trial.

Divyesh Nemakayala

3Spirit of India - 2016

Rishabh developed an interest in Indian classical music at a very early age. At 7 years he could easily give swara notations for any song. He started playing the sitar at age 9. Rishabh has won national competitions for Hindustani classical music. Rishabh has a CD release to his credit, recorded when he was 12 years old (called "Rising Stars"). Rishabh has performed at many venues in the area including the Royal Oak Arts, Beats and Eats Festival and Canton Liberty Festival. He was featured in the inaugural concert of Michigan Sangeet Natya Academy based in Lansing in 2015.

Rishabh also volunteers at the Jewish Community Center's friendship circle where he is a buddy to autistic kids. This election year, Rishabh has also been helping out at the local offices of the Democratic party. Rishabh is a junior at the Roeper school in Birmingham.

Rishabh Iyer

He is one of the record youngest residency applicants this year and has recently matched at Michigan State University’s Internal Medicine program. Divyesh also has his own tutoring services as he trains candidates appearing for the USMLE exam. He has trained over 300 students with a very high success rate and the number keeps growing consistently.

He was the lead actor in the feature Telugu film “Chase” filmed completely in Detroit. Divyesh says his secret to success is his photographic memory and his self-motivating mindset.

Anika Yarlagadda had been playing tennis since 4 years old. When Anika was young she had been introduced to many sports gymnastics, taekwondo, swim-ming, skating, tennis etc. Anika now continues to swim and play tennis. Sports was introduced as an after school event, to have something to do, keep physically fit and engaged in activities of interest. Anika participated in many swim meets won several medals and was pretty good at backstroke. Anika also participated in tennis tournaments. She advanced pretty well and had won several mid-west and national tournaments. Now she participates in international tournaments. In her age group she is ranked top 10 in the nation and is a Blue-Chip. Anika attends West Bloomfield High School and plays for the tennis team.

Anika Yarlagadda

Brookfield Academy is proudto offer over 50 years ofMontessori education thatexceeds Michigan standardsand is accepted internationallyfor toddlers, preprimary andelementary programs.

Individualized education• Cultural diversity• Emphasis on social graces and manners• Hands-on materials• Multi-age classrooms

Contact us to schedule a visitWest Bloomfield Campus 248-626-6665Rochester Hills Campus 248-375-1700Troy Campus 248-689-9565Livonia Campuswww.brookfieldacademy.net

Challenginggrowingminds.

Shreyas Talamakki solves Rubik's Cube in seconds. He is the current Michigan state record holder for solving the Rubik's Cube one handed in 16 seconds. He is the former Asian Record Holder for solving one of it's variations in 2.28 seconds.

His average time to solve a Rubik's Cube is 10 seconds.

Shreyas Talamakki

Sagar Mehta is a senior at Novi High School and is one of the few males to have performed his Bharatanatyam dance arangetram. Sagar participates in Hindu Heritage Summer Camp (HHSC) and serves as a counselor there to help other campers develop leadership skills.

Recently, the White House and the US government recognized Sagar with “The President’s Volunteer Service Award” for his service to the community.

Sagar Mehta

Six year old Hansa Chowdary Gondi is a singer and dancer who also acts and models. Hansa started dancing at the age of 2 years and she participated in several shows stealing the hearts of the audience. She is a born actor with great dialogue delivery and action. She won the 2nd place in DhimTANA national dance competi-tions held in July 2015, 3rd place in DhimTANA local dance competitions held in June 2015, 1st Place in reciting poems in 2013 in age group of 3-17 year old held by Detroit Telugu Association and DTLC (Detroit Telugu Literary Club), 3rd place in singing DhimTANA local competition held in July 2015, 2nd place in reciting poems in 2014 held by Detroit Telugu Association and DTLC (Detroit Telugu Literary Club).

Hansa Chowdary Gondi

15-year old, Sophia Anjali Kapur, created her own 501c3 nonprofit corporation, “I Am Not A Statistic” after an emotional, heritage-seeking trip to India in 2015. Sophia’s mission through I Am Not A Statistic is to positively and sustainably improve the lives of children in India’s slums through safe housing and education. Last Decem-ber, Sophia raised funds for and provided school supplies to a school for underprivi-leged children in Gurgaon, India. Now Sophia is fundraising to build an orphanage in India which will open in Summer 2017. Sophia is passionate about fighting poverty and saving the lives of India’s poorest children. Please learn more about her mission at www.iamnotastatistic.us/ (Sophia built this website herself.) Sophia is a sophomore at the International Academy in Bloomfield Hills.

Sophia Anjali Kapur

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Nisha Gopal volunteers countless hours to collect books for the needy and has served as the school president during her high school years. Nisha graduated this spring from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Biochemistry. Her next step will take her to Paris, France for 10 months, where she will be conducting biochemistry research under the Fulbright scholarship.

Nisha plans to attend graduate school to earn a PhD in biochemistry and biophysics.

Nisha Gopal

Samarth Praveen Rao is an extraordinary young talented boy. He is 6 years old studying in Kindergarten and he has already exhibited his talent in both academics and extracurricular activities. He has participated in various events/competitions winning lots of Prizes and accolades.

He is a singer, dancer, artist, story teller and can also tell jokes. He represented his school in National Mathematics Pentathlon Academic tournament and won the Gold medal.

Samarth Praveen Rao

Rish Vasudevan is a Junior at Northville High and has been a straight A student with committed involvement in Robotics, Soccer and music from a very young age. Rish a full IB Diploma student was recently honored by the Northville district for his proposal - "Reviving and Revitalizing Detroit" a personal project he passionately presented to help rebuild the city of Detroit.

Rish is keen on pursing Architecture. His project was based on research of the history and current state of Detroit. A creative proposal to bring the city back to a booming state and put it back on the American map as a thriving downtown.

Rish recently represented Northville's Robotics team - Robostangs 548 and won the Chairman's Award at the District tournament along with 2 other presenters. Rish also has dedicated several hours to Outreach programs serving Northville Civic Concern, Horatious William Foundation, Detroit and Detroit Spanish Devel-opment Corporation.

Rish along with the team is headed to the International Competition in St. Louis. Rish is also the lead soloist on the Northville High School Choir group, and plays on the Div B team of Novi Jaguars.

Rish Vasudevan

7Spirit of India - 2016

Trishul’s is a multi-talented youngster with a passion for Dance, Business and Medicine. He has done DECA for 3 years. DECA is the world’s biggest student run organization for Marketing with over 50,000 members. This year, he participated at DECA districts, advanced to the state competition, where he was named state champion to advance to the national competition, competing against the best in the world with over 18,500 students. Here, he placed top 10 in the entire world in his event, Travel and Tourism Marketing defeating 160 teams who were state champi-ons as well. Several pieces of Rish's visual art projects were on display at the North-ville Art House in March as part of the IB Visual Art Recognition.

Likewise, Trishul won first place at HOSA States, a medical competition similar to DECA. In addition, Trishul has passion for dance since he was 6 years old. He does Indian hip-hop dancing and for the past 5 years has started choreographing for kids, teens, and even adults. Recently, he started ABCD (Any Body Can Dance) Academy which is thriving. In 2015, he choreographed his group’s dance and won First at the Dhim TANA National Dance competition and also his group of students ( 9-11 yrs) won first and second place in the state level and National level Dhim tana Dance competitions held by TANA .

Trishul Reddy Kalapuram

Krishangi Kaushik is a junior in Canton High School. She is multilingual and can speak Assamese, Hindi, Bengali and French. Krishangi is enrolled in the Interna-tional Baccalaureate Program with a current GPA of 4.1. She is an AP Scholar and an Honor Roll student. She was a recipient of the Presidential scholar award. Krishangi is a member of the Varsity Swim Team and has been a Student Council Member since freshman year. She’s the Secretary of the High School French Club and Vice President of the Indian Fusion acapella group. Krishangi is a Superior in the Federa-tion Test for Piano every year from Grade 5 till date. She also taught Music Theory as a student teacher for ARS Musical Academy.

She represented her school in Michigan State Honors Choir in Middle School. Krishangi volunteers in The Friendship Circle which assists Special Needs children. She is also joining as one of the first members of a unique “Adopt a Grand-parent” program which is starting soon in the Metro Detroit area.

Krishangi Kaushik

Rani Dhiman is an incredibly talented kid and has been recognized at various levels (regional, state and national) for community service. She was recognized by "Farm-ington Hills/Farmington Commission on children, youth and families" at the City Council meeting.

Rani Dhiman spends her spare time advocating and educating her peers about voting.

Rani Dhiman

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12 Spirit of India - 2016

Ashwath is a 6 year old Kindergartner and is extremely talented in Music. At the age of 3 he started identifying raagas in Carnatic Music and was able to sing a song when given the raaga. He has won numerous prizes in community competitions such as Balbharati for singing. At the age of 6 he was able to memorize and sing the Vishnu Sahasranam. At the age of 3 he learned the capitals of all the 50 US states and by age 4 he learned the capitals of all the countries in the world. He has won honor roll awards multiple times in Kumon for Math and Reading even before he entered Kindergarten.

Ashwath Mahesh

Chintan Maheswari has won numerous awards for academic excellence. He secured the 1st place in HOSA Regionals, Optimist Oratorical Contest 2016 Region-als and Farmington Optimist Oratorical Contest. Chintan conducts confidence and public speaking workshops for under privileged kids in Detroit.

He has also taught math to kids of DPS after School. He is also the Captain of school’s JV Tennis Team and JV Bowling Team. He has won awards for dance and music.

Chintan Maheswari

Anjika is actively involved in community service in and out of the school. As a Fifth grader she won the Excellence in Education Award (2014) for exemplifying the qualities of leadership, community service and academic excellence. Anjika contributes her time to the Bridge Buddy Club to help kids with autism in school.

Anjika has won numerous awards and represents Michigan in FPS (Future Problem Solving) International Conference.

Anjika Jain

Sahana Shankar started Indian Classical Violin at age 5. She has matured her violin talent to a concert performer level and has been the winner of prestigious awards for solo and accompaniment. She regularly accompanies for classical music programs. Her most coveted awards are first place titles at the Cleveland Tyagaraja Music Festival, a national music festival with participants from all over the country. She also placed in the Top 3 at the Carnatic Music Idol USA competitions organized by Jaya TV, India. Sahana has accumulated over 100 volunteering hours at the Jewish Community Center. She spends time weekly with Special Needs children at the Friendship Circle. On August 21st, 2015 Sahana organized a fundraiser called “Strings For a Cause”, to raise money for St Jude Cancer Research Foundation and UDHAVAM KARANGAL – Orphanage and Special Needs Center, Chennai India.

Sahana Shankar

Kavyapranati Pratapa is a multi-talented junior at Washtenaw International High School and has a 4.0 unweighted GPA. This past year, she also received an Interna-tional Baccalaureate award for Environmental Systems and Societies from her school as well as a Summa Cum Laude honor award for academic excellence.

She has also learned Carnatic Music for 12 years, winning second place in 2014 and 2015 at the Papanasam Sivan Music Competition in Detroit. She has also partici-pated in the Scripps National Spelling bee tying for 10th place at Scripps in 2012.

In her sophomore year, she raised over $4,000 in funds to travel to Malawi to help build a school in a rural village and will be heading to Nicaragua this summer for the same purpose. She has also worked closely with buildOn as a marketing and promotions intern over the summer of 2015.

Kavyapranati Pratapa

Ria Bramhane is 10 Years old and a multi-talented – singer and photographer. She started singing at the age of 5 Years. She has been performing in many shows in Detroit and out-of-state.

This year, she participated in Regional AGM (American Guild of Music) and received 1st prize for her age category in the vocal solo pop category. Last year, she won the 1st prize at 114th National AGM contest.

Ria Bramhane

Hitesh was selected as athlete of the year award for the year 2015 at Eppler Jr. High School in Utica school district. He was recognized by the principal in presence of big crowd. Also to note that only one male and one female student gets this award in school.

He continues to be very active in sports and promises to be first Indian born who’ll make it to the NFL.

Hitesh Kumar Phougat

Anirudh is 10 years old and in 4th grade at the TAG (Talented and Gifted Kids Program) at Gallimore Elementary in the Plymouth Canton School District. Anirudh loves sports and participates in many of them. He is a dedicated martial artist and currently a first degree black belt. He will be receiving his 2nd degree black belt this month. This incredible journey started when he was 4 years 10 months old.

His discipline and dedication to the sport is outstanding, and he has won numerous medals at Taekwondo championships.

Anirudh D. Krishnan

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Charanya Rengarajan is a sophomore at Pioneer High School, Ann Arbor Michigan. She plays the violin and guitar. Charanya Rengarajan has been passionate about Bharathanatyam since she was 4 1/2 yrs of age. Charanya was awarded The Miss Elegance Award by the School of dance and music in Michigan 2012. She won the first place in The Canadian dance competition held in Windsor in 2012. She was blessed to perform at the Kamakshi Amman temple in Coimbatore when Maha Swamy of Shri Kanchi Kamakotipeetam awarded her the title of Bharatha Kala Rathna. She is an active crew member in The Pioneer Theater Guild productions of Little Mermaid, Rock of ages and Grease.

She is a member of her schools choir group that enabled her to perform in the Future Stars program. She attends the InterLochen fine arts camp every summer. Charanya is an Honor roll student in her class and is a member of the National Honor roll society.

Charanya Rengarajan

Sreechandana Anumolu is a talented 10th grader and has achieved awards in several fields. She is a gold medalist in HOSA for winning first place in Michigan State level competition, competing with other kids of Michigan Schools, aspiring career in Health Sciences.

She also won the first place in Grand Finale of a National level music contest conducted by a popular Television channel TV9 and TANA which is Largest national level Telugu organization in USA and also won the second place in Grand Finale of a national level music contest conducted by ATA which is another national level Telugu organization in USA.

Sreechandana Anumolu

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8 year old Ashita can see after being blind folded and can even read a book too. This is a technique considered as mid brain activation due to which with closed eyes she can see as well as do some activities which can be done with open eyes.

It’s really unbelievable. She learnt this technique in India.

Ashita Agarwal

Aneesha Mantripragada is a multi-Talented Novi High School student. She has completed her Arangetram in Bharatanatyam and was one of the 17 participants (selected from all over USA) in ETV Padutha theeyaga.

Apart of Music and Dance she also excels with excellent grades.

Aneesha Mantripragada

Riya is currently a junior in the rigorous IB Diploma Program at Harrison High School and is at the top of her class (#1 rank) with a 4.0 GPA. She has won the FPS Superintendent Award of Excellence twice. She was also awarded the Farmington Optimist Club Leadership Award for developing human relations and exceptional charity work. She is on the varsity tennis team of her school. She is the president of many clubs at her school including the Toastmasters Club, Spanish National Honor Society, and Math Club; she also holds leadership positions in many other clubs such as HOSA, Model UN, and Student Round Table. She is the president of the Jain Organization of Youth (JOY) at the Jain Temple.

She won second place at the JAINA convention national speech competition in Atlanta. She recently presented a 15 minute TEDx Talk on the importance of Equanimity in our daily lives. She also won second place at the Optimist International Oratorical Contest. She is in her 6th level of Kathak and has won the annual Star Performer award twice. She currently volunteers in the ER Department of Botsford Hospital and has logged more than 50 hours. She also volunteered at Baptist Manor Senior Nursing Home. Riya wants to pursue a career in the medical field so that she can fulfill her dream of positively impacting the lives of people all around her.

Riya Shah

Krithik Vallem is a sophomore at Northville High School with numerous awards to his credit. Krithik represented Michigan at National Science Olympiad tournament 5 years in a row both at Middle school and High school level. He has won National 1st place in 2014 National Science Olympiad Finals in RoadScholar event and Top Ten Scorer at State Math Counts event and got 8th place Michigan Math Prize Competition. Krithik also volunteers his time for community service events includ-ing Gleaners Food Bank/Kids helping Kids with hunger programs.

Krithik Vallem

Ben (Bhanu) Rathi is a rising senior at the University of Michigan, completing a dual-degree in computer science and business administration. Ben Rathi has sent over 20,000 pounds of unused medical supplies to hospitals in Nigeria and Ghana. In 2013, Ben volunteered at a hospital in Nepal, and noticed a significant lack of basic medical supplies in third world countries (need). As a hospital volunteer in the United States, he noticed that hospitals routinely threw away completely unused medical supplies and equipment (excess). Thus, he determined to bridge the gap between excess and need.

Ben founded a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Blueprints For Pangaea, to redistribute unused medical supplies from the United States to hospitals in need around the world. In 2015, as a sophomore in college, Ben won the $15,000 grand prize at the Michigan Business Challenge at the Ross School of Business, competing against 40 teams of MBA, MPH, and PhD students. After sending 10,000 pounds of supplies in January, Ben received a thank you letter from the Prime Minister of Niger. The Blueprints team now has over 25 people, and is rapidly growing. It started at the University of Michigan, but is now expanding to college campuses around the country, including Harvard Medical School. In 5 years, Blueprints hopes to send over 1 million pounds of medical supplies worth over $50 million around the world.

Ben (Bhanu) Rathi

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With Gratitude…Miindia Team thanks all the Spirit of India sponsors, dance choreographers and

participants for making the day colorful and spirited.

20 Spirit of India - 2016

Sponsors

Backdrop DesignOfficial DJ

Sammvad Academy (Kuldip Bhatt)Vaishnavi Venkatesh (Vocal-Solo)

Tapan Kataria (DJ Services)Jim Gibbons (Lights/Sound)

Event For Less (Backdrop Design)Rachna Chandra (Fashion Show/Taj Cottage)

Bombay Wedding Events, TroyAroma Indian Cuisine, Farmington Hills

Thank You

Special Thanks to

Radio/Broadcasting – WCXI 1160 AMMr. Narendra Sheth (Geetmala)Dr. Subhash Kelkar (Geetanjali)

Ms. Mumtaz Haque (Manoranjan)Anu Gopalakrishnan (Rockin' Raaga)