SYA India

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(This page is adapted from the SYA webpage: www.sya.org)

My semester abroad is made possible through a program called SYA of which my school, Lakeside School, is a member. I applied for this program around November/December of last year through school, which required more essays, recommendation letters, questionnaires, interviews, forms, and discussions with my parents than I would like to repeat or recount, but it was totally worth it. I will likely mention this often in my blog - I feel very lucky and privilege to be able to participate in this program.

SYA or School Year Abroad was founded in 1964 by Phillips Academy in Andover and is attended by students in their junior or senior year from private and public schools across the United States. SYA has programs in Spain, Italy, China, and France, and this year is their first program in India. While these other programs major emphasis is on second-language acquisition and have language pre-requisites, the emphasis in India is on environmental science, service, development, and economics.

SYA India is located on the campus of Visakha Valley School in Visakhapatnam. Visakha Valley School is an “English medium institution”, with 1,200 students from grades K-12 located five miles north along the coast from the center of Visakhaptnam or Vizag. SYA classes will take place in a separate building on campus with SYA instructors, but we will be able to join Visakha Valley students for sports, activities, and service projects.

The central curriculum of SYA India will be English, math, Hindi, India History and Culture, as well as tutoring in French, environmental science, and economics. Other topics that will be "addressed through class work, projects, and internships may micro-lending, energy delivery, water supply and waste water treatment, public health, the role of NGO's in the developing world, social entrepreneurship, agricultural, international aid and trade policies, in addition to the public policies and institutions of the host country. Two key elements in the learning experience will be living with local host families and working in various real development projects, experiences designed to give students a deeper understanding of concepts and public policies they will have examined in class." The following YouTube video is an example of a project we might participate in: (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q81UcGBt28I).

My current preparations for SYA India (as of today...) include staring at the pack list (modest clothing only, no shorts, etc.) and my lovely light blue passport cover, eating frozen mango chunks (coming soon frozen Indian dinners), requesting/reading all the required and recommended reading books from the library, "chatting" with the other 15 members of the SYA India group on Facebook, applying for an Indian visa (extremely time consuming), thinking about (but not actually) learning some Hindi before I go, filling out SYA forms about expectations, communication, behavior, etc., making lists, and of course starting this blog. I've also resumed planning my approximately 10-day post SYA India trip for Christmas with my grandma and Charlie. So far, only our airfares has been set, but were almost ready to solidify our itinerary.

The next entry in this blog will likely include:
1. My own brief summary of Indian history from what I learned at Lakeside this year - featuring Gandhi (see the movie for great views of India).
2. A few words in Hindi.
3. A profile of Visakhaptnam.
4. My goals/expectations/fears/hopes relating to both school and my host family.
5. Detailed account of the pain in my arm after I get more vaccinations than anyone should have to in a lifetime.
6. New insights from my India summer reading list.

I leave on August 25th for Boston and on August 27th for India, so the space between now and then is the last chance to see me before 2009!

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