CLASS NEWS 2016/17 A Class News Magazine for Alumni and Friends of Kodaikanal International School Margaret Eddy Award 2016 Sandra Schoeninger AN INCREDIBLE AN EXEMPLARY COMPOSER LEADER Dr. Larry Nickel Schauna Chauhan Saluja Class News Magazine • 1 Kodaikanal International School 115 years in global education Class News Magazine Editor FEATURES 02 Principal's Message Yvonne Dovlo 03 Life at KIS Layout & Design 06 Alumni Officer's Message Rohit Benjamin 07 KIS Archives Editorial Contributions 09 Incredible Composer KIS Global Alumni 11 Marget Eddy Award Cover Photo 12 Conserving the Grassland 14 Missionary Kid Schauna Chauhan Saluja '95 16 Exemplary Leader 19 Kodai Experience Picture taken by Birla 21 Dhanapal Family 22 Class News 88 Former Staff News 91 Rural Preventures 93 Pippa Chronicles KISCo Publication 96 Reunions Class News Magazine • 1 Principal's Message KIS ...more than a school Beloved Kodai Family, For years, up until about 2011, one of the staples of the Kodai alumni experience was the Alumni Magazine, which featured class news and reunion updates on a fairly regular basis. In some sense, this publication was replaced, and quite effectively in most ways, by Facebook and other forms of social media; It is likely that we as Kodai School and KIS alumni are more in touch with each other than ever before. Nevertheless, there remains something special about holding a non-virtual compendium of Kodai class news in your hands. It provides a sense of both wonder and perspective, to see the wide range of Us across the years and across the globe. Since 2016 marks the 115th year of our journey as an institution, we have decided to celebrate by printing this special edition of the Alumni Magazine. We hope you enjoy it, and we welcome your feedback. This magazine would not have been possible without the efforts of Yvonne Dovlo, our Alumni Officer, Rohit Benjamin, who is volun- teering in our KISCo department and our Class Representatives around the world. Thank you! Furthermore, I want to take this op- portunity to underline the special relationship that KIS has with Kodai Friends International (KFI). KFI continues to do tremendous work in North America, sharing the news about KIS and helping in so many ways to further our mission. We are so grateful for the efforts of Julie Stengele, Dr. Jeetu Nanda, and the KFI Board of Directors as we continue to find ways to enrich the ties that you have with this wonderful school and community. My personal request to each one of you is to find ways to stay engaged with both KIS and KFI. Bequeathed from our history and our proud heritage, and woven into the fabric of our identity, is a distinct vision that is so relevant to these times: “We are a school the world needs: Our students leave KIS with the vision, knowledge, compassion, and cross-cultural understanding to be thought- ful, caring and transformative individuals who endeavour to make the world a better place.” God bless! Corey 2 • Class News Magazine LIFE AT KIS ACADEMICS: Kodaikanal Internaional school is a full IB school. reflect the rich history of Kodaikanal and the KIS century old The Primary Years Programme (PYP) is designed for students mission foundation. Students have unique opportunitiesto aged 3 to 12. belong to a community of young people where ideas, cultures and faiths from all over the world meet. The Middle Years Programme (MYP) caters for students aged 11– 16 (grades 6 – 10) who are in an important age of transition. CAMPING: KIS has a 108 acre wilderness campus at a rural The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme is a location called ‘Poondi’. It’s a well–established outdoor and two year pre–university course, to facilitate the mobility of camping program. Surrounded by a national reserve forest. students and to promote international understanding. HIKING: Hiking brings out the best of Kodaikanal: the views, The full Diploma Programme (DP) is comprehensive and designed waterfalls and jungles are all beyond the confines of the school to provides students with a balanced holistic education in campus and town. Students are encouraged to sign up for hikes preparation for tertiary study in colleges and universities to get a taste of the vistas and countryside. around the world. MUSIC: Music has been a unique feature of the KIS academic SOCIAL EXPERIENCE: The KIS SEED program aims to blend a life for a 115 years. This is evident amongst KIS alumni in the comprehensive classroom teaching environment with a variety number of distinguished composers, professional musicians, as of community oriented activities. Classroom teaching focuses well as those with a lifelong appreciation of music. KIS presents on ‘Thinking globally on issues of Economy, Environment, its instrumental students for the Royal Schools of Music (RSM, Society and acting locally to bring about change in ourselves London) examinations. and our communities'. The emphasis is on sustainability and empowerment of individuals and societies. SPORTS: The Physical Education curriculum at KIS provides a program of instruction for the development of the whole COLLEGE & CAREER COUNSELLING: We provide comprehensive individual through physical activities. careers & college placement services to all students from grade 9 to grade 12. KIS is also a centre for the SAT and ACT exam and DORMS: KIS has comfortable student residences and their names we help students prepare effectively for these aptitude tests. For direct enquiries contact: Admissions Coordinator tel: (91) 4542 247 218 email: [email protected] www.kis.in Class News Magazine • 3 Welcome to the Class of 2016 Sourish Adhya Apeksha Chauhan Abilash Lekshmanan Aashiq Jawahar Razee Anshul Agarwal Rhea Chavda Shah Faiyaz Byeongyun Jeong Yash Agrawal Daryl Chhangte Alan George Drishti Jindal Walunila Aier Changhyeon Cho Kevin George Georgey Maya Jindal Rashad Ali TaeYoung Choi Abhijeet Henry Siranart Jitsard Abeneaya Arul Roy Maia Colah Abhishek Henry Joshua John Arul Roy Sharan Damodaran MinHo Heo Kevin Joseph Mithran Arvintha Kumaran Anush Devadhasan Quomel Imani Areesh Jungalwala Khushi Barjatya Manjari Devkota Seoyeon Jang Akeela Kader Mohamed Triyansha Biswas Vasudha Devkota Sonam Tshering Jattu Apisaya Kaewsook 4 • Class News Magazine Tanay Kanodia Krutarth Mehta Sharika Santhosh Sidharth Subramanian Ashmank Karki Rahil Momin Ishika Shahi Aashrayae Tamrakar Anand Krishnamoorthy Tanya Murphy Thiruvikram S Wangda Tenzin Jae Hyuk Kwak Yosel Nadik Seonghyeok Shim Hriday Thakker Ngawang Lobzang Ikram Nagani Adhrit Shrestha Gul Thakur Mohit A Lohia Teddy Nam Yukta Sinha Hussain Ukani Metemsola Longchari Glitzn Nedumbakaran Madhu Srinivasan Omar Vakharia Vaibhav Malla Chanisara Ninnernnon Saranya Srisukajorn Ezekeil M Wallang Zak McLeod Devansh Rai Sasiprapha Srisukajorn Sung soon Yim Aviva Mehta Sanskriti Ravi Till Stanisch Sungmin Yoon Class News Magazine • 5 Alumni Officer's Message Editorial Team: Rohit Benjamin, Pooja Agnihotri, Yvonne Dovlo, Kim Samuel & Renee McLeod Kodaikanal International School has evolved since its inception note to your Class Rep or to the Alumni Office (alumni@kis. in 1901. It has metamorphosed from its small beginnings with in). In conclusion, I will like to thank all Alumni who have just 13 missionary children to an Internationally acclaimed generously donated to KIS over the years. We appreciate Residential school in India and abroad. In its over a century your support and commitment to this great institution. of history, KIS has remained dedicated to creating academic and residential programs for people of all ethnic, religious, socio-economic and national backgrounds. And as new gen- erations of students have joined, the school has adapted to serve new interests and emerging areas of study. Certainly, KIS is not only a prominent school for its academic prowess and holistic approach to education, but also for its ethos as a school ‘to recognize and encourage the distinctive differ- ences in persons, nations and cultures, and at the same time, affirm the unity of mankind’. This philosophy has shaped who we have become in the world stage and we owe it all to the leaders who have steered the course of this great Institution throughout its history. As we mark the 115th Anniversary, we wish to recognize and appreciate the fortitudes of these individuals, starting with the very first Committee which was commissioned to estab- lish the school, the very first Principal, Margaret Eddy, to the Council Members and Principals whose astute governorship of the school has brought us thus this far. I believe that KIS will continue to build on its remarkable legacy, endowing future generations with the best it can offer. We invite you to visit the campus with your families and also attend reunions both in Kodai and in any Chapter that's near you. Build on your legacy by enrolling your children for a se- mester or two (Legacy Children). Follow us on Facebook, Twit- ter and LinkedIn. Become an Alumni Ambassador by assisting Yvonne Dovlo ‘88 us to recruit students to KIS. Update your profile by sending a Alumni Officer 6 • Class News Magazine KIS ARCHIVES Preserving our History tings bear evocative testimony to the life of American mis- sionaries and their influence on the development of education and medicine to which the schools and hospitals in the region bear witness. The archival materials document the history of a unique sub- culture of pre-industrial India - that of the American mission- ary in South India and the world of evangelism, education and medicine. This subculture lived in relative isolation, devel- oped its own norms and practices and became an integral, sometimes central, part of the life of the school and the town. The lives of these early missionaries were set against the backdrop of the growing town, the disappearing tiger and bi- son, the arduous climb up to Kodaikanal, the sinking of the Titanic, (one of the school’s students numbers among its sur- vivors), the internment of Germans during World War II, the visit of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister in 1962, and in 2003, the death (in Kodaikanal) of Adam Osborne, the inventor of the world’s first portable computer.