In honor of deceased student Amar Anand.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: The family of deceased Columbia State Community College student Amar Anand has founded a scholarship in his honor.
Anand was 29 years of age when he met with a fatal car accident on August 20, 2010. He was a student at Columbia State Community College (CSCC), the son of two immigrants from India who settled in Tennessee.
To honor the memory of their son, the college and Anand’s family have established the Amar Kirti Anand Endowed Scholarship. The college’s lobby will also be named in his honor, as the Amar Kirti Anand Lobby. Both were officially dedicated in a ceremony on November 26 of last year.
Dr. Chaitram Talele is the one who spearheaded the project. A retired professor of economics at the school, Talele saw potential in Anand, and reached out to his family after his tragic accident to see if some kind of memorial could be done.
Speaking to the CSCC news site, Talele explained that he is a long-time friend of the Anand family, and wanted to do something to make sure their son’s death would not be in vain.
Present at the dedication ceremony were his mother, Dr. Veena Anand, sister Priya Anand, uncle Dinesh Anand, brother-in-law Vincent de Koningm and Dr. Talele.
“Amar was a very special young man,” said his mother at the ceremony. “He had sensitivity and compassion for his fellow beings […] From a very young age he shared his blessings with everyone around him.”
CSCC is “a two-year college, serving a nine-county area in southern Middle Tennessee with locations in Columbia, Franklin, Lawrenceburg, Lewisburg and Clifton.” It is the first community college ever established in Tennessee state history.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com