With 200,000 Indian students in US, GOPIO-Manhattan hosts new initiative with Indian Consulate in New York
In a new initiative to connect Indian students with the Indian American community and the Indian missions, a leading community organization and the Indian Consulate in New York hosted a welcome event.
New Indian students from from 21 American universities participated in person or virtually in the hybrid ‘Meet & Greet’ program organized by GOPIO-Manhattan (NYC) in cooperation with the Indian mission on Sept 17.
Welcoming “all the students from India with open heart,” Indian consul Randhir Kumar Jaiswal, called on them to “pursue your future studies here in the North-East region and help in the growth of economy here in USA and back home in India.”
He also highlighted the goal to expand this program to include more students, from the pool of 200,000 students that come to the USA for further studies, to attend in person more interactive sessions.
Read: Indian community launches GOPIO-Manhattan chapter (October 2, 2020)
This would help them gain exposure to various services offered by the Consulate for the benefit of the students from registration at the Consular Portal, to cultural events to mental health support initiatives.
“Indian Students continue to be a strong bridge between India and USA,” said Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India’s Ambassador to the US, via a video message. “Delighted to welcome the students virtually!”
“The education and knowledge partnership are an area that holds great potential in our bilateral relations,” he said noting. “During my visits across US, I’ve always made it a point to visit universities and visit faculty and students there.”
“We have an active student hub and a dedicated student wing at the Embassy. You can count on them for any assistance,” Sandhu added.
The program started with a welcome by GOPIO International Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham, who also serves as an advisor to GOPIO-Manhattan.
“In the 1960s and ‘70s when a foreign student joined a university, he/she was given host family, now with connected world and social media, the host family concept went away and the 4.5 million Indian Americans could serve as the host family to the new students,” he said.
GOPIO-Manhattan Executive Vice President Professor Rajasekhar Vangapaty moderated the first panel on mentoring students in the current market environment.
Abha Kumar, Business transformation leader/ Board member Notify.io Advisory Board Shopelier, Former CIO- Corporate & International Vanguard, shared her experiences with the students.
“The way we worked in the past will not be relevant post-COVID. We now will look for employees who have the ability to have a wide perspective and connect the dots,” she said
Prasan Kumar, Senior VP & Strategy Director at Publicis Group & Lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian New York College, said “bringing more than a text book education to class room is significantly important.”
Neil Datta, Head of Due Diligence at Forbes Family Trust & Co-Founder Meritas said, “The ability to be a problem solver is a crucial skill that helps you in whatever you choose to work in.”
The second panel on F1 to H1B via OPT was moderated by Aseem Trivedi, Manager of Data Analytics at Ernst and Young.
He shared his unique path to green card as an experience for the students. He reminded the students “One should start thinking now what after H1B?”
Akshat Singh, a recent economics graduate of Columbia University brought his experience with students and shared the idea “Get started on OTP process asap and do not wait for 6-months or so.”
Ankit Chaudhari, Associate Vice President at JP Morgan Chase commented about his personal journey from F1 to OPT to H1-B to green card and said, “ask your employer whether they will sponsor your visa or not, but you give your best services.”
“Now that you are here, outside of your studies, you need to network with your professors, peers, everyone & communication is the key, ask for things,” said lawyer Apeksha Tewari.
Shivender Sofat, President GOPIO-Manhattan, who joined virtually told the importance of mentoring to the students, discussed chapter activities and motivated everyone to volunteer and become members at future events held by GOPIO Manhattan.
Siddharth Jain, GOPIO Manhattan Board Member & Program Coordinator; conducted the questions & answers session.
Read: Education, Knowledge Partnership Holds Great Potential In Ties: India’s US Envoy (September 19, 2021)
Other GOPIO-Manhattan officials present at the meeting included Vice President Vimal Goyle, and Co-Secretaries Dr. Lisa George and Bhavya Gupta.
“The students had an excellent time networking with students from different universities as well as with speakers and the Consulate and GOPIO officials and we plan to do a much bigger event next year hopefully after the Covid restrictions are over,” Dr. Abraham said.