Month of May – There are many options for a theme for this month. Mother’s Day, Beginning of Summer, High School Graduation are a few which comes to our mind. It also makes sense to have a combined theme of all of the above. Kids we knew as babies and kids are now graduating high school and going off to start new chapters in their lives. What could be a more fitting tribute to the mothers (sorry dads, no offense) on Mother’s Day to see their babies all grown up and graduating with honors.So this month’s newsletter is dedicated to all parents (especially mothers) and all our brilliant kids who are graduating high school. Please see their accomplishments and future plans below.
High School Graduates – Class of 2019
Varun Gopal, son of Vikas Gopal and Arati Krishna, is graduating summa cum laude from Olentangy High School. He will be attending Indiana University and plans to major in Information Systems from the Kelley School of Business. Varun has been active in the school Debate, Orchestra, and “In the Know” teams and is a member of the National Honor Society.
Meera has played with Irish Volleyball from 7th grade to senior year this past fall where she earned a Varsity letter. She is the President of the American Cancer Society Youth Ambassadors and leads the group to raise funds for cancer research and to raise awareness. In addition, she is Vice President of Student Senate, and she helped organize and implement the Battle of Hard Road canned food drive with the Dublin and Worthington Rotary, the Pink Out Game, Trick or Treat so Kids Can Eat for the Dublin Food Pantry, DublinThon and the Gingerbread Showcase. With her leadership, DublinThon, a dance marathon for pediatric cancer, raised over $15,000 this March, doubling their previous record. Since 2016, Meera volunteers her Sundays at Riverside Methodist Hospital. Community service has shaped Meera’s actions, career goals, and the person Meera is today.
Ashwin was good at balancing his academic requirements and pursuing his interests in sports, volunteering, participating in hackathons, robotics competitions. He was also a team member of Dublin Jerome High School JV tennis team. Ashwin is thankful to all the new friends he made at Columbus and COMA has played an instrumental role in making that happen. He has expressed his gratitude to Deepak Warrier and Hrishikesh Namboodiri who have mentored him through high school journey.
“With a 2 year old daughter and husband working out of town I doubted many a time if I would be able to do well. I was wrong to doubt. If anything my daughter kept me focused on things that truly mattered, my husband constantly encouraged me, my parents in laws, brother and sister kept reminding me how proud they were of me. If there is anything at all I can tell anyone, it is – impossible is nothing. You really need to want something really bad and then you will see that the forces of the universe will unite in making it happen. Never think your family is a hindrance. You will see that they will be your guiding rock and pillar. I know for me they have. And now as I embark on a new journey towards PhD I make a promise to myself to doubt less, believe more and march ahead.” – Katherine
Malayalam Class 2018-19
For Malayalam class another academic year has successfully concluded. This would not have been possible without the support from volunteers who make themselves available every Sunday to help students of all ages to learn our mother tongue. Also we would like to thank and appreciate all the support extended by parents and the COMA EC. 2018 ’19 academic year came to an end with a graduation event where certificates were awarded to students. Students from our beginners group who are mastering the Malayalam vocabulary sang a nursery rhyme in Malayalam, advanced students who are mastering in reading and writing showed off their skills by narrating a story in Malayalam.
Intermediate students who are mastering all the 56 Malayalam alphabets,vowels, consonants, “chillu aksharagal” gave an to attempt to write a letter to their moms in Malayalam for the Mother’s Day. Here are the snippet of letters they wrote:
- Video link for “Malayalam class 2018 – 2019 graduation ” . – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=COMA+malayalam+class
COMA Events
Active COMA 2019 – Be Active, Have fun!
We are excited to kick start Active COMA 2019 activities as it was a great success last year. Based on your feedback, we are planning to have smaller teams (5+ members) in each Metro areas who can participate in a competitive fashion in the Walk/Run/Bike Clubs. To make it simple, the group that walks/runs/bikes the most this season will be the winners. As part of the expansion, we are also introducing various sports leagues for the Central Ohio Malayalee community. Please take a minute to complete this application(click here to get to the URL) to notify us of your interested activities/sports. We hope that you will take advantage of this great opportunity to meet/make friends, be active by participating in your favorite activity and have fun!
COMA 5 K – A lot of us had a lot of fun participating in the 5K Run/ Walk arranged by our COMA. It was a great start to warm weather and a gentle reminder and motivation to take care of ourselves by starting to be fit and having fun.Enjoy the photos of the day in the below link – https://photos.app.goo.gl/CVoEumtyyQtLrxar8
Winners:
- Mens
- First Place: Aedin Pereira
- Second Place: Arun Chand
- Womens
- First Place: Dhiya Pereira
- Second Place :Osheen Oomen
- Juniors:
- First Place: Aadithya Arun
- Second Place: Pranav Rajesh
Thuruppugulan – Cards and Carrom – you can’t go wrong with either. COMA arranged such a night for those who who wanted to prove their prowess in these games last month. And it was very well received. Enjoy the pictures from the event in the link https://photos.app.goo.gl/GdmrnXvLjxhbwkh99
Winners:
- 28 :
- First Place: Team Veerans (Jojo Joseph, John and Abraham Thomas)
- Second Place: Team Challengers (Deepu, Binix, Joseph)
- Third Place: Team Minimum Vili (Sakunthala, Pradeesh and Sachin)
- Rummy
- First Place: Shibu Nair
- Second Place: Sangeetha Muthiraparambath
- Third Place: Anand Cherian
- Carrom
- First Place: Arun Chand & Sajid Babu
- Second Place: Arun Davis & Deepak Divakaran
- Third Place: Abraham Thomas & Priya Pramod
Community News & Columbus Events
H2O – Make a Difference –
Registered non profit organisation with a mission to empower financially challenged farmers,students/schools,Orphanages & Women across the globe. H2O is organizing its 3rd Annual 5K/ Run on June 23’2019.Please visit this link(click here to get to the URL) to register.
Toastmasters –
Radiant Toastmasters club was started by some members of COMA in 2018 to provide a platform for club members to improve the public speaking skills. This is one of the clubs where it has vibrant youth leadership program. The club published its first quarterly newsletter in May. Click here for information about the club.
Closing Comments
Weather is finally warm, sun is out , grass is green, skies are blue, flowers are in bloom. The sweet scents of flowers and fresh cut grass and earth after the rains hit you as you step outside. The grills are brought out, patio furniture has come out from under their covers and barbecue spices are in the air. Reminds me every time why I love Columbus. Our city is gorgeous in the warm months Spring through Fall , so in my mind , the harsh winter months are a small price to pay.
Almost all of us have travel plans both domestic and/or international. Some are looking forward to exciting vacations that were planned months ago. Some are looking forward to some quiet quality time with their spouses when the kids go off to grandparents or other family. Some are just looking forward to enjoying the beautiful weather and have done great summer fun.
Whatever your plans are, we from the COMA Newsletter family wish you a wonderful happy summer!
Great newsletter, with lot of valuable information. Graduates information and letter to mom from Malayalam class is special! Thanks for all the hard work going into the publication of newsletter!
Good work Praveen! Thanks for sharing the information. Felt so happy to see the little effort of our kids to show case their Malayalam talent through the Mother’sday letters.
Nice article..
Thank you team for all your effort ..
Nicely done ! Great news letter..
Thanks..