An Unforgettable Experience by Soumayani Ghoshal
The Global UGRAD experience leaves an indelible impact on each of our minds and urges us to keep following our dreams while working towards developing our community.
The community service hours taught me the importance of caring and giving back to society. This inspired a group of fellow alumni and me to begin our own mini organization called the Glow Tide Project to help deliver untouched and leftover food from restaurants and big events to people who are in dire need of it. The group constitutes Samreen Fathima , Intifada Basheer, Marcela Aburto, Mir Hashmi, Mustafa Hashmi and Ayub Das Pariyar. All group members have decided to work towards this project while simultaneously focusing on their respective career paths. We have successfully completed two drives in Hyderabad, Telangana and are planning on spreading this initiative across other states in India. This one-of-a-kind organization stemmed from our determination to help the homeless and the hungry and we hope to continue our mission of ending hunger in our own small way.
In addition to my involvement in community service, after graduating with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism, I am working as a Sub-Editor for a digital news agency called The National Collective in India. While I am responsible for writing and editing news stories largely focusing on the nation’s political scenario, I am also working towards curating special monthly editions with topics showcasing Indo-American relationships.
The Global UGRAD family is one of a kind. It’s wonderful that even after a year of my program, the friendships that I made haven’t faded away. From Haiti to Morocco, from Ukraine to Bangladesh, the borders and the time differences have only made our love grow stronger. The constant Skype sessions with my former American roommates and the Whatsapp calls and Instagram updates keep us all connected. This program has given me friends for life.
My Global UGRAD experience has played a major role in shaping my life, both professionally and personally. It has given me a career path and has instilled a sense of confidence that pushes me to always strive to be better than I was yesterday and make the best use of my opportunities. It is a privilege to be able to share my post program experience as an alumna.
Written by Soumayani Ghoshal, a 2017-2018 Global UGRAD student at Chatham University