NHS Students Teach Reed Students About India

By Eliza Hallabeck

Brothers and Newtown High School students Karan and Kunal Marwah visited Reed sixth grade teachers Julie Shull and Induk Song’s cluster on Tuesday, November 13, to share information about India.

“Our parents were both born in India,” said Karan, a senior at NHS who plans on studying engineering in college, “and we actually lived there for three years.”

While attending the Newtown Arts Festival in September, Ms Shull said she met the students, and thought it would be wonderful to have high school students present to her students at Reed. Karan said he his brother have been participating with the Newtown International Center for Education (NICE) since last year, and through NICE Program Director and NHS Assistant Principal Jason Hiruo, Ms Shull set up the Tuesday event.

The sixth grade students were also just about to start studying India as part of the social studies curriculum.

Visiting on Tuesday also coincided with the DiWali, the festival of lights, is a Hindu holiday that is also celebrated across India. As part of celebrating DiWali with the students, Karan and Kunal also brought in some traditional festive sweets to share.

Before the presentation began, Karan said he feels speaking with the students will help provide the sixth graders with global opportunities that will help them in the future.

“India is the second most populous country,” said Karan when starting the presentation. China, he added later, is the first most populous country.

From India’s history to its architecture, the brothers covered a wide range of subjects, and they answered questions from the students throughout the presentation. Karan and Kunal also gave an overview of the country’s government, explained how there are many dialects of Hindi, and shared some of the cultural differences between India and America, including different dances and sports popular in India.

Karan also demonstrated how to write a student’s name in Hindi on the room’s white board.