Shady Side Academy's Parkin Fellowships for Global Service will resume in full force in summer 2023 after pausing in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 and resuming in limited fashion in 2022 with domestic travel only. Eleven Senior School students have received Parkin grants to complete service and environmental projects around the world, marking the largest class of Parkin Fellows since the program's inception in 2006.
Here are the 2023 Parkin Fellows and their projects:
- Rising junior Kabir Chaudry will travel to Kenya to work via Projects Abroad with disadvantaged children at a local care center to raise literacy levels.
- Rising junior Maanya Goulatia will travel to India with Safe N’ Happy Periods to help women learn about menstrual health and mental well-being, and to educate to help break the stigma around menstruation.
- Rising junior Anya Jain will travel to India to work with Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, which spearheads inclusive education for children with disabilities.
- Rising senior Harrison Lee will travel to Mongolia to intern at an NGO conducting research on human rights issues, working on proposals for grants and participating in local advocacy work.
- Rising senior Noah Levitt (not pictured) will travel to Israel to work with Save a Child’s Heart, where he will volunteer with kids awaiting surgery and support the staff and their families.
- Rising senior Abril Linares Mendoza (not pictured) will travel to Japan to work with the food bank Second Harvest Japan and a Hands On Tokyo program for blind and autistic children.
- Rising junior Avery Litwin will travel to Germany to work with Asylum Helpers providing social services and temporary housing for Ukrainian refugees.
- Rising senior Max McCarran will travel to Iceland with GoBeyond to work on preserving and restoring the country’s natural environment, including replanting birch trees and removing and recycling trash from the coastline.
- Rising junior Ananda Minutolo will travel to La Paz in Baja California Sur, Mexico to work on a marine conservation project protecting critical coastal resources along the Gulf of California.
- Rising senior Rohan Shrishimal will travel to India to volunteer at the Poona School and Home for the Blind, distributing hygiene and sanitation products to local families, organizations and businesses.
- Rising senior Hari Viswanathan will travel to Argentina to intern in local hospitals and clinics servicing under-resourced communities.
Thanks to the foresight and generosity of alumnus Fred H. Parkin ’59, the Parkin Fellowships for Global Service Endowment Fund was established June 15, 2006. Parkin Fellowships award travel grant money each summer to assist students in completing service or environmental projects around the globe. These experiences make an impact not only through the direct service or environmental improvements that students engage in, but also through the stories students share upon their return, stories that enrich the Shady Side community while inspiring others to make a difference in the world.
Good luck and safe travels to this year's Parkin Fellows!