If you want to vote, send an e-mail to ISA@indiana.edu with subject "Elections" and the candidates name in the body of the e-mail.
Presidential Candidates:
Karan Chawla (KC)
My name is Karan Chawla, known as KC to most, and I am running for the position of president. First off I would like to thank you the member for making this organization what it is today and for being part of the largest Asian cultural association on Bloomington’s campus. ISA provides many great opportunities students to enjoy a variety of experiences through our events. ISA has been a major part of my life during college and I have gained many valuable memories that I will always cherish. I have been an active ISA member since freshman year, and am currently the social chair. At this point, I would like to be president and help ISA continue to grow and be one of the most recognized Indian organizations across the country. With these experiences within ISA, I understand the responsibility that comes with being president and am humbled at the possibility of having such an honor. This is especially the right time for me as I will be a senior and have completed the majority of my academics required. This is especially significant since I will have plenty of time to contribute to ISA without the distractions of a lot of a heavy class schedule or critical times in my academic semester such as I-core. I would like to be president because I now have the time to give it the full time commitment it requires in order for ISA to have a successful year.
ISA has been in a transition and as a part of the board this year we have seen significant progress to being a great organization again. However, such change cannot occur over just one or two years. With my knowledge and experiences I have been able to identify the good and bad that ISA has done. I will continue to improve many areas where ISA currently lacks with the help of the board of executives and all the great members. I would like to share with you my analysis for improvement and ideas that I believe will be beneficial to ISA.
ISA took a large step forward to becoming known as more than just a party organization this year. A new charity in India was selected, one that I have had personal ties with for many years. I am very grateful to see our organization take part in contributing to them. When I am elected I will look to select at least one more charity that we can give a solid contribution to as well as continue to help the current one. Our members do not seem to have enough opportunities to be more involved with ISA events. With this in mind I plan to open up the opportunity for people to contribute to certain events by creating committees for the event. This will also be a great way for members to see if running for a board position would be attractive after being part of a committee as well as a good resume builder. While looking to improve on these current traditions I have also began to research the possibility of bringing in a guest speaker that will speak on a topic that will interest members as well as all IU students.
Masti is ISAs largest weekend and has had large success. Nevertheless, my goal is to reach out and improve on the dance and basketball competitions. In order for this to happen, I plan to create or restore relationships with companies in Bloomington to gain sponsorships. With sponsorships we could make our competitions far more attractive in the hopes that we will bring students from all over the Midwest and possible further to compete and enjoy our largest event. Since we are such a large organization, many of the members have friends and family all over. With your help we can really expand and attract people to come here should we make Masti more attractive than it already is.
Along with the many ideas I have been taking into consideration I hope to hear many ideas that may be possible. I truly will appreciate all ideas and comments positive and negative, it will be a great way to tell whether we are heading in the right direction. Through my past involvement and potential plans for the organization, I hope you can understand the passion I have for ISA through my dedication over these 3 years. I also want you to know that I will work hard to make all these improvements and add another stone to the building block in the continuous improvement and success of ISA.
Anand Davé
Fellow ISA members, April 26, 2008
I would like to first thank you for participating in this unusual election, especially given that we all have academic priorities to attend to. My name is Anand Davé, and I am a business student from Naperville, IL completing my sophomore year. I have been a part of the Indian Student Association for two years, serving as the Public Relations chair this past school year. Through my experience with ISA in high school, at IU and at other universities, there are a number of things I have learned and many ideas which I would like to implement into our ISA if voted in as President.
For the most part, my vision for ISA is not activity based as much as it is attitude based. Being a cultural organization, it is my hope that we step back to recognize the cultural significance in our activities and represent it properly. Somewhere in the shuffle we let this slip, and we need to take it back to square one. This includes, but is not limited to, Diwali show, Masti weekend, Holi, and activities in cooperation with other cultural student groups. The only way for us to see this through is by keeping one another in check and stressing as an organization that we hold the representation of our culture in high regard.
While prioritizing culture may seem difficult, it is made much easier if a greater number of general members get involved. Being one of, if not the largest student group on campus, we could potentially do some amazing things if just a fraction of our members get involved. This past year Amit Pithadia and I held an open forum for ISA members to share their ideas and opinions about anything. With a small percentage of our organization present, there were a number of good ideas such as movie nights, guest speakers, and participation in Relay for Life and Dance Marathon. This concept of general meetings is something I would definitely like to continue. Additionally, the proper use of volunteers, committees, and member feedback are a few things to keep in mind. That being said, cultural awareness and participation are not the only things I would like to see with ISA.
When I think of the Indian Student Association, I want the feeling you get when you are proud to tell your family and friends to come see your show. I want just as many people at our events as attend our parties. I want to let go of our cliques for a while so we can do something amazing together. I want more international students. I want our 300+ members to help in the Bloomington community, and beyond. I want participation, passion, and pride. This is our organization, our time, and our opportunity to achieve our potential.
Again, thank you for the opportunity.
Regards,
Anand Davé
PS: You have four years, use your time wisely.
Marketing Candidates:
Priya Vaswani
I believe that the only way we can get people to come out to all of our events and be a part of ISA is if we market ourselves effectively and promote our organization. I would love to be the person responsible for this as Marketing Chair of ISA. This would be the perfect position for me because I am a creative person and could reach out to the Indian students at IU and make them want to attend and get involved in our events. Since I have previous Marketing experience already I will be able to add more value to the position. I led an advertising program at the local children’s museum in my hometown of Naperville, IL. Additionally, I already have ISA board experience being in charge of the Thali this year, so I am familiar with how things work. I also partially took over the Marketing Chair position this year, so I feel that I already have a good grasp on what the position entails. Aside from the position’s required duties, as Marketing Chair, I will research
what exactly it is that our ISA community here at IU wants and do my best to tailor our events to those needs. I will also see to it that ISA promotes more casual events such as movie nights or discussion forums so that members get a chance to know each other better. Finally, I will try my best to have an event the week/weekend of Little 500, so that ISA can also be a part of what is known as the greatest college weekend at IU
Varun Boughram
Hey guys, my name is Varun C Boughram and I'm standing for the position of
Marketing Chair. A little bit about my self, I am from Dubai and am doing a
double major in Business and Mathematics. To me ISA is an organization that
has excelled in bringing together Asians from around the world to come
network and socialize with one another. Since my two years at IU I have
always enjoyed every social gathering organized by ISA and have decided that
I would like to contribute to its growth so as to make the ISA experience
the best any Asian student has at IU. Over the years I have acquired skills
in leadership, marketing, networking and event management. In high school I
was the Prefectorial captain, so organizing events, networking within and
outside school was a daily affair. Also at IU I have engaged myself in
various activities that have developed my skills in interpersonal
communication and public networking. Some of my activities are, M118 TA,
Academic Tutor ? IU Athletics Dept, Kelley Consulting Club ? VP Finance,
Marketing and PR ? Kelley in Private Equity and Venture Capital etc. These
are just of few of my endeavors at IU. If elected for the coming year, I
have listed out a couple of ideas that I feel would spice up the ISA
experience for one and all.
1.Introduce a Indian Movie Night
The craze of Bollywood not only exists amongst us Indian's but people from
other cultures also are taking a keen interest into it. ISA can plan to use
IU facilities such as 'Ballentine movie hall' to showcase recent Indian
cinemas. As students, we Indians do not have the opportunity to watch Indian
cinema on the big screen, this would give us the ability to meet with people
and enjoy cinema at its best. This idea would not only attract Indians but
would attract others to come and see what ISA is about.
2. Bollywood Night Party
This would be a party organized by the ISA where members would be required
to come dressed in Bollywood themes. This would give an occasion not only to
socialize but also to enjoy a good time with Indian music and pears.
These are couple of the things we can implement and come up with other
events that the students would enjoy and support.
Regards
Varun C Boughram
