At only ten years old, senior Isha Chavan stepped on a plane to leave behind everything she knew, and headed to a new life full of possibilities.

Chavan moved to Columbus from India because her dad’s job got transferred here. When Chavan first moved here, she had no friends and could only speak a little bit of  English, but now seven years later, she is fourth in her class. She is also the first person in Columbus to complete every level of the Kumon international math program.  

“I was very nervous about facing school here because I wasn’t sure how I would be treated, and if I would have any friends or not,” Chavan said.

School did end up being a challenge for Chavan because she couldn’t speak English very well until her sixth grade year.

Chavan also experienced difficult interactions with her peers.

“I was bullied a lot, and there were a lot of cases of exclusions,” Chavan said.“There was a case where this girl falsely accused me of pushing her, and the teacher was about to take a disciplinary action against me, and I couldn’t explain to the teacher that I didn’t do it because my English wasn’t very good,” Chavan said.

Being bullied and excluded at school caused Chavan to have a rough first few years in the US. Even though these first few years were rough for Chavan, she grew as a person, and she grew academically as well.

Chavan is   even basing her Senior Project on cultural exclusion and how it causes depression. Chavan choose this topic due to her early experiences in America.

“I was always excluded from group projects, and people would tell me that they would work with me and then switch to another group,” Chavan said..  “It was really sad because I knew I could get them one-hundred percent on the projects, and they still choose the other group even though they might not get the best grade.”  

This is yet another example of how Chavan was treated poorly at school for absolutely no reason, leading to her decision for her Senior project. Chavan hopes to help Columbus understand that cultural exclusion is a real problem, and that it should be eliminated from our society.