The Big C: Celebrating Community at AISC

Jodie Sovak Admissions & Community Relations

Community is an integral part of the AISC story. We thrive on being together— within our campus and beyond— celebrating our unique traditions, our diverse cultures, and immersing ourselves in the AISC experience.

For the last couple of years, our celebrations have looked a bit different from what we were previously used to. The pandemic made us re-imagine community experiences. We did this by partnering with faculty and the PCA to bring web-based experiences like virtual melas and Celebrations of Learning so that our community members could continue to enjoy being part of the AISC community without leaving their homes.

This year, we were all back together again on campus. Students, faculty, staff and parents once again engaging in the AISC community experience the way it was always meant to be enjoyed. Our much beloved all community events were celebrated in person with gratitude and a renewed zeal.

Our community celebrations began with our UN International Day of Peace assembly. The United Nations General Assembly has declared a day in September devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace. This year’s theme was: End Racism. Build Peace. AISC continued the celebration with a Parade of Nations and our International Day Fair. This was a fun-filled celebration of our diversity complete with food from different countries, cultural games, performances, arts and craft, and more. Our parent volunteers outdid themselves creating stalls representing their home countries.

Gautami Ramachandhran Advancement Director/Communications

(AISC Parent) “I was happy that my family could enjoy a lot of activities with the children this year, for example, International Day, Math and Literacy mornings, Cabaret, Movie night, and more! Thank you for organizing all the wonderful events.”

Next up was our Diwali Mela. At AISC we use this festival of light to celebrate Tamil Nadu and India. For the first time in 2 years, our Diwali Mela was held in full splendor on campus. This communitydriven event included parents, students, faculty and staff coming together to revel in a festive extravaganza of Indian street food, crafts and games, music, dance and more! Our students, faculty, and parents took to the stage to perform and we had an impressive line up of traditional performances by local artists as well.

Anushka(HS and MS Faculty) “ The Diwali Mela was a fun evening! I really appreciated the effort that community members put into their amazing performances and it was lovely to see everyone all dressed up in festive attire”

Nakyoung (ES Student) “I wore Indian clothes for the first time. It was very sparkly. It was fun to dance with my friends on a stage”

Other events, including our Inspiration Conversations and Earth Week, were opportunities for our community to celebrate and learn together as well. Inspiration Conversations are led by the Advancement Office. This year we had the pleasure of inviting the Chennai Photo Biennale Foundation to work with a group of faculty, parents and students to experience the process of cyanotype printing. Each participant created their own unique, brilliantly blue, print.

Our Earth Week celebrations included a sustainable Charpoy weaving workshop led by an artisan from Uttar Pradesh, and a marketplace with stalls from local sustainable businesses. Both of these events were open to our entire community of students, faculty and parents. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to learn a sustainable artform as well as discover new planet-friendly businesses.

Parents at AISC

Community is an integral part of our school. All AISC parents are members of the Parent Community Association (PCA) and enjoy many opportunities to connect with other parents and are encouraged to volunteer their time and expertise to support the school community.

For many of our parents, their Chennai experience is tightly interwoven with their AISC experience and we enjoy creating opportunities for them to explore our school’s culture and what our host city has to offer. After a break of two years, our parents enjoyed fully engaging in all-community celebrations and events on campus as well as immersive trips and outings around Chennai with other AISC parents.

Here are some highlights from these events:

It’s been a year full of celebration and we look forward to continued opportunities to thrive, grow, celebrate and learn together as a community!