Gitika Joganpally - aspiring journalist intent on service and action

“To me, being ethical and humble are the most important things.” Gitika Joganpally of grade 10 represented the Academy at this year’s Times of India Newspaper in Education (TOINIE) school reporter competition held in October 2017. After passing a general knowledge test consisting of current events and a grammar test, she was nominated for the position of school reporter for the 2017-2018 academic session. Afterward, a discussion group was held in which the dangers of drug abuse were enumerated. “This event gave me the opportunity to analyse situations in a broad way, since there were so many perspectives in the room. It was enlightening.” Already an active member of the Academy's journalism club, Gitika has used this platform to develop her knowledge of local, regional, and national events, and critically respond to them through writing. Following her appointment as school reporter, Gitika has contributed numerous comments and opinion articles to the newspaper, starting with a recap of her experience at the competition. “Writing for the TOINIE has been fantastic,” she commented. “It’s been a great learning experience.” Gitika has also been heavily involved with service since she arrived at the Academy. Recently, she and other students have been volunteering at the Mamidpalli government school. She and her peers played sports with the students, made art, worked on maths, and did various other activities. Gitika served as translator as she speaks the local language. She believes that the service and action course in the Middle Years Programme directly corresponds to the Academy's mission, which is to identify and nurture exceptional young people irrespective of ability to pay to become effective, homegrown and ethical leaders. "These values are similar to the values I wanted to share with the students at the government school. I wanted to take into consideration only their talents and skills, not their backgrounds. To me, being ethical and humble were the most important things." reflected Gitika. Her most important takeaway? “I learned to appreciate what I have.” We look forward to reading about these experiences in the TOINIE!