End Child Marriage Through Education

This year, Shadhika held the 3-day in-person Leaders for Change Summit in Kolkata, and the theme was "Superbloom." A Superbloom is when wildflowers bloom all at once after a long dormant season, typically due to harsh conditions, and transform the landscape with vibrant life and colors.We invited Shadhika Scholars, alumni, and partner NGO staff from across India. Everyone was under one roof full of talented, empowered, strong, and intelligent young women. The summit’s highlight was the graduation ceremony, which Shadhika celebrated on the last day of the summit.

This year,  16 Shadhika Scholars graduated from college. This class had almost 2 years of virtual learning during COVID-19. At the beginning of the pandemic, they faced difficulties attending lectures because online learning was a new concept for them. Still, the support of Shadhika’s technology package (which includes a laptop, internet, and computer course) was beneficial to help Scholars concentrate on their studies and be on the same page as everyone in their class. Despite all the challenges during online classes, scholars have studied and participated in many extracurricular activities virtually. They started their education journey by using technology to attend lectures, and now they all excel using technology!

This year at the summit, we celebrated 16 Scholars' graduation. We recognized the scholars' efforts, hard work, and talent, which they showed throughout the 3 years at their college, NGO, and Shadhika. The graduates were all dressed up for the graduation ceremony, and NGO staff gave a speech about each graduate. They were smiling and had tears in their eyes after receiving an award for graduating! Shadhika concluded the ceremony with cake, dinner, and dancing, and the Scholars took numerous photos with each other. They never hesitated to learn something new or to create awareness in their community. Their journey of being Scholars has not ended; they are taking another step to explore, learn, find jobs, and be independent.

Here are a few thoughts from the 2022 graduates: One of the graduates said, "Graduation is like a part of my life and celebration. I had a very good time during these 3 years. Another graduate mentioned, "Besides that, throughout these 3 years with Shadhika, I have gotten a great opportunity to know about the girls from different parts of India, which I think wouldn’t be possible without Shadhika. And these 3 years also helped me so much to build public speaking skills and confidence within myself. "

We would like to congratulate all of our 2022 Shadhika graduates and wish them a very successful career in the future.

We would like to express our gratitude toward Shadhika donors. It would not be possible without you all. Thank you very much for all your donations and support.

Once Shadhika Scholars graduate they become Shadhika Alum. We have many Shadhika Alum in different states in India. Since 2019, constantly Shadhika has been connecting with Shadhika Alum. We try to involve our Shadhika Alum in several activities. They are very interested in participating in Shadhika programs. Most of the Shadhika Alum are working and with their busy schedule they always take out a little time to participate in the program. 

Since 2020, they have been participating in the Shadhika Program very actively. Here is the few program list they are actively participating in:

1. Shadhika Scholarship Review Committee: This year 5 alum has participated in the scholarship review committee. In this committee, they get a few new scholarship applications and they have to review and rank them. Alum is interested to learn the process, they are not just reviewing and ranking. They have also given feedback to Shadhika that we need to work more on applications questionnaires and they have given suggestions to us on how and what kind of questions we need to ask. 
2. Pen Pal Letter Program: Shadhika is running a scholarship pen pal program for shadhika scholars. Shadhika exchanges two letters in a year from donors to scholars and scholars to donors. This year a total of 10 alum have participated and written a letter for the scholars. They used to write a letter for the donors when they were scholars but now they are writing a letter for the scholars. One of the Alum has mentioned, “I am so happy to receive a reply letter from the scholars, it such a great feeling that through my letter I am able to encourage scholars”. 
3. Shadhika Advisory Committee: Three Alum are members of the Shadhika Advisory Committee. They are involved in the discussion related to strategy, and program, and give their perspective. It’s such an amazing opportunity for them to learn and give their opinions. 
4. Leaders for Change Summit: Shadhika Alum is involved to plan the leaders for the change summit since 2020. They have conducted many sessions in the virtual summit. They made motivational videos for scholars which we shared during the virtual summit. This year, we are planning for an in-person summit and two alum are on the summit steering committee where they are helping us to plan. 
5. Dosti (Friendship) project: This year Shadhika Alum Steering committee started their project called Dosti (Friendship) project. This Alum steering committee has 6 alum, they all will make a video. Their goal is to make a video and share it with all the scholars every other month. They will talk about many topics such as “Self’Confidence, Tips for studies, Time Management” etc. They want to connect with the scholars and through this video, they want to make a bond with them.

We are proud of our Shadhika Alum, they are not only participating, they are leading and improving their leadership skills. We also get a chance to learn from Alum's experiences, perspectives, and feedback. They are a true role model and inspirations to many young Shadhika scholars.