2014 Graduates

Have you ever attended award ceremonies back home for school/college achievements by the kutchi samaaj or your gaam etc ?

While we don’t have any award distributions here in the US (yet!), I thought it would be a good idea to compile the milestones and achievements of our high school and above graduates. In a way, this is a special year for me and some of you as well – this is the first batch of kutchi kids whom I’ve known since I moved to this country. Some of them were just 2-3 years old when I first met them. But now some are graduating from high school and some earned their undergrad degrees this year. Time is flying just too fast …

First and foremost a BIG shout out and congratulations to all the kids for their achievements.
Best Wishes for a bright future ahead.

And congratulations to the proud parents as well.

I had known the achievements of some, heard about some from fellow community members and reached out to few others.
So thanks to all the parents for sharing information and helping in compiling this.
In case there is someone whom I’ve missed please let me know.

High School Graduates
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1) Devanshi Nishar – Daughter of Rashmi & Deep Nishar

Devanshi graduates from Castilleja High School and will be joining Brown University.
She was a nominee for the 2014 Presidential Scholar, has won National Merit Scholarship (SAT) and Regent Scholar for UC’s.

2) Miloni Shah – Daughter of Kalpa & Jaideep Shah

Miloni graduates from Santa Teresa High School and joins UC MERCED in fall.
Miloni took 8 AP classes, has been part of various clubs and marching band for 3 years. As part of Band, Miloni received Director’s Award for Outstanding Leadership and Contributions to the class and program in her senior year. This award is given to one student only.

3) Nidhi Gogri – Daughter of Shilpa & Mahesh Gogri

Nidhi graduates from Alsion Montessori and will pursue higher education at UC Davis.
Nidhi graduated with Highest Honors (with the challenges of aiding in Bapuji’s care). She is the lifeline of Gogri family.

4) Nihal Shah – Son of Lena and Monish Shah.
Nihal is excited to finish high school and will be going to UC Merced.

Undergrad and above
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1) Karan Gogri – Son of Shilpa & Mahesh Gogri

Karan graduates from San Francisco School of Law. He is now prepping up for the Bar exam.
Karan was Student of the Year at Law School. He did an early college program and graduated from UC Santa Barbara with an English and Political Science Major. He was accepted to Cornell Law but decided to stay within the state(close to Bapuji) and joined Loyola Law in LA. Unfortunately, Bapuji’s health deteriorated significantly in 2012 so he transferred up to the Bay area to be closer and has helped all along to take care of Bapuji. Gogri family is excited to share that he achieved his JD at the age of 23.

2) Raj Dedhia – Son of Rekha & Dilip Dedhia

Raj graduates as Doctor of Medicine (MD) with Distinction and High Honors from University of Southern California (USC). He starts residency in otolaryngology at UC Davis(UCD) Medical Center, Sacramento Ca.

3) Rohin Shah – Son of Lena & Monish Shah

Rohin earns a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science(EECS) and a minor in Physics from UC Berkeley.
He has received the University Medal Finalist award, Warren Dere Design Award, EECS Department Citation Award and a Berkeley Fellowship.
And with this fellowship scholarship, Rohin will pursue PhD in Computer Science at UC Berkeley.

4) Ruchi Nandu Schock – Daughter of Heena and Ramesh Nandu.

Ruchi completes her Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley. She is looking for job in the Biotech industry.

5) Shaily Shah – Daughter of Chandrika & Dinesh Shah

Shaily graduates as Doctor of Medicine (MD) with Distinction in Research from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is now going to pursue Ophthalmology at New York State University, Brooklyn and with Intern year at St. Luke’s, New York. She was also awarded the United States Presidents Volunteer service award and Gold Humanism Honor Society award.