On April 2, 2005, Boston-area high school students gathered at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education for the Second Annual Career Roundtable.  About thirty community members, including students, volunteers, and organizers, attended the event sponsored by Project Impact and SAMTA. 

Saturday’s session ran for two hours, and the students had an opportunity to meet South Asian professionals who spoke about a range of exciting career opportunities, such as law, medicine, engineering, dance, culinary arts, journalism, education, and business. 

Speakers included Tara Ahmed, Neema Avashia (Teacher at the John W. McCormack Middle School in Dorchester, MA), Ahmer Ibrahim (Fellow in Gastroenterology at Tufts New England Medical Center), Radhika Nagpal (Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University), Radha Natarajan (Public Defender in Cambridge, MA), Anil Saigal (Founder of Lokvani.com and Chair and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University), and Arpoo Shah (Buying Team for Trader Joe's and Owner of SweeTamarind).  Tara Ahmed, of LEX America and the Triveni School of Dance, said that she was “glad to have been invited and that the event was a lot of fun.”  All the speakers generously shared information about their respective fields and their educational paths. 

The afternoon ended with a break out session, where students approached panelists to conduct informational interviews and set up shadowing opportunities.  Indu Chugani, of SAMTA, volunteered at the event, and remarked, “The students seemed engaged.  Although shy at first, the students soon warmed up to the panelists' sincerity.  By the end of the afternoon, the students seemed to have learned some networking skills, as well.”

The Boston Chapter of Project Impact, a national nonprofit organization, first held the event last March after several students in the mentoring program had asked if they could talk to local South Asian professionals.  Project Impact identified the members of the community that could provide appropriate career advice and facilitated their connection with the students.  Project Impact's mission is to increase civic awareness and social responsibility, and encourage community leadership.

This year, Project Impact leveraged its efforts with SAMTA to have greater outreach into the South Asian Community.  SAMTA, or the South Asian Mentoring and Tutoring Association, is a local non-profit organization that works with South Asian immigrant youth that attend Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School.  SAMTA provides the students with a unique weekly after-school curriculum as well as a one-one mentoring program to address each student's academic, social, civic and career needs.  

If you are interested in becoming involved with these organizations, please contact Anita Sharma, of Project Impact, asharma@pairproject.org and Vikram Punwani, of SAMTA, info@samta.org.

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