Hear these South Asian Parents’ Perspectives on Athenian
Graphic Credit: Alekhya Maram
By Rishi Reddy
The Athenian School has a rigorous academic program. Not only does the curriculum entail a variety of challenging classes, but it also offers many unique opportunities such as Town Meeting, Round Square, AWE, March Term, and a lot of other exciting programs. At its core, Athenian is an excellent school that prioritizes equity and inclusion among their student body and faculty; however, South Asian representation is lacking in the student body as well as the administration. Interviewing some South Asian Athenian students’ parents gives valuable insight into their perspectives on the Athenian curriculum. It is important to see the ways in which they comprehend the way Athenian’s educational system is designed and understand how they view the school.
Classes
Athenian is one of the top schools in the nation, so it's academic curriculum is undoubtedly rigorous. The school offers a wide selection of difficult classes, ranging from demanding math and science options to challenging humanities courses. What do the parents have to say about that?
Deepak Chichili, father of 10th grader Tanvi Chichili, says, “Athenian offers a good depth and breadth of classes, especially in humanities and languages. Athenian provides the freedom for students to pick the courses they like which gives a lot of flexibility to students. My opinion, however, is that Athenian should offer more stem classes.”
The amount of stem classes are rather limited compared to how many are offered at public schools and other locations. However, as one always says, quality is more important than quantity.
Prathibha Koduru, mother of sophomore Rishi Reddy, shares, “Athenian classes definitely drive my children to work really hard. The courses encourage them to think outside the box, form new ideas, and mold their own perspectives of the given subject.”
The courses at Athenian always help students better themselves continuously. Students always rise to the occasion and push themselves to become better and better at different subjects.
Srikanth Surapaneni, father of sophomore Sonya Surapaneni, discloses, “Athenian classes are super competitive; however, my daughter seems like she’s learning and growing a lot from them. She’s becoming more culturally competent which is something that they focus on healthily. The classes are pretty difficult, especially the humanities classes, but I think it is definitely helping my daughter to become a better writer.”
This is really true. By the end of senior year, students turn out a completely different writer than when they started. The Athenian humanities department really hones in on analytical thinking and persuasive writing, a skill that is gradually drawn out of students as they engage in more literature and history courses.
Town Meeting
In a school like Athenian, where democracy is a critical Pillar, Town Meeting is a must. It’s a form of community meeting that the Athenian student body holds weekly for when students have a proposal regarding a change in the way the school is run or discuss what to do with the Town Meeting money. A lot of parents did not even know about this part of the Athenian program; however, once their kids explained it to them, they fell in love with the concept.
Shanti Surapaneni, mother of Sonya, expresses: “I don’t really know much about Town Meeting; nevertheless, I think it is really great that Athenian has a democracy at school. It is a sort of student government because it provides a way for students to make change. I would really like for my daughter and her friends to get involved in it, because I think it’s a great opportunity and experience.” That’s good to know! Students can definitely get involved in Town Meeting, for there are town meeting officers who lead the discussions and manage the proposals.
Sudheer Sreerangapalle, father of Rishi, articulates, “It seems like a great way for students to have their voices heard. I can’t believe the entire upper-school gathers together in one location just to discuss how they can improve the school and change the way things work. To give students such a major responsibility at such a young age--it’s amazing that Athenian offers this. Students would be able to take initiative and truly understand the power of democracy. I love it.”
Sudhathi Chichili, mother of Tanvi, carries a similar opinion. She shares: “I think that it’s great that students would have a voice in the school and could propose changes.”
Round Square
Athenian’s Round Square program is really quite special. Not many schools have it, so it is a real privilege for Athenian students. Students are able to build cross-cultural skills that will greatly benefit them going forward in life and enhance their global competence in general.
Prathibha shares, “It’s an excellent way for my kids to meet new people and understand foregin cultures. It’s a great exposure to kids.” It is indeed! Round Square really hones in on the idea of making international connections and allows a student to grow in several facets. They learn how to work with people from all across the world and bond over their differences. The collaborative environment leaves an endless room for growth.
Deepak repeats, “I think that round square pillars and ideals are a very great approach to education.”
Shanti adds: “Round Square is fantastic. Sonya has already been on one virtual exchange, she has hosted a virtual exchange. She has even coordinated two different round square conferences. All the exposure she gets from multiple people across the world--I think it’s really a great program.”
March Term
March Terms provide students with the opportunity to focus on one subject area and delve deeper into it. Students are able to choose a field of interest and learn about it with hands-on activities and an interactive learning experience for a whole month.
Deepak says, “March term is very unique to Athenian. Though my children have never actually done a March term before, I know that it would allow students to explore their passion sometimes other than academics. I think that is really advantageous to a student.”
Sudheer states: “My kids never experienced it, but I think it’s a good program. Students can concentrate and learn a lot about one subject area. It’s important and helps build life skills.”
Srikanth shares: “March Term is really cool, although Sonya hasn’t really had an opportunity to participate in it yet. All the classes look really interesting, especially the Spanish immersion one. I think it’s really cool that students can practice their spanish constantly in an environment that fosters mistakes. It would really allow a kid to grow from all the mistakes they make and the Spanish setting would be perfect for my daughter to develop her Spanish-speaking skills. Yeah, it is really a cool program.”
AWE
The Athenian Wilderness Experience is a program that is completely, 100%, unique and authentic to Athenian. In AWE, juniors are sent on a 26-day backpacking trip in the wilderness with nothing but a small group of their peers, instructors, and a few supplies. More than any of the other programs at Athenian, AWE promotes students’ life skills and establishes a bond between students like no other.
Prathibha shares, “It develops confidence in kids. They come back knowing they can do so much more than what they ever really thought they could do. They learn how to face challenges and make solutions for their problems.”
Sudhathi Chichili shares, “AWE is awesome! I think that students mature a lot during AWE, and I think that it’s a very unique experience.”
Shanti says: “AWE seems really challenging to me. I don’t know how my children or other students are doing it. My daughter is rather apprehensive towards it just because it’s a lot of hiking and she hasn’t really done that before, but I think it’s a great experience for students to bond with one another.”
In Conclusion
It’s evident that The Athenian School has a great program; the South Asian parents, who are usually a tough group to impress, seem to love every aspect of it and are fully satisfied with sending their kids to such an incredible institution. Way to go Athenian!
