BANYAN COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP FOR SOUTH ASIAN AMERICANS
2019 BANYAN SCHOLARS
SAD ADIB
Sad was born in Bangladesh and grew up in Bronx, New York. He attended NEST+m, a small K-12 high school in the Lower East Side, and is currently studying computer science at Columbia University. After graduating, Sad plans to work with intelligent systems and cloud computing in the tech industry. In high school, Sad has volunteered with several tutoring institutions to provide educational resources for low-income, immigrant students. In his free time, Sad plays cricket and makes short animated videos.
ANMOL KAUR
Anmol's family moved from Punjab, India to Queens, New York where she grew up. She attended and was the Valedictorian of Hillcrest High School, where she enjoyed tutoring her peers to improve SAT scores, regents scores, and class-performance. She is currently attending The Macaulay Honors College at Baruch, majoring in Finance. Anmol likes spreading awareness about the Sikh religion and participating in volunteering events by being a part of The United Sikh Association. Her hobbies include dancing, playing badminton, and watching Netflix.
HELINA RATHOD
Helina, whose family is from India, was born and raised in Queens, New York. She went to the Bronx High School of Science, where she was with the Student Organization Leaders and Secretary of the school's South Asian Culture Club. She plans to pursue Computer Science with a minor in Business at Boston University in the spring. Helina has a passion for dancing and coding, and hopes to make her parents proud and give back to the city she calls home.
DAWA SHERPA
Dawa Sherpa was born in Kathmandu, Nepal and raised in Queens, New York. She graduated from Townsend Harris High School, where she directed student run productions and actively participated in community service. She is currently pursuing a Biology major on a pre-med track at Stony Brook University and is working at a gastroenterologist's clinic. Her aspiration in life is to aid the less fortunate in low-resource countries, such as Nepal, where proper healthcare is inaccessible for many. In her free time, you can find her singing, dancing, or binging a Netflix show.
HRITHIK BISWAS
Hrithik, who was born in Bangladesh, grew up in Queens, New York. He graduated from High
School for Health Professions, obtaining an Advance Regents Diploma along with a Medical Assisting Certification. He is currently a freshman at Hobart and William Smith Colleges where he is majoring in Economics. Hrithik hopes to pursue a career in health care management and also teach at some point. He is an opinion writer on the college’s newspaper and is a participant in a collective dance show. In his free time, he likes to cycle, spend time outdoors, and jam to Bollywood music.
FAHAD NABI
Fahad, whose family is originally from Pakistan, grew up in both Sugarland, TX and Queens, NY. He graduated from The Bronx High School of Science and is currently a freshman at Stanford University. At Stanford, Fahad intends to pursue a B.A. in Economics and B.S in Mathematical & Computational Science with minors in Philosophy or Physics. With a quantitative-based background, Fahad hopes to someday build a start-up focused on working with machine learning/artificial intelligence to bring innovations in developing economies of the world. Outside of his studies, Fahad enjoys reading philosophy, meditating, and playing rugby.
AYMAN SIAM
Ayman was born in Bangladesh and grew up in Bronx, New York. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School where he majored in Mechatronics. Ayman is a freshman attending NYU Tandon School of Engineering and plans to major in Mechanical Engineering and minor in Aerospace Engineering while pursuing photography on the side. As an avid photographer, he uses his lens to capture members of his community and empower them by taking pictures that help to break stereotypes. Ayman enjoys finding other ways to give back to the community. He has used his engineering skills to create a prototype backpack with pressure controlled soft robotic straps to help students better handle their daily load.