Last year in the month of March, a South-Asian alum had published a blog post celebrating International Women’s month at HGSE. Continuing her efforts in bringing to light the diversity of women that we represent and the stories that brought us all the way across the world to Harvard, I wanted to write this article. An article in which most of us women from the South Asian cohort gets featured as we embrace our gracious presence at this esteemed institution as well as take time to cherish all our struggles and earned wisdom. Considering everyone was really busy, I asked all my fellow women to answer this question in a line or two. The question was, “What brought you to Harvard and what are you taking away from here?” Going through the responses has been an immensely enriching experience for me. I hope this article continues to inspire all of us at HGSE as well as all those girls back home who wish to be here in the years to come. The responses are as follows:
“I came to Harvard to expand my vision of what is possible in education and beyond so I can work towards empowering children across the world to learn with limitless ambition and dream big.” – Smriti, Learning and Teaching
“I came to Harvard to explore the question – What does it take at the policy level to make learning in every classroom more effective? And I am walking away with a strong understanding of the complexities that surround this question and stronger confidence, knowledge, and skills to deal with them.” – Saki, International Education Policy
“I came to Harvard to increase my capacity for making an impact on access to equitable educational opportunities for marginalized populations, particularly students of color, in the US. One thing I have learnt at Harvard is the sense that the work required to change structural injustices never stops, nor should the passion to continuously dismantle systemic inequalities ever cease.” – Sakina, Education Policy and Management
“I came to HGSE with dreams and am walking away with actionable plans to manifest them.” – Izzah, Education Policy and Management
“To me, HGSE represented the opportunity to take a mid-career pause, learn how to do things better so that I could serve students and their families better: it was the chance to acquire new skills and expand my knowledge and understanding of learning, teaching and resilience. However, I am leaving with far more than academic knowledge and professional skills – I have learned a lot more about myself than I had expected, as well as about the experiences of truly wonderful people from worlds far removed from my own, that has helped me grow and challenged me to think outside my own experiential boundaries!” – Zainab, Human Development and Psychology
“I came to HGSE on my pursuit of finding scalable policies, systems and practices that could enable children to learn well in Pakistan’s public schools. Among other things, I’m leaving with a deep appreciation and interest in informal learning avenues to reach such children.” – Zahra, Learning and Teaching
“I came to HGSE to gain a better perspective of how similar problems are tackled in different ways across the world. I will be leaving HGSE with that knowledge, new relationships, a sense of humility, curiosity and tons of memories.”- Aarya, International Education Policy
“I came to HGSE to become a more knowledgeable, effective and skilled educator. But in the process, I have developed much more than that- meaningful relationships, empathy, awareness and humility.” – Prerna, Learning and Teaching
“A love for children and passionate adults who strive each day to make a difference as educators. I am leaving with the realization that the H in Harvard stands for Humbleness and the wings to pursue my dreams with a new family of gurus and friends.” – Mahera, School Leadership Program
“As a first-generation learner, I wanted to hone skills to be able to scale education interventions for many more kids like me, hence the access and exposure that Harvard could provide made it the right choice for me. I hope to take away meaningful connections from my time here back home and rely on them as I navigate the challenges that the future has in store.” – Karishma, International Education Policy
“I came looking for new perspectives and I am going back grounded with a reinforced belief in the power of listening to people.” – Payal, Ed.M Learning and Teaching
“The quest for knowledge to have a formal understanding of ‘Education’ urged me to come to Harvard, to learn from professors and colleagues from all over the world with different thoughts, experiences, and expertise, to challenge my existing self.
I am leaving with the understanding that education is a complex and multi-level science. It’s not everyone’s business. Discipline of thought is very important, especially in a position of responsibility, impacting others lives.” – Kumkum, International Education Policy
Lastly, I would love to sum up my own journey at HGSE with the following:
“ My passion for understanding the developing human mind and behavior brought me to Harvard. And I am getting prepared to leave this life-altering space with the realization that we all deserve to be loved and heard no matter who we are, what we do and where we come from for it is only ‘love and unconditional giving’ that will ‘change the world’.” – Ananya, Human Development and Psychology
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