OSNA-e Brainstorming Session on April 26 2019 Hosted by Ringo VBD'71 in Orlando 

Submitted by Vasant Dhar NBD'72

 Sanawar is undergoing a transformation. The headmaster in concert with OSS President and FOSS has laid out a vision to be recognized as one of the top world class schools globally by 2047, and a concrete action plan that will achieve this objective in several phases. The phases include improving the quality of education, increasing the girl boy ratio, new faculty housing, funds for scholarships etc. but more generally, the overall “life experience” that all of us share as Sanawarians. 

The shared experience of having grown up on that hilltop binds Sanawarians together in a unique way. On Saturday April 20, 2019, a group of us Old Sanawarians gathered in Orlando from various parts of North America for the weekend to ask ourselves how we can support the headmaster’s vision for making Sanawar the best school of all, and making the world more aware about this institution that has given us so much. Indeed, the best present our parents ever gave us, often without realizing it, was to send us to Sanawar.

 The meeting was hosted by Rupinder Sidhu VBD 71 and organized by Kumkum Bhasin HGD67. The other attendees were Anjum Siddiqui NGD 87, Ashok Gupta NBD 77, Bhanu Virmani VBD 82, Harpal MainiVBD’83, JS Pannu NBD 1971, Surabhi Singh SGD 85, Vasant Dhar NBD’72, Ravi Tak NBD’76, Zafarullah S Khan SBD’65. We hired a veteran facilitator, Eric Best, to run the meeting. 

What did we do? We now have a formal entity, the Old Sanawarians of North America (OSNA), whose mission is to support Sanawar and Sanawarians in North America by mobilizing OS in the US and Canada. Following the Headmaster’s visit to NA last September 2018, OSNA has three chapters: Old Sanawarian Society of Toronto a nonprofit under Canadian Law; Old Sanawarians of North America- Eastern Region Incorporated ( OSNA-e) registered as a not for profit in MA; it received 501(c) 3 status in April 2019 from the IRS; and a West Coast Chapter which will formalize soon. We created a concrete plan for engaging the OS community and metrics for defining our success over the next year or two. We have defined specific long, medium, and short term goals congruent with the school’s mission. Our long term goals are to enhance Sanawar’s brand, for example, by attracting the best students and teachers globally, and our short term goal is to take steps to march in that direction, such as creating more awareness about Sanawar among children and teachers in North America. As a concrete first step, we propose that the OSNA support the creation of a new role in Sanawar, the “Dean of Alumni Relations,” which we will define shortly in conjunction with the headmaster. We intend to create this new position by raising funds initially from OS in North America. 

Along with this first step, OSNA will build community and encourage networking among OS in North America. This will be useful to the existing OS community in North America and to Sanawarians who come here and leverage the collective experience of this network for educational or professional purposes. The attendees agreed to provide some of the operating funds for OSNA. We hope you will join OSNA and support the re-invigoration of Sanawar! It is always special when Sanawarians get together, regardless of when we “passed out!” Our reunion was no different. Expect more OS events over the next few years, and please come whenever you can. We are beginning a new journey here. Let’s share it.