IBDP Graduates from Oakridge Bangalore out-perform in University Placements

This year, Oakridge IBDP students outperformed others as they grabbed admission offers into some of the most prestigious universities in the world. Over 21 students got admitted to some of the world’s best educational institutions for higher education, 7% of them received offers from top 20 University (QS 2019) and 64% of them received offers from top 100 Universities (QS 2019). Over 61 universities pursued the students this year with an average of 3 offers per student. From London School of Economics to UCLA, Virginia Tech and Kings’ College, students received offers from some of the most highly aspired Universities across the world.

It’s not just the grades but the well-rounded wholesome personality that attracts these universities. International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, is recognized as one of the best university courses in the world serves as the foundation for students. With a holistic approach, it gives students the all-round development and growth with an aim to prosper students physically, emotionally, intellectually, as well as ethically. At Oakridge - one of the best IB Schools in Bangalore, students are nurtured with the dynamic and success-oriented education program in IBDP.

The program equips them with a global perspective and helps them enhance their leadership, creative-thinking, as well as communication skills. The IB Diploma Program curriculum at Oakridge includes carefully designed learning experiences that make students not just future ready but responsible kids, who willingly look to bring positive change to society. It involves students with more practical and application-based education.

“Being one of the top International Schools in Bangalore, we at Oakridge, take university placements for higher studies very seriously. We ensure that our students have the best portfolio that every top university of this world would seek in a student profile. With the IB Diploma Program, they are given vital guidance and training for their ability. Also, they were shown the right paths to choose in order to achieve their true potential and get into their dream college”, said Amit Jain, Director, Oakridge International School Bangalore.

Names of the universities our students got offers from:

California College of the Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, Drexel University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, NAFA – Singapore, SCAD - Savannah College of Arts and Design, LIM - Laboratory Institute of Merchandising - New York, Istituto Marangoni, Emory University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Vanderbilt University, Rutgers Camden, Rutgers Newark, Rutgers New Brunswick, Case Western, UNC-Chapel Hill, Purdue University, University of Toronto, St.Andrews, Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, University of California – Davis, University of California - San Diego, The University of Washington- Seattle, Virginia Tech, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Washington Seattle, University of Michigan, UC LA, Flame University, Newcastle University, University of Glasgow, Durham University, University of Bristol, University of Minnesota Morris & Duluth, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, New York University, University of Edinburg, University of Pittsburg, King's College London, London School of Economics, UCL (University College London) - Economics and Statistics, University of Warwick, and University of Exeter.

15-Year-Old Rohan Bodla from Oakridge wins ‘Student Entrepreneur of The Year’ Award

The premier digital platform for thought leaders - Asia Inc. 500 has named Rohan Bodla ‘Student Entrepreneur of the Year’ for 2019.

Rohan Bodla, a Grade 11 student of Oakridge, one of the best schools in Hyderabad, received the award by Hon. J A Chowdhary, (IT advisory to CM, A.P) for his startup idea, shortkahani.com. He pursued this idea over a couple of years; and his recent interview got published in Asia INC magazine, launched in T-Hub, Hyderabad during the recent World Quality Summit. The summit was set up to create one of the largest conference of Quality Assurance (QA) professionals worldwide.

Rohan’s ShortKahani.com is a WordPress built website. “Short Kahani is an online short story writing platform where people can read, write, and publish stories for a global audience. I began Short Kahani for my hobby of short story writing after realizing that it helps one in their self-awareness as they express their thoughts and feelings, so I wanted to spread this to everyone. Short Kahani is a forum where the younger generations can express themselves in their writings and develop their EI (emotional intelligence). As a part of Short Kahani, I started a few competitions and there was a good response from each contest. This is so far just a beginning and I hope to expand in the future” says Rohan.

Rohan is 15 and currently doing an education program called International Baccalaureate that is one of the reasons for his inspirations to start Short Kahani, which he mentioned during his interview with Asia INC magazine. He said “On Short Kahani, I have published 4 stories so far myself. I have had a reach of over 2000 people worldwide and several participants, who have registered as part of competitions I have conducted. I created Short Kahani over my 9th-grade summer vacation from scratch and built it for my hobby in short story writing.” Sharing his experience on receiving the award, he said, “By creating this website, I won the Student Entrepreneur of the year award from the Asia Inc. 500 magazine and also had my website featured there. These achievements so far have motivated me to keep working hard on my website and develop Short Kahani into what it is today and will work harder to make it flourish.”

Appreciating Rohan, Oakridge Gachibowli Principal said, “Rohan Bodla’s achievement is quite amazing. He fits into the mould of student entrepreneurs that we have seen on our campus over the last few years. His efforts at promoting education, literacy, and learning must be applauded and recognised at the highest levels. Rohan is on the path to being recognised as a true entrepreneur - one who embodies the values of care for the community, contribution to society and a legacy that will outlive him. We are all extremely proud of Rohan!”

You can also read Times of India, featured his inspirational story.

Tvisha, a Girl who has Grown with Oakridge

Oakridger Tvisha Mehta, who was recently graduated from NYU, was part of one of the first badges of students to join Oakridge, way back in 2001. With her blue eyes and ever smiling face, little Tvisha walked into the school each day filled with curiosity and a spirit of exploration. Over the years, Tvisha took part in many school events. She was an Academic topper, national level swimmer, Scuba Diver, Harvard MUN Delegate, Debater, the youngest member in of NYU MUNC team, City/District level Chess player, Dancer and more.

Tvisha always believed in taking an active part in activities beyond academic studies. She was on the Prefect council and executive board members and has attended 9 MUNs including 2 MITMUN, 2 OAKMUN, Ecole Mondiale MUN, and 2 Harvard MUN Hyderabad. She had participated in Elocution and Debate competition, debated at the Oxford Union during Oxford and Cambridge summer school.

She had a keen interest in the French language and has been learning the language during her 11 academic years at Oakridge, one of the top IB Schools in Hyderabad. She possesses Barcelona and Paris immersive cultural experience through Oakridge. She even started mentoring and tutoring kids in French in Francophone Exchange Program at NYU.

She also gained industry exposure during her internship with PWC and always was a champion for the social cause. Tvisha has been handling and volunteering multiple CAS activities & school events as the CAS Prefect at Oakridge, during which she organized a Health Awareness drive for underprivileged children, as well as voting awareness drive for the students. This apart, she addressed the lack of accessibility to food to areas experiencing scarcity with the help of the Nandi Foundation.
Let's hear it from her on what it takes to make it a success in life.

Why Attend a University Fair

One of the most daunting tasks for both students and parents is to choose a right place for higher studies. Students face a lot of difficulties to make a decision of which university to attend. Whereas, attending a University Fair makes a lot of difference. It’s a great way to get your thoughts in order as well as discover some of the programs and institutions on offer. In fact university fairs are worth attending. It comes with lots of opportunities and there are many good reasons of attending a university fair such as:

●    Instead of sticking to online research, the chances of meeting institutions in person and getting immediate personalized responses to every question. The student would get an opportunity to meet a myriad of representatives from the top universities and discuss face to face the programs, funding opportunities as well as application processes involved in getting into a specific institution.

●    Secondly, students get an opportunity to understand the requirements for any university admission. They get a better idea of what university admission officers are looking for when they meet a student. There are many attributes that they would look for such as passion, determination and focus are a few to name. This is how they get a chance to start impressing the admission officers by showing you have the right qualities.

●    Thirdly, attending a university fair is a great chance for the students to understand and discover colleges that they know or might not know. It is a platform for them to compare universities according to their rankings, offerings, curriculum, approaches to learning, etc. It also might help finding the university they had in mind isn’t right for them at all and that they would be much happier at a lower ranking one.

The main aim of a university fair is to give students the opportunity to start having conversations about their next steps and to leave with a clearer picture of what their next steps should be. Above are just a few points about the benefits of attending a university fair, there are a lot more it. Oakridge International School in Hyderabad brings an incredible ‘University Fair’ to Hyderabad for the students of grade 9-12 which would showcase India’s top universities and higher education institutes. If you want to know more about the benefits of attending a university fair then this is an opportunity not-to-be-missed. Save the date and attend Oakridge’s THE GREAT INDIAN UNIVERSITY FAIR to be held on 19th Jan 2018.

SCIENCE WORKSHOP ON GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AT INFOSYS

Students from the secondary segment of Oakridge International School were taken to pay a visit to Infosys Technologies Ltd, Bangalore on an invitation from Infosys. The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) organized its prize announcement ceremony for the year 2017 to recognize inspiring researchers and scholars across various fields of science and social sciences.

Students were amazed to see the research work going on different fields, which has also motivated them to learn more about each subject. The event followed by an amazing workshop on ‘Gravitational Waves’ whose detection has been recognized with the Nobel prize in Physics this year. It was a great experience for students to be a part of the workshop and understand the fundamentals of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, and more importantly, the difference between Newtonian Physics and Einstein’s theories. Click here for full article

Ted Talks by Oakridge Alumna Samhita on her Entrepreneurship Journey

If you can't figure out your purpose figure out your passion for your passion leads you directly into your purpose I am Samhita, and I'm an example of this quote and this is my story i Started baking when i was about 13 years old my mother allowed me into coming into kitchen partly because she was scared that i would hurt myself and Partly, I thought because she was scared that I will mess up her kitchen like all mothers but my dad pushed me into learning new things He's a firm believer of the court practice makes a man perfect So he pushed me into learning new things going and trying new things that's how i started baking making my chocolates after a few months we shipped it to a new town because with my dad's transfer It was a pretty small time town, and I am not exactly comfortable in it I try to make some friends, but we didn't have like minds, and I felt like an outsider That's when I started staying at home mode not going to school So I started making a lot and trying and testing new recipes and desserts Since I didn't have anyone to talk to my baking became my best friend and books, too After my 10th grade we shipped it back to Hyderabad. 

I always wanted to become a doctor There are two reasons I've deviated from my path One is because I've seen my brother take by PC and going to medicine and I saw him Study for about six to eight hours every day, and that's not my cup of tea steadying more than half an hour is a lot for me, so i thought  can't do it and The second reason is after I came back to Hyderabad I spent about Half of my summer vacation with my aunt who is an inspiration for me, and she's one of the directors in Amazon So I talked to her a lot And she actually used to ask me these math questions you know these logical questions, and I used to give answer I used to answer her pretty easily and She said I was really good at math Trust me this. 

This is not easy for my eleventh and twelfth classmates to believe, but trust me I was good at math back then So I took her advice of Joining of going into MPC and going into IIT so I came back to Hyderabad and I joined Oakridge International School and that changed my life. I Took math physics and chemistry as my major subjects I was given three choices in choosing my elective physical education psychology and entrepreneurship So I chose entrepreneurship, and you know why I chose entrepreneurship I? Had no idea what the meaning was the names are a pretty fancy to me. You know like a big fancy name So it really intrigued me so I chose it I thought you know my old friends would ask me what I am studying right now, and I'd go like yeah.

I'm doing entrepreneurship So it was pretty nice for me to tell other people that I was doing something Which they didn't even know the meaning of and he did right, but they didn't know that so after a few introductory classes I realized That this subject which I didn't know anything about Was really interesting and I was passionate about it My teacher my love and great teacher Explained the whole concept and the course in such a way that I felt my elective was more important to me than my major subjects personally I barely, got lesser grades in my major subjects than in my Electives, but my teachers didn't bother to you know push me high to study my major subjects more they were rather happy for me for Finding a sir check which I was really interested in and we're pushing me forward and supporting me in all of their ways In my 11th grade before my finals One day I went to my parents just because I was sick of studying for half an hour again I went to my parents birthday, and I asked him for a hike in my pocket money It was obviously enough because like all the parents who would increase the pocket money Just before final exams because that's not what you're supposed to do, but I went and asked them So they said no I went on talking around saying that I would make my own money off of selling my baked goods the cupcakes and all And my dad actually took it seriously We spent me and my dad spent about three to four hours that day sitting and discussing and naming our imaginary company The maxima dad actually came to me and showed me that he registered the imaginary company as a real one chocolate box that was the de chocolate box who is born I Went back to my school and told my classmates and my teachers about it. 

They were really happy for me My teacher sat with me my entrepreneurship teachers. They were giving me inputs and feedbacks about to what can I do for marketing? I? went to my principal that day and told her about my company and we decided to launch it on May 6th of 2016 on the campus in the campus So, but it did not happen because of some reasons but the next year the following year in my 12th grade My school gave me a chance to put up not one but two stalls on the founder step one in the ethnic food center, and the other one in the business center I go to tremendous feedback from all the attendees all the parents and the teachers and Mostly, I got a feedback from our founder Mr. Shomie Das does and that's when I knew, but this is not dead I just can't sit at home baked chocolates and sell it online I had to grow So in my as I told before in Cardinal books and baking became my best friend coming to books I Almost like sitting going out and sitting in a cafe and amad.

I mean you imagine myself doing that having a cup of coffee and reading a nice book I tried it four times actually going to a cafe and doing that but it wasn't a success there was a lot of noise People came into garden. I don't want any order, but they still came So I thought Why can't I combine my both passions? reading the books and my baking So I came up with an idea of a book café Which I later went to my school and talked about it with my teachers my 12th grade entrepreneurship teacher was so excited and happy that I got an idea like this That she sat with me and we discussed about it And she made me do a project a whole business plan about my company because that was what we were studying in that grade So I made a 40 page business project business plan for my book cafe, and I got 3130 for it I Was happy even though I got fairly less create than the other subjects. 

They didn't push me After my 12th came the bigger challenge I had to choose which path I had to go to I have three options one is through my passion I could go into culinary arts or the Baking and all and the second is Through my love for my subject. I could check I could choose business management and the other one is Just continue with my previous subjects of love intent well, then go into engineering I Put MVC aside engineering aside because that's not my cup of tea. I cannot do it. I'm just Not good at math, or I just hate it So I I was a bit fickle minded in between these two subjects in between these two courses So I went to my school counselor and sat with her for a whole day discussing about this She didn't judge me for how fickle minded I was between choosing courses. She sat with me showed me all the colleges and the courses I could take and then we decided that i thought about it for a bit and I remembered what once my dad said practical and theory go hand in hand I Had a bit of practical experience through chocolate box, but Theory Mere knowledge of having entrepreneurship as one subject is not good enough So I thought I have to study more and learn more in the way. I'm going through So I decided to take Bachelor of Business Administration in Bennett University, which I'm doing right now That's my story until now and the future There's always gonna be another mountain I'm always gonna wanna make it move always gonna be an uphill battle sometimes. 

I'm gonna have to lose Ain't about how fast I get there ain't nobody aha It's the time What matters is What's beyond it I don't know what's beyond the mountain What I care about is my journey what I truly care about is the climb. Thank you.