{"id":249706,"date":"2021-12-01T20:37:16","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T04:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/?p=249706"},"modified":"2021-12-01T20:38:32","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T04:38:32","slug":"we-are-home-essay-contest-indian-american-impact-project-announces-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/we-are-home-essay-contest-indian-american-impact-project-announces-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We Are Home’ Essay Contest: Indian American Impact Project Announces Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Top, l-r):<\/strong> Finalists \u2013 Sumana Kaluvai, Sneha Shrinivas, Sarvani Kunapareddy, Pareen Mathre, and Bhavey Jain. (Bottom, l-r):<\/strong> Khushi Patel and Reet Mishra (3rd<\/sup> place), Shristi Sharma (winner), Mansavi Perisetty (2nd<\/sup> place). (Siliconeer)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Indian American Impact Project (\u201cImpact Project\u201d) announced the winners and finalists of its ‘We Are Home’ essay contest, an opportunity open to undocumented and documented South Asian DREAMers who face many obstacles including constant uncertainty over their status and limited opportunities for employment, scholarships, and financial aid.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dozens of submissions we received from students in more than 22 states reflect the need for comprehensive immigration reform\u201d says\u00a0Sarah Shah<\/strong>, Director of Community Engagement of the Impact Project. \u201cThese youth, who only know the United States as home, represent the very best of America and deserve a clear pathway to citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contest winners:<\/strong>
\nFirst Place ($5,000) — Shristi Sharma, NC
\nSecond Place ($2,500) — Manasvi Perisetty, TX
\nTied for Third Place ($500) — Khushi Patel, IN
\nTied for Third Place ($500) — Reet Mishra, CA<\/p>\n

Finalists: Ayaan Siddiqui (AZ) ,Sneha Shrinivas (TX), Bhavey Jain (IN), Pareen Mhatre (IA), Sai Sumana Kaluvai (CA), Sarvani Kunapareddy (IL)<\/p>\n

Winners received cash prizes of up to $5,000. All winners and finalists were invited to Washington, D.C. for an event with special guests, and their essays published in Brown Girl<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n

Shristi Sharma<\/strong>, first place winner and student at UNC-Chapel Hill, says, \u201cI am incredibly grateful for Impact\u2019s initiative to elevate the stories of documented dreamers like me. I never imagined getting such an honor and I\u2019m thankful to be able to help bring visibility to our situation for the first time; knowing that people care about hearing our stories is extremely uplifting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shristi had the opportunity to read her winning poem in front of distinguished guests such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at the Impact Project\u2019s Diwali Reception on Nov. 3, 2021, in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

All of the winners\u2019 stories can be accessed at\u00a0www.iaimpact.org\/essaycontest<\/a>. The organization hopes that by sharing these stories, leaders and policy makers will understand that these DREAMers are Americans.<\/p>\n

To advance civil rights of Indian American, South Asian, and all historically excluded communities, the Indian American Impact Project 501(c)(3) inspires civic engagement, builds community and coalitions, and ensures our diaspora’s history and lived experience is recognized as essential to the fabric of America.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Top, l-r): Finalists \u2013 Sumana Kaluvai, Sneha Shrinivas, Sarvani Kunapareddy, Pareen Mathre, and Bhavey Jain. (Bottom, l-r): Khushi Patel and Reet Mishra (3rd place), Shristi Sharma (winner), Mansavi Perisetty (2nd place). (Siliconeer)   The Indian American Impact Project (\u201cImpact Project\u201d) announced the winners and finalists of its ‘We Are Home’ essay contest, an opportunity open…<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":249708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[275,13,45351,1079,19,4786,20],"tags":[57619,16023,31440,815,15332,5149,57624,5147,57620,57623,57618,57621,57625,57617,57622,147,57616,57615,57626,9870],"class_list":["post-249706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-culture","category-gen-z","category-literature","category-topics","category-u-s-news","category-youth","tag-bhavey-jain","tag-contest","tag-dreamers","tag-essay","tag-immigration-2","tag-impact","tag-impact-project","tag-indian-american-impact-project","tag-khushi-patel","tag-mansavi-perisetty","tag-pareen-mathre","tag-reet-mishra","tag-sarah-shah","tag-sarvani-kunapareddy","tag-shristi-sharma","tag-siliconeer","tag-sneha-shrinivas","tag-sumana-kaluvai","tag-we-are-home","tag-winners"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconeer.com\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}