On Wednesday October 29th, the Diwali Exhibit for 2025 was celebrated by South Windsor High School. The event was hosted by the Indian Awareness Heritage Club, with it being the second Diwali Exhibit to be hosted by the club at South Windsor High School.
The Indian Awareness Heritage Club itself is a club that aspires to bring Indian culture into the South Windsor High School community. Their goal is to have Indian culture respected in the community. Club advisor, and Spanish teacher Genny Tobon-Escobedo has shared with The Prowl.
“We had a group of students that felt like their culture was not being represented, so they decided to make a collective Indian heritage Awareness Club to just bring equal awareness to their culture that they love and care about,” Tobon-Escobedo said.
President of the club, Samiksha Maheswaran, shared what the inspiration was for organizing this event.
“I think it’s so valuable to have a developed exhibit because our school has a large Indian population and allowing that population to have something to connect to in relation to their culture in school is important for cultural identity,” Maheswaran told The Prowl.
The event began with a dance by South Windsor High School’s Indian Dance Team. The dance was a big hit among attendees of the Diwali Exhibit.
Anushka Praveenkumar, a member of the dance team and social media manager of the Indian Heritage Awareness Club, shared her thoughts on the dance and the event in general.
“I feel like it was really fun performing in front of a bunch of people,” Praveenkumar said.
In an interview with The Prowl, Praveenkumar talked about how nice it was to see the Indian community get together to celebrate Diwali while eating food and having fun.
(Dhu’l-Kifl Ramirez)
After the dance, attendees were encouraged to check out several posters and trifolds that displayed India’s history and culture regarding the celebrations of Diwali. The trifolds taught attendees topics like the origins of Diwali and customs in India.
Each person was given a ticket that could get stamped at each station. As the attendants walked around to all of the trifolds at the stations, they got the opportunity to learn information about the heritage and culture, once they did their ticket was stamped.
Many students at South Windsor High School appreciated the Diwali exhibit. One of these students was Suchet Ramakkapeta.
“I think it’s good that they’re representing Indian culture and people are able to see our culture and learn about it,” Ramakkapeta said.
Overall, the Diwali Exhibit proved to be a major hit at South Windsor High School, with at least forty people attending. The exhibit signifies South Windsor High School’s inclusive community and the opportunity for all students to learn from each other’s culture.
