Interns
Aditya Suresh
Aditya Suresh is a junior at Edina High School in Edina, Minnesota. This is his first year as an intern with IAM and he’s very excited to get to work. Aditya is passionate about helping and connecting with new people. He hopes that, through the IAM internship, he’s able to make those new connections, learn new skills, and serve his community in any way possible. Outside of IAM, Aditya loves involving himself with various school activities. He’s a part of the high school swim team, participates in Model U.N., and even runs his own club, Edina HOSA. Aditya is also a community leader with the Edina Asian American Alliance. There, he leads the outreach department, working to establish new connections. Fun Fact: Aditya loves anything related to the water!
Ananya Velpuri
Ananya Velpuri is a junior at Prior Lake High School in Savage, MN. This is Ananya’s first year with IAM and she hopes to further connect with her fellow Indians and others in the community through the IAM internship program! Ananya is involved in numerous school-related activities and clubs including being Vice President of Model UN and a founder and captain in Debate. Additionally, through a leadership club, Ananya mentors middle schoolers, and enjoys creating relationships and making an impact in others’ lives through all her extracurriculars. Outside of school, she volunteers at a hospital, works as a tutor, and participates and competes in karate! Some of her interests include lifting at the gym, hanging out with friends, baking a multitude of desserts, and traveling around the world. Ananya is passionate about medicine and is dedicated to using her experiences to better develop herself as a young professional who is looking forward to a career in medicine! Fun Fact: Ananya is a brown belt in Karate!
Anjali Nambudiri
Anjali Nambudiri is a junior at East Ridge High School in Woodbury, MN. This is her first year with IAM. She is the President of her school’s debate team, taking part in Congressional debate on both the state and national level. She is interested in using her background in this activity as a way to further connect the Indian community with what is happening in local government through IAM. Anjali is also involved with Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), National Honors Society, and Student Ambassadors in her school. Outside of school, Anjali enjoys being outdoors, listening to music, and playing tennis. She hopes to study mathematics and economics in the future. Fun Fact: Anjali can play the harmonica!
Arul Banerjea
Arul Banerjea is a 17-year old junior at East Ridge High School in Woodbury. He has been an intern with IAM since 2020 and strives to help his Asian Indian community in any way possible. His passion is to help others in any way possible and is therefore pursuing a career in medicine. He positively influences the community around him by teaching piano to children in the community and by volunteering at St. Therese Senior Services of Woodbury. Arul’s interests include playing the piano, learning about the brain, and playing tennis. He has been an avid piano student since he was 4. He is the president of his school’s brain bee club and is a voracious reader.
Fun fact: Arul loves to sleep!
Diya Menon
Diya Menon is a 16 year old sophomore at Wayzata High School. This is her first year as an IAM intern. Diya has a passion in the STEM field, including: psychology, neurology, and computer science. Her interests include classical dancing & singing, taekwondo, chess, playing the violin, robotics, and volunteering. She is involved in many clubs at school, currently in UMTYMP, and enjoys helping people. She is excited to help others and gain new opportunities and experiences.
Fun Fact: She is a black belt in taekwondo.
Indra Khariwala
Indra Khariwala is currently a sophomore at Edina High School. As a first-year intern, she is excited about forming connections within the community and learning from those around her! Performing has been a large part of Indra’s life as she has had the opportunity to do professional theater at Stages Theater Company and Children’s Theater. In addition, since a young age, Indra has been trained in the Suzuki method of violin at Macphail and Kathak through the Katha Dance Theater. She even teaches theater classes to young kids at Stages and loves helping them learn and grow. Both in this class and throughout her life, she strives to be a leader that supports those around her. At school she is a leader of the Chinese club and is in Concert Orchestra, Model United Nations, Nordic Skiing, and Track and Field. Indra loves to spend time with family and friends as well as her puppy Imre. Indra is interested in law and looks forward to applying and developing her skills in this internship in order to make change in the future! Fun Fact: Indra recently gave a Tedx Talk titled “My Imperfect Success”
Mahati Rayadurgam
Mahati Rayadurgam is a 15 year old sophomore at Wayzata High School in Plymouth, MN. This is her first year as an intern at IAM. Mahati is passionate in music, the arts, and spreading awareness about social issues in today’s world. She is a Bharatanatyam dancer, Caranatic vocal student, and she plays the piano and the violin. She is involved musically in the Indian community and has a passion for sharing the arts. Mahati is involved at school through Wayzata UNICEF, Wayzata Youth Extending Services, and co-leads an awareness club at WHS which focuses on spreading awareness and bringing to light issues about monthly awareness topics. She is also greatly involved in ThinkSTEAM, a non-profit organization with the goal to encourage the involvement of girls in STEM and the arts. Outside of her passions and activities, Mahati enjoys drawing, traveling, baking, and spending time with family and friends.
Fun Fact: Mahati is a co-author of a published book.
Mehak Jain
Mehak Jain is a 16-year-old junior at Edina High School who has been an intern at IAMN since 2021 striving to get involved with the Asian community. Mehak has been involved in the government relations and SAARI departments of IAMN. Mehak has a passion for volunteering and volunteers at the Fairview Hospital, the library, and various other South Asian organizations such as the JCM and GSMN. Mehak is interested in pursuing a career in law and participates in many activities like Model UN, Mock Trial while also being captain of the Edina Synchronized swimming team.
Fun Fact: Mehak has 8 years of Kathak experience under her belt!
Sanjana Varadhan
Sanjana Varadhan is 16 years old and from Edina, MN. She is currently a Sophomore at Edina High School. This is her first year as an IAM intern and she is excited to connect with the Indian community and learn about IAM's involvement within it. Sanjana is currently involved in Marketing, Connect India, and Government relations at IAM. She is very passionate about volunteering and teaches kids math at an elementary school in Edina and also volunteers at the after school program in that elementary school. She is involved in many different club activities in school such as Model UN but outside of school she dances competitively for her dance studio. Her interests include reading, photography, dance, and spending time with friends.
Fun Fact: Sanjana can write calligraphy and cursive very well.
Shaunak Manjure
Shaunak Manjure is a senior at the Math and Science Academy in Woodbury, Minnesota. He joined the IAM intern team in 2021 and wants to contribute as much as he can to the Minnesota community as a whole. Shaunak has a passion to help others and interact with people of diverse backgrounds; he sees an internship with the IAM as a good platform to fulfill this passion. He helps out the community by volunteering in his school's chapter of the National Honor Society and is a part of the MSA student council’s executive committee. Shaunak’s interests include playing cricket and learning about biology and life sciences. He captained the Minnesota Youth Cricket Association team in tournaments around the country and was recently selected to play for the Midwest Zone and train with the St. Louis American’s Minor League Cricket team. Shaunak has a passion for cricket and is looking to pursue it fully. He also plans to study neuroscience in college to put him on the career path of sports medicine.
Fun Fact: Shaunak loves to travel and has been to 9 different countries and 13 different states.
Shreya Ramraj
Shreya Ramraj is a 16-year kid junior at Minnetonka High school in Minnetonka. She has been an intern with IAM since 2022 and strives to help the Indian, as well as other minority communities, to the best of her abilities. Her passion lays in creating avenues for people to express themselves, hence her interest in the field of Psychology, specifically Trauma Therapy targeting adolescents. Shreya’s interests include dancing, learning about Psychology and Trauma, and spending time with her dog.
Fun fact: She loves cookie dough ice cream with mint chocolate chip as a close second.
Srushti Vaidyanathan
Srushti Vaidyanathan is in 11th grade at Prior Lake Highschool. This is her first year in IAM and she wants to help fellow Indians and other groups through the organization, while also maintaining her touch with Indian culture. Srushti is currently involved in the Trustee and Advisory Council, tech team, and cultural team. Outside of IAM, Srushti is on the highschool robotics, speech, and tennis team. She is interested in pursuing computer science and math, hence why she is a math instructor. In her free time, Srushti enjoys drawing, dancing, and playing video games.
Fun fact: Srushti was a figure-skater for 9 years!
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