Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad - Student Voices

My name is Mishca Dossani, I am seventeen years old and am currently enrolled in the DP2 at the Aga Khan Academy Hyderabad. I stepped onto the mighty campus of our Academy for the first time in the summer of 2018. I arrived on campus as a quiet and timid girl, a person of few words who always kept to herself, best described as an introvert.  Coming from an all-girls school where there were only interactions with one gender, I had developed a certain awkwardness when it came to interacting with the other gender. I just never knew what to say to “their kind”. Now, here's where it all changes, because after all I had stepped onto the campus of the Aga Khan Academy. In the last two years that I have spent at the academy, I have made more friends than I could have ever imagined. I can say with absolute confidence that almost every one of the ninety students of the Class of 2021, will stand by me in my hour of need.

The Academy has a group of diverse students from different cultures and backgrounds studying here, and the best part about it is that I got to know so much about all these different cultures and their experiences from my friends. Our Academy is built for each of us to succeed and there is a place for all of us to co-exist. Our dormitories are our homes, where we build intricate relationships with our classmates. The Academy was and remains my dream school, it possesses all the necessities for an ambitious teenager like me. I often find myself reading in the library, working out at the gym, taking a swim in the pool, clearing my thoughts on a walk on the cross country track, eating the best Hyderabadi biryani in the Commons, socializing in the student lounge, or just catching up with teachers and fellow students in the beautiful open courtyard of our dorm! Each of those pieces have helped shaped my experience at the Academy.

By the way, Commons, is where we go for our meals!

I find my school truly the best because it gives all it provides all of us a holistic development, an all-round experience that grooms one’s personality and makes us strive to do our best each and every single day. For that matter, I have seen a drastic change in myself. I participate in almost all class discussions, I have become more athletic, I know how to make my voice heard by putting my ideas forward. I have learnt to be successful, and at the same time I have learnt to take failure in my stride and learn from my mistakes.

The Academy has made me a leader, an achiever, a risk taker, and most importantly, a speaker. I am not afraid of my voice being heard anymore. I don’t shy away from my ideas anymore, I speak up. I don’t even have stage fright anymore because I was granted the opportunity to host two major events; our academy’s prestigious cultural festival and a robotics competition called First Lego League. At the academy I have achieved much more than I could have imagined, I have been a TEDx organizer, a dorm prefect, a long jump winner, a cross country runner, a ‘best journalist’ award winner, and most importantly a proud member of the whole community of our Academy.

So, yes, I stepped on the mighty campus of the Aga Khan Academy as a quiet and timid girl, but every time I leave for my home in Mumbai, I am reminded of the confident, brave, and proud human being that I am now.

I am proud to be at AKAH.