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| Village India 2008 students with Professor Glenn Stone |
In 2007, Professor Glenn Stone started the Village India Program as a partnership between RDF and the Washington University of St. Louis’ Department of Anthropology.
Initially, students used stayed at RDF VAPV Junior College for six weeks between 1st June and 15th July and divided their time between arts/research projects, exploring Professor Stone’s anthropological research, and teaching classes to the RDF JC students.
The topics taught over the years include photo blogging, website design, creative writing, drawing, journalism, comparative politics, U.S. & Indian Culture, and computer communications.
The 2010 group was led by Professor Ken Botnick, who returned for the second time, and consisted of five female students. With the help of Professor Botnick, the five students designed classes to teach to the JC students. When not in class, the WashU students participated in cultural outings and connected with Kalleda School and JC students in a casual setting.
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| 2010 Wash U Village India students |
The Washington University students have built their own Youtube channel, with videos that feature different aspects of village life. They are also responsible for Kalleda’s famed photoblog, which continues to be updated even today.
Several new cohorts of students have been trained as photo bloggers, first at Kalleda School and then at RDF VAPV Junior College. They have been taught by Washington University students Emily Hawkins, Alma Carver, and Lane Goodman, Fiona Sloan, and Christine Diepenbrock. Eighteen students at the RDF VAPV Junior College participated in the summer 2012 photo blog class. There is now a photo blog course at Kalleda School taught by the school’s computer instructor, Murali Krishna Wash U research scholar, Andrew Flachs, volunteered his services at Kalleda School, helping students improve communication skills via the photo blog project. He also assisted teachers and students in improving language skills and activities for the Grow by Reading program.
