Local student provides big help for Indian school

November 22, 2011: Vasanth Kuppuswamy, an Academic Magnet graduate who now is a senior at Vanderbilt University, has raised more than $100,000 in recent years to help students in his family’s native India.

Kuppuswamy told members of the Rotary Club of Charleston that he became interested in helping students at the school in the Tamil Nadu area of southern India after visiting as a 12-year-old and realizing how much they needed. His family is from the area. Among the challenges and accomplishments at the school:

No desks. Students once had to sit on concrete floors to learn. Through efforts of a nonprofit put together by Kuppuswamy – the Tamil Nadu India School Fund (www.tnisf.org) – the school got hundreds of desks.

No ceiling fans. Southern India is warm throughout the year with temperatures reaching 85 degrees in December. The fund helped pay for ceiling fans in each classroom to provide some relief.

School supplies needed. The fund provided notebooks, pen, paper and new textbooks.

Primitive science lab. The fund refurbished a science lab with modern equipment.

Property/facility. As conditions improved at the school, it grew from 800 to 1,200 students, causing the need for a larger facility. Not only did the fund help buy four acres adjacent to the current facility, it helped fund construction of a new eight-classroom addition.

Athletics. The fund helped to replace dilapidated basketball courts with new equipment to provide better athletic alternatives.

Electricity. Because the area has unreliable electricity, the fund paid for a small generator to keep lights on during power failures.

Scholarships. The fund also helped seed an endowment to help pay for small scholarships to help students attend college.

Kuppuswamy said the fund also partnered with Water Missions International to purchase a water system for potable water at the school. Additionally, it worked with local Rotary clubs and Rotary International to secure two matching $10,000 grants – one for medical kits for 149 schools in southern India and another for sanitary napkin vending machines at 35 high schools to encourage girls to stay in school.

Kuppuswamy, who plans to attend medical school, said starting and growing the fund has proved to him that with a good idea and drive, ” You can bring about significant change.”

Learn more about the fund online at: www.TNISF.org. And you can read a 72-page book by Charleston author Bill Smyth about Kuppuswamy’s efforts, “Everybody can be a hero,” online through a link on the TNISF Web page.

Submitted by Andy Brack, Keyway Committee