Stanzin N.

Nodon graduated from the reputed Lamdon Model Senior Secondary School in March 2020 from the Science stream. She is pursuing her BSc. degree in the the BtBMb program at St. Philomena's College in University of Mysore in . She will be graduating in 2025 and then plans on attending graduate school for MSc. 

Nodon hails from Kargyak, one of the most remote villages of Ladakh. Even to this day Her village remains completely cut off for 6 months of the year due to the extreme harsh winters.

Nodon’s parents and family are subsistence farmers and herders. Since food security and childcare was a problem, Nodon suffered from a lot of neglect in her childhood. When she was six years old, her parents had to sent her off to Leh to live and work in a local family’s house. Nodon was responsible for all the daily domestic and agricultural work, while attending a local govt. school. She was expected to put school as a second priority.  Moreover, the govt. schools have little accountability, and the academics are not strong.

Nodon came to Amrita-Seattle in 2015, and we immediately knew that she needed an institution that provided quality education so that she can fully realize her true potential. We worked with her resident family to take Nodon  away from Govt. school and enroll her at the locally reputed private school: Lamdon Model Senior Secondary School in 7th grade. The family after a while agreed.

Transitioning from govt. school to a private school is no easy task! The rigor, mode of instruction, social fabric, and vibes are COMPLETELY different from what she was used to. But Nodon was a tough cookie! She worked extremely hard and thrived through middle and high school. Academically, she consistently performed well. All her teachers mentioned that she was a very hard working and diligent student.

Nodon's passion for sports and outdoor activity led her to take part in State level and National Archery tournaments.

In 2020 spring, when COVID-19 led to schools being closed down, we brought Nodon to our brand-new children’s Residential Home, so that she does not have to  engage in domestic labor, and can focus on onboarding herself with online learning and preparing for her 12th Board Exams, while living in a safe, positive, and isolated environment.

After clearing her 12th Boards, Nodon took a bold decision to step out of Ladakh (for the very first time!) for her undergraduate education and begin lay down the initial bricks for her career.