IVC Alum Makes her Mark

Photo by Amanda Rondez

IVC alum Kavya Makam, distinguished by her campus engagement over several years, enrollment in literature and creative writing classes and participation in the revival of The Ear, IVC's literary journal, is now a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Check out her essay "The Name Game,"  recently published in The Wire, which seeks to "highlight the perspectives and experiences of women on campus and in the professional world to address not only the adversity women face, but also celebrate those who are making strides to close the gender gap" and is an affiliate of Cal Poly Women in Business Association.

This is how it begins:

On the first day of the quarter at Cal Poly, teachers across campus are going through their rosters, taking attendance. As the professors make their way through the lists, students quietly wait to hear their name. But some students are not listening for their names. Instead, they are keeping track of the alphabetical order and hoping to interject. These students are preemptively waiting for the inevitable silence as the instructor attempts a pronunciation. Computer science senior Sreelakshmi Kariyadan knows the moment all too well. “That long period of silence, yea that’s me,” she says in a half joking, half serious manner. Sreelakshmi is not the only one that is familiar with this awkward moment. In fact, just about anyone with an ‘uncommon’ or unfamiliar name is all too familiar with this. But the moment is not just a quick fluke in which students must quickly say their name before others do, or cringe and wait for the blunder, this moment represents something bigger...

Read the rest by clicking here.

Congratulations Kavya!

Kavya and Rebel Girl at the 2018 Ear publication party. 

*