BURR RIDGE, IL (August 4th, 2003): North South Foundation, a non-profit Illinois-based organization, is immensely pleased to announce its first ever Role Model Award, Viswa Jyothi, to Rajiv Vinnakota. The award ceremony will take place on August 30, 2003 at the Foundation's 11th Annual National Spelling Bee Championship Finals near Washington DC. The Foundation felt there is a need to identify Americans of Indian origin, who can be role models to the younger children in the community. Children often follow sports and TV stars as role models. We are all familiar with stars like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Jennifer Lopez, who are seen as role models by our children. The Foundation's objective is to broaden the field so that other areas that promote human development are covered as well. A second objective is to recognize young Indian-Americans with whom our children can readily identify.

For more than a decade, the Foundation has focused on academic excellence. Without values, excellence in achievement is to no avail. A decline in social values has become a serious problem in the 21st Century. So, the Foundation has decided to combine excellence in human values as one of the key criteria for its role model award. Other criteria included solving a persistent and intractable social problems neglected for long periods of time, the implementation of creative solutions that can be replicated and sustained, the overcoming of numerous obstacles until goals are reached, the plowing of new ground, and succeeding against heavy odds. Commitment, grit, hard work, sacrifice, courage, passion, and leadership become the defining hallmarks of a role model, and Rajiv Vinnakota (see photo below) is a personification of such characteristics.

Rajiv exemplifies the best of human values and epitomizes the best example of a role model for others to emulate. There is a first to everything. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to reach the peak of Mt Everest in 1953. Jackie Robinson was the first Afro-American who broke the baseball's color barrier more than 50 years ago and changed the face of baseball forever. Rajiv's creative solution in Washington DC can be the first in changing the destiny of inner city children across America.

The Problem

The US constitution was based on life, liberty and pursuit of happiness to all. This is the American dream the Founding Fathers wanted, a unique experiment with no precedence for it in the history of mankind. While this vision was set in motion, America went through relentless struggles to make this a reality for all its citizens. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and President Lyndon Johnson among others, have fought for those who were left out of the American dream. Even after more than 225 years of independence, there are still millions of Americans who don't have the opportunity to realize this dream.

Quoting some grim statistics, Rajiv makes the following comments:

• Over 80% of all prison inmates and 85% of juvenile offenders are high school dropouts.
• Each year's class dropouts will cost the U.S. about $260 billion in lost earnings and foregone taxes over their lifetimes, an average of $650,000 per dropout.
• The needless suffering of a permanent underclass diminishes everyone. Quality education is the basic right of citizenship, the obligation of a true democracy, and the only viable solution to America's persistent urban problems, such as poverty, racial tensions, and bigotry.

These stark facts staring in our face should convince us that lack of proper education is one of the major contributing factors for inequality. Most children who are born in the inner city slums are destined to live in despair and die in the same neighborhood, never realizing any opportunity to improve their lives. It is as though their destiny is predetermined at birth with no hopes of reversing their despair. The great American dream sought by Martin Luther King, Jr. still remains just that for most children born in high crime-ridden neighborhoods.

An Idea

Rajiv Vinnakota was very much concerned about this persistent intractable problem. After graduating from Princeton, he worked for three years at Mercer Management Consulting. "Though I loved the experience," he recalls, "I realized that this sort of work would not allow me to leave the social footprint that I wanted to leave. I wanted to help people who might not make it otherwise." So he left his good paying job to commit himself to do something about education in inner city slum areas, to help provide opportunities to the underprivileged of the inner cities.

During the last six years, he along with his co-founder, Eric Adler, accomplished miracles:

• Setup the first free boarding charter school in the country for high-risk children coming from high crime-ridden areas of Washington DC. The school itself was located in the local community. It is called SEED school run by the SEED Foundation. Rajiv is the Chairman and CEO of the Foundation. You can find more details at http://www.seedfoundation.com
• Successfully lobbied the United States Congress and the Council of the District of Columbia to amend the education budget to provide additional operating funds for boarding charter schools in the District of Columbia.
• Opened doors in the Fall of 1998 to 40 seventh graders, 20 girls and 20 boys. Currently there are 230 students covering 7th through 11th grade, who otherwise would not have had the opportunity.
• Again successfully lobbied in the United States Congress and the Council of the District of Columbia to amend the charter school funding allocation to provide additional facilities and special needs funds for boarding charter schools in DC.
• Raised $25 million for the construction of a school campus that can hold 300 students.
• Appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and received "Use your Life Award" from Oprah's Angel Network.
• Received Ashoka Award in 2001 for his pioneering work.
• Is planning to expand the Washington Model to other inner city urban areas.

More importantly, the children in the SEED school have been performing admirably, not only academically, but also in learning citizenship values. For example, the incidence of smoking among 8th graders at SEED school is 3 percent, compared to 70 percent in Washington DC public schools. The first batch of students will graduate from SEED high school in 2004 with the full expectation that nearly all will enter college. The SEED school is in such demand that they use a lottery system to select the finalists among those eligible.

In her 2002 commencement address, President Shirley M. Tilghman of Princeton noted, "In his determination to deliver the American promise of an excellent public education for every student in America, Raj Vinnakota has given new substance to the ideal of Princeton in the nation's service. I was impressed to see how much knowledge and confidence these students were acquiring and how absolutely committed they were to being the first in their families to attend college."

During 2003, recognizing his trendsetting, unparalleled and extraordinary accomplishments, Princeton University selected Rajiv Vinnakota as a trustee at the age of 32. He is the youngest to be selected in its more than 230-year history. He is probably the first Indian American to get this honor in any Ivy League school in the US. Vinnakota welcomed the opportunity to serve the university that gave him his own education. "Never for a moment did I--or do I--take that for granted," he said.

North South Foundation

The North South Foundation (NSF) encourages excellence among the poor in India by providing college scholarships. Since 1990, the Foundation has granted 1,800 scholarships. This year alone, the plan calls for giving 250. The Foundation's mission is two fold: remove money as an impediment to those who excel in education and help those who excel in reaching their potential. You can find more details at http://www.northsouth.org

In the US, the Foundation encourages excellence among children in the Indian community by conducting spelling bees and vocabulary contests for the age group 6 through 16. This is the 11th year of its contests. The Foundation designed the contests to encourage spelling skills and English vocabulary among Indian-American children and to foster the spirit of competition, which would prepare them to take successes and disappointments in life on an even keel. During the last eleven years of its operations, the Foundation made remarkable strides as evidenced from the accomplishments of its participants, who set national records in spelling, SAT scores, and academics both at high school and college. The contests are conducted regionally in nearly 40 cities across the nation. The winners from the regional contests get invited to a national contest. The National Championship Finals during 2002 took place at MIT and this year, they will take place at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. The Foundation expects nearly 250 children to participate at this event. With parents and volunteers, it anticipates a total of nearly 700 participants this year. At the national level, the top three winners in each of the four categories will be eligible for college scholarships, ranging from $250 to $1,000. The scholarships are payable during the freshman year of college. Over the last ten years, the Foundation gave similar awards exceeding $60,000 in total.

Accomplishments of Indian American Children

Sai Gunturi, NSF Champion in 2002, became the Scripps Howard Champion in 2003. Samir Patel, NSF Champion in 2001, scored 3rd rank at the Scripps event. Prem Trivedi, the 1996 NSF Champion, scored the second rank two years in a row at Scripps, a record in their history. This is an extraordinary achievement for our children. Some of the other National Champions who scored high ranks at Scripps Howard include: Arnab Ray, Hirsh Sandesara, Rekha Pillai, Anuj Goel, Shiv Sharma, Kamran Riaz, Suhita Reddy, Vinodhini Vasudevan, Ashley Thakur, Sudheer Potru, Kapil Kapoor, Nikhil Rao, Shivani Kadakia, Neil Kadakia, Kedar Shah, Vidya Prabhakaran, Nivedita Gunturi, Bhavna Chilukuri, Venkat Tadipatri and Ramya Tadipatri. This partial list attests to the fact that children benefit from participation in these contests. Many of the children, because of their superior performance manage to get into top colleges some of which include Columbia, MIT, Stanford, Texas A&M, UC at Berkley, UCLA, and Yale. NSF has become a training ground for achieving excellence.

Dr. Murali Gavini, the architect of the educational contests at the Foundation, recalls, "I felt that we should not be looking up to this country to advance our community, but rather we should do it by ourselves. I found education was the single best area for initiating and nurturing activities common to all. While I had seen parents coaching their kids on baseball fields and accompanying their children to music and dance teachers, they did not focus on academic excellence as much, but simply left the task to the public schools. During the last five years, we have witnessed four Indian American children claim the Scripps Howard Championship, and main stream America has started noticing how good an asset our community is to this country."

For further information, please contact Dr. Ratnam Chitturi at 630-323-1966 or visit www.northsouth.org.

Picture Caption: SEED School and Mr. Rajiv Vinnakota, CEO, SEED Foundation.