GOPIO Sydney presents GYAAN 2016 with aplomb

GYAAN 2016 awardees with GOPIO team

GOPIO (Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin) is dedicated to the promotion and well being of people of Indian origin. The organisation has become a premiere global advocacy body representing the interests and continues to be at the forefront of monitoring and addressing critical issues of relevance and benefit to the non -resident Indian (NRI) community across the globe and India.

GOPIO Sydney, a local chapter of GOPIO International, in its GYAAN series of annual events has been recognising and honouring students of Indian origin for the last seven years who burn midnight oil, come out with flying colours from HSC and obtain high ATARs doing their parents and the community proud.

GYAAN stands for ”˜Gopio Young Achievers Award Night’ which is eagerly looked forward to by the local community who attend and vie for these coveted awards by high achievers in HSC, volunteer workers in the community as well as accomplished members of note. The event was well attended with Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa as one of the distinguished young guest who recently made headlines with her poetry on ”˜Australia’s Got Talent’ .

Sukhjit recited her new poetry and talked to youngsters when she said, “Life is more than the rules this society creates,” adding , “Take control of your life and not let fear take over. Learn about your heritage, learn about your identity as world is hungry and craves for truth. The world wants to know about diversity.”

GYAAN night was well attended event as the hall filled with people who sat proudly and witnessed the honours conferred on its achievers with beautiful dances conducted by Sydney’s young energetic dancers.

GYAAN in Hindi means knowledge. GYAAN is to knowledge as knowledge is to power and GOPIO is empowerment. GOPIO Sydney acknowledges and awards the young, not so young but young at heart who have excelled in sports, performing arts, visual arts, public speaking, leadership and literature having represented at state or national level or having made significant contribution in their concerned sectors.

GYAAN 2016 was organised at Roselea Community Centre, Carlingford, NSW 2118 and was well received . Prof John Simons, Deputy Vice Chancellor, Macquarie University presided over the function and applauded the young achievers. He said on stage that one does not need degrees these days as employers looked for three important things in candidates that come looking for jobs. “They must be able to communicate, be able to solve problems and know how to work in a team,” he said.

Krishna Raas Leela dancers were cute and stole the show with their performance

Dancers of ‘Rooh Punjab Di’ were an energetic bhangra group

The event involved a three course sit down dinner, complemented by a wide range of cultural activities and lucky draws. The event was attended by parents, politicians, prominent community and business leaders thereby providing an ideal environment professional and business networking opportunity.

Miss Tiyan 2015 Ravneet Kaur (middle) presented beautiful solo Gidda

Hon Dr. Geoff Lee, MP, Member for Parramatta and Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism spoke on the occasion and praised the awardees for their hard work. Mr David Citer, a prominent psychologist and counsellor spoke on the mental health, a theme adopted by GOPIO Sydney this year. The profits from the events along with the fund raised for mental health and will be donated to the Australian Foundation for Mental Health and Research (www.affirm.org.au).

The awardees in the academic category included Ashray Narula, Aangad Bedi, Devansh Shah, Dhey Shah, Ganesh Chandrasekharan, Mansi Gupta, Neha Dave, Prasanth Parsu, Sachin Kinger, Syam Iyer, Tamanna Sapra, Thanuja Premkumar and Vidhi Nanda.

The non-academic category included Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa, Jugandeep Singh and Aditya Pillai (Leadership and Public Speaking)Í¾ Dave Passi, Anju Kalra, MP Singh, Kittu Randhawa and Harman Foundation(Community Service) and Tej Singh, Grand Finalist for Spelling Bee.

President Balvinder Ruby with Mrs Dhot and GOPIO 2016 Brand Ambassdor Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa

GOPIO Sydney is pleased to announce that Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa has agreed to be their Brand Ambassador for 2016. Balvinder Ruby, President GOPIO Sydney briefed about scope and extent of the work by GOPIO Sydney. Amarjit Dhot, Vice President thanked the guests, awardees, audience, GOPIO team, sponsors and media partners for the valuable support that made the event another successful night thoroughly enjoyed by all.

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