Sophomore Ishnoor Kaur, along with founding members: Senior Harleen Sandhu, Sophomore Harrison Bagga, Freshman Harkiran Sandhu, Junior Noor Choudhury and few others, recently created our new Sikh Club at Princeton Day School. Despite the presence of the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American (APIDA) Affinity group, PDS’s Sikhs felt the need for their own additional club to educate everyone about Sikhism. PDS’s students wanted to create a safe space for Sikhs to share their experiences to acknowledge and celebrate even more cultures at PDS.
The Sikh Club plans to host a bhangra dance, traditional Punjabi dance, at our upcoming APIDA gathering in May. In addition, the club will educate our community about the eleven Gurus, our universal values, our history and our current impact on the World. The Club hopes to plan a Vaisakhi gathering in 2025, a festive event which honors the birth of the Khalsa and the harvest. Here, we would have various fun activities such as bhangra, Punjabi music, Punjabi food, turban tying, and more…Although we are still in the pilot phases of the club, these are just a few of our ideas and goals.
Ishnoor, founder of the Sikh Club, shares her goals, “I want to raise more awareness about what Sikhism is and what it means to identify as Sikh. I want to teach more about Sikhism through the World Religions curriculum.” The Club plans to educate the PDS community about Sikhs and their rich legacy; at the same time, the club aims to plan events honoring and sharing the beautiful Punjabi culture. Sophomore Arjun Bhardwaj, a supporter of the club, comments on this, “I think that the Sikh club will introduce even more culture to the pds community. Their gatherings will be very informative, and I see them cultivating a better sense of cultural awareness for the PDS community as a whole.”
The Sikh club is currently in discussion with both the History and the English Departments and are aiming to add a joint unit on Sikhism. Through incorporating meaningful chapters from various Sikh authored books, and educating about the history of Sikhs, we plan to help the next generation understand who Sikhs are and the rich legacy they carry. Senior Harleen Sandhu shares similar feelings, “I want to share our culture with the greater PDS community,” and believes that, “valuing all different kinds of connections through shared experiences are what builds a stronger community.” In the coming years, we hope more people understand Sikhism and foresee a bright outlook for our PDS community.
