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Harvard names Avantika Vandanapu South Asian person of the year

Vandanapu received the award at the Andaaz event, Harvard’s only fashion show, organized annually by the South Asian Association

 Indian-American actress Avantika Vandanapu was named as the South Asian Person of the Year by the South Asian Association (SAA) at Harvard University. She received the award recently at the Andaaz event, Harvard’s only fashion show, organized annually by the SAA.

 “We are SO excited to reveal our 2024 Harvard South Asian Person of the Year: AVANTIKA!!!!” the SAA wrote in an Instagram post. The association was founded in 1986 and has been instrumental in bringing the Harvard community closer to South Asia and its diaspora through academic, political, social, outreach and cultural initiatives.

 



 “Thank you HARVARD and @saaharvard for awarding me with the incredible honor of ‘person of the year.’ feels a little extreme and surreal but beyond the award, thank you for having me come and be a part of such a beautiful display of community and what it means to be a South Asian in this day and age,” Vandanapu shared in an Instagram post.

 She shared a video of her acceptance speech on the platform. “My mom definitely did want a diploma from Harvard but I think this award will do,” she joked. “I would like to say I am so humbled to be here because I think that receiving a person of the year award is insane …This has been the year where I have really, truly come into my personhood and so to be reassured about that with an award like this really means so so much,” she said.

 Vandanapu’s latest performance in ‘Mean Girls’ released earlier this year in which she reprised Amanda Seyfried’s character Karen from the original from 2004. Till date, she has starred in several American dramas like ‘Moxie’, ‘Senior Year’ and the upcoming novel-based film, ‘Tarot’. In addition she has starred in Telugu-language films like ‘Brahmotsavam’, ‘Manamantha’, ‘Premam’ among others.

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