Jayati Gogia

The inspirational story of a Student Mentor & her Student Mentee

This is an inspiring anecdote of how a student can become a mentor and educator to another student and how project-based learning in a School's curriculum can help transform lives.

Natasha Dempo, a Grade 6 student of Pathways School Gurgaon who is a special needs student and a Paralympic Athlete found a mentor in Jayati Gogia, a Grade 11 student studying in the same school. Natasha started swimming in 2016 and during the process found a friend and a coach in Jayati, who is the swimming team captain of Pathways School Gurgaon.

Jayati has been working on an ePortfolio on "Challenges faced by Paralympic Athletes". An ePortfolio is an important individual learning project of the IB MYP Curriculum and demonstrates how learning experiences and engagements are documented. Jayati's depth of knowledge on her ePortfolio topic and the fact that she is herself a student helped Natasha bond well with her and learn the finer skills of swimming.

Natasha first went on to win a Bronze medal in a Paralympic Swimming Championship held at another School in 2017. With Jayati's mentorship and her own great work ethic, Natasha recently also qualified for the State Para Trials in October 2018, representing Pathway School Gurgaon. Despite her talent and determination, she will not be able to participate in Nationals this year as she is currently below 12 years of age.

Both Natasha & Jayati are focused at further improving the timings, learning new strokes and representing Pathways School Gurgaon in Nationals next year as well as fostering the joint goal of having Natasha represent India at the Summer Paralympics 2024 to be held in Paris.