
Name: Hrishikaesh Aiyer
Nibras International School – Class of 2018
“As a child, I aired my grievances with the world: of which there are plenty. As a teenager, I decided to do something about it, and encourage those around me to do something about it,” says Hrishikaesh Aiyer.
A student at NIS from 2015 to 2018 in grades 9-11, Hrishikaesh Aiyer has spent the previous two years in Montréal, pursuing his cégep collegial studies (a prerequisite for university studies in the Québec system of education) in the Honors Social Science program. This fall, he will attend either McGill University’s Faculty of Law, his first choice, or accept an offer from L’Institut d’études politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) – ranked 2nd in the world for Politics and International Relations.
During his time at NIS and since, community engagement has been at the core of Hrishikesh’s extracurricular pursuits. At NIS, he played a crucial role in coaching the then-new Model UN team, along with Brandon Lewis, and served as the Secretary-General of the Future Global Leaders’ Conference. He also wrote a dual-use teacher-student Model UN training guide, used by NIS, and recently distributed to NISMUN 2020 delegates from ISP schools internationally. Moreover, during his time at NIS, Hrishikaesh was the Student Representative on the Board of Governors and a member of the High School Student Council.
Since moving to Québec, he has stayed true to his passion for advocacy, getting involved in politics as the head of the Young Liberals of Canada club on campus, the Youth Representative of his Electoral Association’s Executive, and member of his federal and provincial representatives’ youth councils.
Outside of politics, he sits on the National Youth Council of the Kids Help Phone, an organization that provides mental health support to Canadian youth, and the National Youth Advisory Committee of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
He has also remained involved in MUN, both in Québec, where he is the 2020-2021 Director of Communications for the Jewish Canadian Youth Model United Nations and here at NIS, where he aided with organizing the 2020 NISMUN.
Having made a significant impact on his immediate and broader surroundings and working towards encouraging youth engagement in politics, Hrishikaesh was a recipient of the 2020 Community Impact Award from Hillel Montreal and a semi-finalist for the Loran Scholarship: one of Canada’s most prestigious scholarships, awarded based on character, service, and integrity.
His community involvement, together with academic excellence – including a 99th percentile score on the SAT and an academic average in the top 10% of his cégep – have helped him earn offers of admission from some of the most prestigious universities in the world, including Sciences Po, ranked 2nd worldwide for Politics and International Relations, McGill University, ranked 1st in Canada and 35th worldwide, and the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law.

