Cultural Connections: McMahon to India

Micaella Balderrama
PrideTime Reporter

  Happen to be taking Cultural Anthropology or Theory of Knowledge? Chances are you’ll find Ms. Bilodeau’s name on your schedule. A CGS instructor, Sadhana Bilodeau isn’t your average teacher; she grew up travelling the globe.
   Bilodeau was born in Pune, India. However, due to her father’s involvement in the United Nations, she moved frequently as a child, inhabiting multiple African countries and islands of the Caribbean. Though she moved much, Bilodeau always found her way back to India.
  “I left at the age of 2, but I have always gone back to India. I actually went back for my college education, so I lived there for about 3 years as a young adult,” she shared.
  Indian education comes in 3 options; schoolwork can be taught in Hindi, the national language, the individual state language (there are 26 of​ them), or English. Bilodeau chose English, and as she lived in multiple countries, continued to learn the language.
   “English was the primary medium for my education and it was sort of like British English. As far as grammar and writing and reading, it was never a problem,” Bilodeau stated.
   At twenty years old, she came to the states to attend graduate school at Pratt Institute in New York, studying information science. Already familiar with the language, the only struggle she faced was picking up slang and matters alike.
   Bilodeau claims navigating America’s very much melting-pot culture, easily observed in NY, is what presented the biggest cultural shock to her.
   She stated, “New York is very much a kind of blend of lots of different people. You come from a country, or all the countries I’ve lived in, having one culture. Coming here was kind of like ‘Alright, what exactly is America?’”
    Many have influenced Bilodeau during her time in America; friends and acquaintances have helped shape her politics, ways of thinking, and even her values. She says students also have greatly influenced her:
  “I’ve been teaching for over ten years or so here and when I started here as a teacher, interacting with American teenagers and their way of thinking about all kinds of issues were very eye opening to me.”
   McMahon was the first and only school Bilodeau’s worked at. For a while, she was employed at companies with her background in information science. However, as her children grew, she began interested in teaching as a profession. After she completed additional schooling, she found the position here at BMHS.
   Bilodeau recalled, “This job showed up online, and with my background, I found the job at CGS to be very appealing, so I was like, ‘Oh, I wanna interview for that!’”
   Though Bilodeau recognizes how much of an American she’s grown to be, she still visits India constantly to see her family, and considers herself to be greatly immersed in Indian culture.
   “My parents are still there, they’re quite old and I visit them every year. I’m very much apart of Indian culture: half of me is there,” she reckoned.

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