A Jakara Movement Program

Nishaan

The Jakara Movement’s annual educational leadership conference for Sikh high school students — a weekend of hard questions, real mentorship, and a clearer sense of what comes next.

Why Nishaan

Nishaan is an educational leadership conference rooted in Sikh values. For one weekend, Sikh high school students from across California come together to think seriously about the things that are actually in front of them: who they are, what they believe, where they’re headed after graduation, and what they owe the people around them.

The sessions move between Sikhi, history, higher education, and social justice — not as separate subjects, but as the same question asked from different directions. Students work through college and career paths alongside the harder conversations about identity, faith, caste, gender, and what it means to stand for something when it costs you.

What students consistently take home from Nishaan isn’t a worksheet. It’s the relationships. Every small group is led by facilitators only a few years ahead of them — college students and young professionals who’ve already walked the road the participants are standing at the start of. Those become real big brother and big sister relationships, and they outlast the weekend by years.

None of it happens without the people who build it — facilitators leading the small groups, a committee running the weekend, and volunteers holding the space together.

Lead it, build it, run it

The three roles that make Nishaan happen — all open to college students and young professionals, not just staff.

Facilitate

Lead a small group

Facilitators are the reason Nishaan works. You’ll lead a small group of high school students through the weekend’s sessions — asking the questions, holding the room, and making sure the quietest student in the circle still gets heard.

It’s the most direct version of the mentorship this conference is built on. For a lot of participants you become the first person only a few years older than them who takes their questions about Sikhi, college, and their own future completely seriously.

What we’re looking for Preferably a second year in college or beyond, comfortable with the responsibility of a room full of high schoolers, and genuinely interested in their growth rather than your own session. Selected facilitators are asked to cover a flat hotel fee for the weekend.
Apply to facilitate

Committee

Build the conference

The committee plans Nishaan months before anyone arrives — content, facilitator leadership, logistics, and marketing. You’ll work directly with Jakara staff on real decisions: what the weekend covers, who leads it, and how it actually runs.

You pick a sub-committee preference when you apply. Preferences aren’t guaranteed — placements get balanced across the whole team once selections are made.

What we’re looking for Organized, dependable, and invested in the conference beyond your own piece of it — comfortable taking initiative on a commitment that runs for months, not one weekend. Selected committee members are asked to cover a flat hotel fee for the weekend.
Apply for committee

Volunteer

Hold the weekend together

Volunteers run Nishaan on the ground — check-in, meals, moving a hundred high schoolers between sessions on time, and catching the hundred small things nobody planned for.

It’s the shortest application and the lowest commitment of the three, and it’s how a lot of people end up on committee or facilitating the following year.

What we’re looking for Reliable people who will be there the whole weekend and don’t need to be asked twice. No essay, no interview — apply and we’ll be in touch. Selected volunteers are asked to cover a flat hotel fee for the weekend.
Apply to volunteer
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