Brindavan Tent School Kids Rocked Their First Annual Day Celebrations!
Last Saturday, our biggest achievement was making Masti Ki Paathshaala a reality in a tent school! As you all know, our student intervention program – Mentor India, is all about making classrooms a fun place to be. Every workshop is filled with engaging, interactive and gamified activities, which plays with the curious nature of our little champs! So after a year dotted with these workshops—where we worked on their English reading and speaking skills, cleanliness and hygiene, problem solving abilities, art and design thinking, team and confidence building—we were so thrilled with the result of their endline assessment.
And their performance of flying colors seeded the idea of an annual day for the kids with the intention of celebrating their progress! Soon after, the events shaped up in our minds, and were soon to unfold in reality, thanks to the universe conspiring to bring together volunteers from different walks of life, coming together for one common reason – Celebrate The Students!
Flag Off The First Annual Day Celebration In Brindavan Tent School
Kids, teachers and volunteers got together on a Saturday morning, everyone looking great with a big smile on their faces. The excitement buzzing among the kids was well matched with the enthusiasm the volunteers came in with. The annual day began with performances from the kids. From devotional songs and rehearsed dances to action songs and speeches, one by one, all the kids showed off their talents followed by encouraging applauds from mindful volunteers.
Post the performances, we had a small ceremony, where every kid was presented with a handmade and handwritten appreciation card. As they came up the stage to receive their card from our chief guest of the day – Vasu Dixit, we announced every kid’s best quality to the gathering. Sarala Ma’am (Headmistress of the school), Sundaram Sir (Father of a close friend, ex-headmaster, and a retired Army man!) and Praveen Sir (Our co-founder Pranita’s father) also joined Vasu Dixit on stage to distribute the appreciation cards to the students. It was heartwarming to see them bless our students with such an open heart!
What Is A Good Celebration Without A Whole Lot Of Music & Dance!
Vasu Dixit then hit the stage with his guitar and treated the kids with the most electrifying performance of songs that the kids loved! He also engaged the students by encouraging them to sing along with him, which made all our students feel like talented singers themselves! The energy in the room was infectious!
Vasu’s performance was followed by live music performance by the team of Bhoole Bisre Geet. Anitha Bhat and Mohammed Shammas rocked the songs, while Ekta Sharma and Birla Ji joined the Baccha Party! Their songs brought out the little dancer hidden in every kid. The classroom soon turned into a dancefloor, and then there was no stopping. The kids danced their hearts out, and of course all the volunteers (grown up kids!) joined in! There was fun, frolic, joy and laughter, which even made passers-by stop and absorb some energy from the school before heading out on their way with big smiles on their faces!
While all this was in session, there was a group of Seva Smile Cafe volunteers silently in action outside the classroom. Under the able guidance of Tharanath Ji, the volunteers peeled, cut, mixed, cooked, with a long list of ingredients for around 100 hungry mouths. But there was just one secret ingredient that made all the difference – Love! Lots and lots of love. They treated the exhausted kids to yummy vegetable biryani, raita, vegetable manchurian balls, curd rice and a local dessert called ‘ghasghase’. Every kid had food to their heart’s content and left to their respective homes after an eventful annual day!
This Annual Day Isn’t About Us, It’s About Our Superheroes – Our Kids!
This was Brindavan Tent School’s first ever annual day function, and what a day it was! We sometimes take small achievements for granted. What may seem small to us could mean something very big in someone’s life.
With only 4% of students being able to read English at the beginning of the school year to 79% of them being able to read now is not just statistics for us. It reflects the immense potential every child holds if nurtured with love and care. It reflects the kind of things these kids are capable of achieving. It’s not enough if we believe in them, it’s very important that even the kids believe in their capabilities, and aspire to achieve more heights. And it’s only possible if we appreciate their little achievements in the grandest ways! 🙂
Recognising and celebrating small things with great love is what we believe in, and we decided to do just that. This annual day was not a show of how wonderfully we could pull off a function or what contribution any of us should be credited to. It was about dissolving ourselves in service of these wonderful students, who teach us more things than we teach them every single day! It was about being grateful to the school for giving us an opportunity to be of service, for service is as much about giving your 100% as it is about remaining invisible, and letting the true heroes shine – the kids!
A big thank you to all the visible and invisible hands and hearts that came together to enable the transformation of Brindavan Tent School, inside and out, in big and small ways. We hold you deep in our hearts! 🙂
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