Category: Sakshi Lavesh Agarwal

Naggar is a village situated in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. It was once the capital of Kullu Kingdom.I went to Naggar for my winter trip last winter with my classmates. We were a group of 30 people. Naggar is the best place for Trekking, Skiing etc. We did a lot of treks to different places, explored Museums, Ancient temples and communicated with the local people about their lifestyle and how they managed to live in such a cold place and overall developed our fitness skills. My main goal for this trip was to become fit and healthy. In cities we are always dependent on gyms for good health and because of pollution is overpowering and making the air bad, Hill stations are the best place to get fresh oxygen .

 

We used to go on treks everyday and do yoga in the evening and other fun sports after or before dinner. The main challenge faced was walking up hill in a cold weather. Even Though, I have a good stamina i found it challenging because of other factors like: as we tend to go up hill, the oxygen level decreases due to which we tend to have a problem in breathing. Also we were very cautious about not throwing any garbage outside the bus when we were traveling and repeated the same while trekking because plastic is very harmful for the environment and we wanted to save the nature. This trip taught me various lessons like: keeping our city clean and avoiding pollution as much as possible, and i taught this lesson to my family members too. Apart from all this, we made a lot of memories with our friends and teachers and it was a great experience exploring a very new and beautiful place.

 

This picture was taken when we finally completed our trek to this 10,000 years old temple (at the back).

THE GLOBAL SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT

 

The Global social entrepreneur summit was held in Mumbai for 3 days. Its was organised by the American school of Bombay in February 2016. I participated in this activity with a goal discovered my areas of interests and to meet knew people. This summit invited people from various different parts of the world such as : Turkey, Jordan, India, Bangladesh, United Kingdom etc. On the first day, I regretted my decision of coming to this summit as i could not gel up with people, i was loosing my confidence. But as time passed i made acquaintance with new people.  We visited Dharavi which is a whole new world in itself. We were taken to Dharavi on the first day itself for our tuning in activity and we had to explore, ask question, identify problems etc, which would eventually help us to construct our social enterprise plan. Basically, We had to create an enterprise plan which would serve and help eradicate problems which people in Dharavi were facing.  

Personally, I am an introvert and it is a very big challenge for me to interact with new people with very different backgrounds and cultures, I always fear about whether they would like talking to me or not, or whether am I making sense while conveying a message. I wanted to make this weakness a strength and try to overcome my fears.

Winning from other groups was not the main goal for me at that period of time, Winning from myself or MY OLD SELF so to say was my main focus. However, my strengths overpower some of my weaknesses, I have this strength to cooperate very well with others and work on the assignment given, thinking creatively and being loyal and honest.

For making this enterprise plan, We were required to work in groups. For making the group there was an activity where we had to write what surprised us and what were the problems we discovered on which we would like to work upon. Surprisingly, I found people who had similar thoughts as me and people who wanted to explore the similar problems. So we formed a group of 4 people, 2 people were from turkey and 1 from Bangladesh and I.We had to come up with a creative idea which is beneficial, very less costly and which could help the society to a greater extent. We worked collaboratively and devised a plan of our enterprise which helped to improve education and employment. We developed a prototype which exhibited our creativity and presented it to our viewers. Some people really liked our work and we got a lot of appreciations.  

Apart from all the work, I made new friends and the best part is i am still in touch with them. I feel that this activity really helped me develop my areas of growth and new skills.This activity perfectly incorporated the three strands of CAS: Creativity, Activity and Service. I don’t regret my decision of volunteering for this summit, Because it taught me lessons of life which will help me grow as a person. I am looking forward to volunteer for more such summits. It was a wonderful experience.

 

Garba Fest was the first Navratri event which was organised by my friends in school.I volunteered for being the co-head of the food department and I also managed to help the decoration team for making Rangoli which is a sand art. It is made on this occasion as it spreads positivity and adds beauty. The challenges which I faced during the presentations was that I wasn’t able to coordinate with my partner as whenever he did some work, I wasn’t informed which became a problem.However, we then divided our work in a way that both of us know what we are doing and the work gets completed on time. It was my goal to help as much as possible and manage the work well so that we don’t have any problems at the last moment.

My skills helped me a lot to work cooperatively with others and help them whenever needed. I am very nice in arts and I am very cooperative. Using these skills I thought I did my best in my job of managing the food department. It was a great experience as it was the first time I had taken leadership. It built my confidence and taught me how to manage a sector of an event. The task was not easy as I had to decide upon a menu which everyone liked. But I think I managed to complete my task in the best way possible.

This activity was mainly to take a step ahead to places or events where I can upgrade myself, develop areas of growth, take challenges and take full advantage of my strengths. I was selected to represent my school for inter school vocals competition. Personally, I think I don’t have confidence in myself which is what pulls me back from doing things by which I can define myself.  I am a good singer and I am always recommended to select the songs from Shreya Ghoshal albums as people say my voice is very similar to her voice.

 

First I took part in inter house competition where I was awarded the second position, after this achievement I gained confidence and started preparing for my inter school competition. During my practices I had severe throat infection which was a major drawback, because of which I lost all hopes of winning.My confidence level had become even less than before. However, I took it as a challenge and started working upon my song and had put all that it takes to perform better. I was proud that I didn’t give up, although I did not win but I think the most mandatory thing which matters is that I participated. Due to my throat infection I used to practice more and so that I don’t screw up on the day of competition. I was committed towards my duty and went to practices outside school as well so that I could improve upon my mistakes.

 

It was very important that I work cooperatively with my teacher. My teacher (Somnath Sir) and I made sure that we point out every mistake that I made and work on it so that it doesn’t make my performance weak on the day of the competition. I just knew that I cannot let this opportunity slip away from my hand so I worked with full dedication. I have a stage fear which has always been a reason of me having less confidence. However, by this activity I was able to work on my stage fear, it helped me improve upon my stage fear. I got really nervous when it was time for me to present my song and there were places where I made mistakes but it did not sound that bad. I was happy that I at least made an effort to participate.

Overall, I think that apart from the challenges I faced I was able to define myself, and develop the areas where I need to work to some extent.

 

The International School of Ambey hosted a french and Spanish language competition in Ambey Valley, Lonavala. I participated in the poetry reciting competition, Face Painting, storytelling and stall decoration. The biggest challenges faced were that when we went to this trip we had just started learning French and it had been just 6 months of us learning French and our competitors were at the advanced level.Some were learning French since 7 years. However, I made a goal to participate and attain an experience which would also help building more knowledge.

For the poetry competition, my goal was to develop my public speaking skills, confidence and throughout the competition I focused on understanding french.i think I did well because one of my strengths are that I can learn things very quickly. We didn’t get much time to prepare for my poetry, i had to learn it in a day. However, I think I performed quite well.

My friends and I spontaneously gave our names for the face painting competition as we wanted to explore and learn as much as possible. I think the selection of judges was not right as they had selected people who didn’t have any background of French language. I felt that my art piece was very good and different than others. I felt that it was unethical of them for considering their students and giving them the first rank. we were not even considered. But, i think i will prepare well for the next time.

For me it was a wonderful experience because it gave me a good opportunity to make good connections with my French teacher and know her better. I also made great memories with my friends.

I enjoyed a lot during this activity. Although, it was a bit tiring as we worked the whole day. I learnt a lot during this activity. The children were so sad and depressed from within however they did not show how sad they were, they live a challenging life which no one would want to live. They face problems together like a family. I was very inspired to the fact that even though they didn’t have their parents, they were strong enough to face the world. The sorrow in their eyes was clearly seen. However, they covered it with a smile and that what a real fighter does.

We were a group of 8- 10 people who volunteered to spend a day with orphan kids. We made cards, decorative pencils for them. Also, we made them play games, do zumba, watch movie etc. There was an activity which had really touched me… It was when we asked them to make a card for anyone, and half of the little kids made cards for their mom and dad which was really very depressing. I wasn’t able to control my emotions after reading the cards. We had put all our efforts to make that day memorable for them. We worked collaboratively in almost every activity. For instance, we all came early to make a huge card for them and everybody gave their inputs. This also reflected the commitment towards our work. Also when it was movie time all of us made at least 50 pencils. It is my strength that I am very creative so it made the work easier and helped us finish our work on time.

It was a challenge for us to manage all the 50 kids. As the small ones were very uncontrollable. However, I think we did a great job. I am happy that at least we could bring smiles on their faces. I think I did my job with full determination, and had put the best efforts to make their day a memorable one.

GROUP PROJECT: FLASHMOBS 2015
GROUP MEMBERS: Unnati, Avina, vidushi and sakshi (me)
This was the most interesting activity I have ever done.It was very different, spontaneous and challenging. It was a totally new concept to me as it contained performing in front of audience, talking to them, gathering their interest and persuading them to bring a change in a society.

FLASHMOB 1: On the occasion of Independence Day 15th august, 2015
ISSUE: RELIGION AND CAST
HELD IN: VR mall
Flash Mob was an initiative taken by me. It was just a spontaneous idea which had struck me at the night of 13th august 2015 and the next morning I discussed it with my friends in school who appreciated it. I wanted to do the Flash mob on 15th august 2015 the day when India got its Independence. I thought it was a perfect day to do a flash mob but it seemed impossible because there was a lot of work to do in a very short period of time. We immediately approached our school coordinator and gave a brief idea of what we intend to do, surprisingly she appreciated it a lot and motivated us to implement it. A Flash mob is a large public gathering at which people perform a random act or a dance and then disperse. It is more of a shock to the audience. Knowing that we had only one day to choreograph the dance, learn it, and teach other members seemed tough however we knew that if the four of us work together we would definitely make it, and we did. From that day itself we started working REALLY HARD! We needed at least 15 members however nobody was ready to join us at such a short notice, many thought that we were likely to fail as we just had a day to practice. We our parents, relatives,neighbor and friends gathered outside school. We were glad that they believed in us. Back then, we were a group of non-dancer and dancers, who had put all the efforts possible to take a step towards humanity and bring a change by increasing awareness in the society. When the day arrived we realized that our event was a huge success and the hard work paid off. It’s not important whether we danced well or not it’s important whether we were able to gather people’s attention or not. And I am very proud to say that we gathered the attention of the whole mall.

By this activity I learnt a lot: I learnt that no matter how tough and impossible the situation is if we have the confidence in ourselves we can make every impossible thing possible, and that is what we did. We did start to lose hopes but we did not give up, because we knew we are not alone, we are a team and we are always there to support each other no matter how tough the situation is. These were the benefits of working together as a team. I took up a lot of challenges, I did things which I had never done before such as: speaking and singing in front of at least 500 people, dancing (which I had never done before on such a huge platform), organizing the whole event and making this spontaneous idea successful, motivating the team members at every stage. I had took up the responsibility of a leader which was very challenging but worth a learning experience for media knew my strengths such as: organizing, managing, creativity etc. these helped me gain more confidence. As our first flash mob was on religion and cast we tried to show that there is no such thing like cast and religion, it is the ideologies of the people who create different groups, but in the end we are human beings and we have to have unity within us and each other so that we could face all the problems together. We took this issue on Independence Day because we wanted that with the celebration of this auspicious day we spread another message which can is as important as independence. Independence is nothing without unity between people of one country, one nation and to bring that unity back and erase the gaps of difference, casts and religions we decided to start small and organise this event in a mall where could easily find people of all casts and all religions.
We did have some ethical concerns as to we should not hurt anybody’s emotions while performing. In the drama which we did it was all about how people boycott Muslims and the ideologies which people have for Muslims. This could hurt somebody’s emotions which is not ethically and morally right.

FLASHMOB 2: on the occasion of Janmashtami 5th September 2015
ISSUE: ENCOURAGE EDUCATION FOR ALL.
HELD IN: VR mall
After our first flash mob we learned from our mistakes and took care of not repeating them in this flash mob. Our first flash mob motivated us to do another one as well, so we decided to give this group a name. After having a few meeting with other heads we ended up with a name of this group as “ASTH” Every letter was for a specific word and so the full form of this is “A STEP TOWARDS HUMANITY” .we also decided to make a Facebook page to gain support from the public and now our we are proud to say that our Facebook page has 376 supporters. We also sent a form for the people who were interested in volunteering to help us bring a change in the society. This form was spread in our school from grade 6-12. We collaborated with the NGO named “DISHA” which works for the same cause of education the under privileged children on the footpath. I worked with this NGO for 2 months and so we thought if we collaborated with this NGO we could have a better impact on the audience. We prepared a dance which the kids of this NGO did. We intended to collect funds for these kids so we had a donation box where people had donated money and the net total of the funds collected was around 6,700. We were well organised this time… We choreograph our dance before sending the forms to the interested participants, this led to less burden on us. We were a group of 40-45 people in total including the kids from the NGO. It was a very tough time teaching them and organising practices outside school on Saturdays and Sundays so that all the participants are on the same page. We also had early practices where I as a head was very committed and determined towards my work and did not miss any practices. We spoke to our group members about why this issue is so important to create awareness of and why we are doing the flash mob on the first place. This helped them with a better understanding of what and why we are actually doing this… By this  we saw a lot of improvement in our group members as the days passed. This was mainly because they really wanted to help make a change and so they cooperated with us at every stage. It was a challenge for us to manage and teach all the 45 members of our group. However we (heads) took this responsibility as a new learning experience and tried to put the best efforts. There were many problems which took place during the event such as: the sound system did not work properly which might have led to problems in communication. However, as we could not do anything about the sound system on the spot we made sure we keep this mistake in mind for our next flash mob. This time we couldn’t even imagine that we gathered the attention of almost a 1000 people who were eager to watch us perform. If we do not consider the problems which we faced during the event, I think that the event was a great success as the main purpose was to gather the attention of the audience and spread awareness to a larger audience.

FLASH MOB 2: On the occasion of navratri 10th October, 2015
ISSUE: WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
HELD IN: school party (GARBA FEST)
We got the opportunity of mobbing a party which was organised in our school. We followed the same process of sending forms and selecting the best dancers as this was our last Flash mob and we wanted it to be perfectly organised and performed. I learnt that before catering to the society we should begin with our home and spread awareness among people with whom we meet daily. We should always start small in order to diversify later. This time we included stunts and more complicated dance steps to gather audience’s attention. As we selected the best dancers, this time we were just a group of 20 people. This was a huge challenge which we took up as we also had exams coming up in the month of October. However, we were committed and determined enough for this activity and managed our time well in order to work in a balanced way. We took up this issue because we wanted to empower girls and women (teachers and parents) working and studying in our school in order to fulfil the purpose of starting small. We all worked collaboratively during practices which showcased our hard work and teamwork during the performance. We all had different strengths which played a major role during the whole organisation of this event. It’s my strength that I have a good grasping power and that I can also choreograph dances which helped us during the initiation stages of this flash mob.

These series of flash mobs were experiences worth spending time for. During the preparation stages we not only worked but also made a bunch of memories which we will remember throughout our lives. Organising flash mobs helped me work on my areas of growth such as building confidence, fear of audience, speaking skills, persuasive skills etc. I think that I had put all the efforts I could do to help make these series of events successful with other heads and all the group members.

 

Helping others has always been one of the things which I could do with a lot of determination. When I got to know about this NGO called “DISHA” which has taken an initiative to teach the underprivileged kids, I made my mind to volunteer for 2 months. There was no such school type thing it was just the footpath and us. We used to put a mat on the footpath and teach. I was able to provide my students the knowledge they needed to exhibit their talents.

The day when I got there I could see the spark in those little kids’ eyes. They were so enthusiastic to learn that it encouraged me to do my work with determination and be committed towards it. I was told to teach Hindi, English,Math and drawing. I thought that the activity really taught me many things and those kids too. I got an experience of a thing which I had never done before. While the journey of teaching I developed a bond with those children and Hence, I feel that this activity meant a lot to me. I learned how to tackle different situations such as if the student did not want to study I had to bring up some spontaneous activity. However, there were many problem which I faced during my teaching journey such as: language problem, the language in which they conversed was Gujarati and I had no experience of learning that language. Eventually I heard other teachers speaking in Gujarati and learned the language in bits and pieces, I was glad. There were many people who donated things which the children would need. Some also celebrated events with them and some took them to movies. I enjoyed a lot in this CAS activity though it was a bit tiring as my schedule became very hectic. I had to come from school and rush to this school but in the end it was worth an experience.

I identified my strengths which were creativity and the urge to help those in need which led me to work with these children and develop the areas which still needed growth such as communication skills, persuasive skills, patience etc. I realised that I was not alone there I had to collaborate with other teachers as well who were more qualified and experienced than me but working together helped me gain confidence and motivated me to be like them. I always wanted to work on an issue which was and is impacting not only a single area but the whole world however, I had to first start small. By doing this I realised that it is not that easy for a layman to provide a service like this. It needs a whole lot of determination and commitment towards the job. And I was very determined while doing this activity as I used to be exhausted however, I never took a leave unless there was an important reason.

Overall I was satisfied with how I worked for those 2 month. I was able to use my knowledge and help others which was the main objective of this activity.

 

 

This activity not only taught me how to plant trees or help others, it also made me realise that we should stop cutting trees or harming the environment as a tree/plant is one of the most important parts of our life… And so to start small I volunteered to engage myself to work for an issue which has a global significance and to give a helping hand to the workers who are not only helping themselves by planting but also helping us indirectly. We began our journey on 18 July 2015. It was basically a one day trip however, I felt like I had done work which is done in 2 days. It was really very exhausting, as after coming back home, my body ached badly. But I felt proud that I had done something good for the environment and for the people.

It is my strength that I can put all that it takes to help those in need and that’s what helped me develop my areas of growth. I lack in stamina and endurance which was a major drawback which I faced. However working and planting trees not only taught me how to plant but also made me realise that I don‘t have a lot of stamina as there were times when we had to take plants from a certain area and put them where they had to be planted. Walking with the heavy weight of the plants was not easy as the distance was long. The body ache next day made me realize how my body was not that fit to be able to adapt to such conditions.

We worked almost for 4 hours which included watering the plants, placing them on the places allotted, cutting the plastic from the plant before placing them in the pit. During these 4 hours I was very determined as I wanted to do everything it takes for the betterment of this area. We humans have been so brutal and greedy that we harm the things which keep us alive. It was a challenge for me as I was never used to such exhausting activities the humid climate made it much more difficult for us to work. However, there were times when the workload was divided among the group members which we worked collaboratively. This helped us regain our energy to some extent and help others do as well.

Overall I think it was a great learning experience for me as I could give my services to the workers and in return learn some new skills. I think I enjoyed a lot during this trip and working together with my friends and the workers, it just made work easier and fun! And we could do something for the nature and the environment as well.