adding up on – Literature fest

Add up to was an event in the literary fest where we were given a product for which we needed to make an advertisement in an as creative manner as we could. It was a group activity.

We were given a time period of 2 hours in which we had to create an advertisement about a pen which only writes the truth. I could very well connect this activity to my language and business management knowledge, which helped us secure the 1st position in the competition. How ever I found it difficult to work with my group as there were many ideas but no conclusions as to what we really wanted to do, but  as time passed we started coping with each other to make an effective advertisement. Coordination was a key which brought me into my comfort zone. I could talk with the 7 Graders without any hesitation. This lead to a nice, effective advertisement.

Moreover determination was a second key for me and all of our teammates to make an effective advertisement. We needed to show some interest and passion in the composure of ad so that audience can easily buy our idea. Therefore, I gave my full devotion to my work and did it at my best.

We made our advertisement which was reasonably done well, but the way we presented it was something that was appreciated. Over all, I think I could effectively use persuasive, creative and literary skills while doing the task.  

We also had to take care of the ethical implications that go hand in hand with advertising, this were my business management skills played a role and ethics are an integral part of business management As advertising has its one ethics like ensuring that we do not hurt the sentiments of any person living or dead and we did use Einstein as a part of our advertisement and hence we had to take care of the ethical consideration  .Language came into picture because we had studied advertising techniques and persuasion, the knowledge of which helped me make an effective advertisementIMG_0292 IMG_0327

FS 3-3

FS 3 on 3 was a student-led basketball tournament that we took up as part of our CAS project work.This tournament was unlike the other basketball tournaments  as we had introduced the game in a new format. A basketball tournament is generally played by 5+1 players but in our tournament, it was 3+1 players

I had to serve as the Accommodation / marketing  Head in the Organising Committee of this Basketball tournament.

We had to start our planning as early as two months from the day of the event. . Being the Head, I had to communicate with the school’s, sponsors and other departments in order to ensure easy and effective functioning

I had to collaborate with the:

  • Registration Department, for the quantity of participants we have and the amount we need
  • Planning Dept. because I had to take them for sponsorship meeting with me, and also I was a part of the budgeting process of the event.
  • Finance, for a number of funds and sponsor we need
  • Food department- for food sponsorship

I identified my strength as being an able leader, which led to numerous benefits such as:

  • crises management
  • We got enough advertisement and sponsors
  • Minimal miscommunication with other Departments

For 60 days, I had to work with perseverance and dedication in order to put up a good show. Meetings at cafes after school time had become a common thing for us back then.

The ethics  also came into the picture when I had to when I had to persuade sponsors to sponsor the event because every statement that I told them every commitment that I made to them had to be fulfilled. Like we told sponsors that we will give them advertisement in return of their sponsorship , and many of them did not want anything in return  but on our part it would not have been ethical if we just took money from people and give nothing i

in return

Moreover, one major thing that I learnt forms the event is crises management.There were a lot of crises that were faced during the event:

1) One the day when players were supposed to arrive at the station, the transport department had some confusion and there was no one to receive the players. One of the player being a friend of mine called me to tell me about the situation. Because they were 20 players I was in a lot of panics because we had to find a place to accommodate them all. Because I live very near to the station I deiced to go receive them, get them to my place and let them fresh up until transport was arranged.

2) One day the of the match our breakfast sponsor had told us to collect it from some other vendor as his place was under renovation, When I went to collect the breakfast the vendor told me that the order was placed for the next day and not today. I panicked a lot, I called the sponsors to tell him about the situation and all he did do is say sorry. However that was not the solution, I had hungry players waiting for food, I missed the opening ceremony of the event and went into a sandwich store, helped the shopkeeper make sandwiches, got the breakfast delayed at the match, and after an hour and a half reached the match venue with wholesome breakfast

Overall, all 2 components of CAS were fulfilled, as I had to physically drain myself persuading people and running back and forth, serving as a medium between School’s sponsors  and TDs.  I think the format of the tournament(3 on 3) was not common as well as tournaments such as these are rare in our context, so it also achieves the criterion of Creativity

Also, because I was a part of marketing department by BM, and language knowledge played a major role. Bm because it teaches us about marketing techniques and language because it teaches me the art of persuasion both of which helped me make the sponsorship presentation

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Trek to Salher Fort at midnight

I am really fond of trekking. After days of studying, I thought of going for a weekend trek because trekking helps me in reducing the stress of studies. I went to a trek on one of the highest peaks of Maharashtra. It was a night trek to the top of a mountain range called Sahyidris, the mountain which we climbed was called Salher Fort. The treks which I had done before were approximately of 5 to 6 km a day, I had trekked through Jungles and Icy hills but this trek was difficult because the mountain was once a fort, it was too steep to climb straight so we had to take different route which was by going around the mountain to reach the top. I had to climb without taking  I had some difficulties while climbing because once we reached the midway to the mountain, there were vertical stairs which we had to climb and they were too steep and slippery. We stayed in caves overnight. We carried potatoes, Maggi packets, water and Sweet potatoes with us as our meal. We were split into 2 teams, 1 team carried the items for our meals and the other team collected broken tree branches and sticks which we used for a bonfire and cooking our meals. As the mountain was a historically rich place so we had to make sure that we don’t pollute it by throwing things around the cave and temple. I and some of my friends split from the team and made sure that other trekkers didn’t pollute the mountain, we collected the garbage in a garbage bag and then threw the garbage in a garbage container located 3 or 4 km far from the mountain.20151220_094526 20151220_094535 IMG_0610 IMG_0488

FIZZ ~ Project work @ Fountainhead School

 

Fizz is a product of my skills in both web designing and physics. I think that physics is an interesting subject and using my knowledge and abilities, I intend to simplify and espouse physics learners.

This is, in my opinion, an issue of global significance. Many people find it hard to learn physics due to a range of reasons like: jargon, lack of resources, dearth of available help, uninteresting presentation in textbooks and most websites, non-practical approaches, no ease of use etc. Fizz is supposed to be a remedy for something that many students face in the present system.

These resources are provided as a free online service, and involve creative visuals to make it more interesting. This was an initiative by me and my friend (Manan).

One of the challenges I faced was my lack of expertise in drawing and visual art – due to which it often took me multiple trials and hours to churn in the visuals to supplement the units. Also, covering the entire syllabus was pretty long and tiring. It also took quite some research to set up cost efficient system to host the website.

Fizz required continuous hard work to market it and update it and launch it in the first place. This, I found pretty challenging with the amount of tasks that come with school. However, because of the sense of initiative that the project provided, I was committed to it and was able to successfully fulfill most of the deadlines.

Manan and I effectively distributed the work to suit our skillsets and constraints. I think that worked out pretty well for us and we were able to work very effectively as a team.

I think one of the major ethical considerations we had to make was to strictly avoid plagiarism and reference all sources. We also had to make sure that the content we put up online is factually accurate. We achieved this using rigorous review from our subject teachers.

EVIDENCE: http://www.thefizzway.com

WPMUN

MUNs have always been my area of interest, I was really keen on attending the first session of Winspiration Model United Nations. It was scheduled on the 13th of August, but we had been allotted our countries and committees much prior. I was given the World women’s council with the country United States and the agenda was “Ways to combat gender inequality against women”. I was thankful for the change, this time, when I did my research I did it with more enthusiasm and interest. I was prepared but at the same time, I was also a little nervous because I had less number of days for my preparation. My research took more time than I had expected. I knew that my research was not going to be enough because the other delegates in my committee had more time than me. However, I was through with whatever preparation I had done.

 

Day one of the conference was the opening ceremony, we were introduced to the Chairs and Vice Chairs of our committees. After that we had a session about the rules of a MUN and how it works. Later, when I met the delegates from my committee; we were discussing how we wanted the committee sessions to function. I realised that all other delegates were quite experienced and smart. To be honest, I felt a little intimidated by them as it was my first major MUN. In the first actual committee session, I volunteered to give the GSL which is an introduction speech which talks about the progress of the allotted country and the steps to work towards the issue. I felt a little more confident after that.

 

I compromised with the other delegates and gave my inputs to form a resolution and came up with plausible solutions together. We discussed the causes of malnutrition which has become a global issue these days and provided feasible solutions about it. I also tried to take the committee in control and made it possible for everybody to make a point. I won the Best Delegate Award for my contributions in this MUN.

 

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ZUMBA FEST

For my CAS project, I wanted to do something different and fun filled. I decided to organize a Zumba Fest. Zumba is a form of fitness which incorporates latin American dance moves. I came up with this idea because to keep fit I do Zumba weekly and I really enjoyed, therefore I decided to make it a part of my CAS project. Not only that but through this I decided to raise funds for an NGO named “Sad Vidya Vikas Trust”, this NGO works towards providing tuition and extra help that the underprivileged children need and usually don’t get.

 

5 weeks prior the event which was supposed to happen on 20th December, I started spending time with the children at the NGO and taught them a song so that they could perform Zumba on stage. At first, it was very chaotic because the children were new to the concept of learning dance but I was glad to see the enthusiasm they portrayed and it was exciting to watch them try to grasp and get the steps right. The ardour that these children displayed were exceptional. At times like these, I am reminded to be thankful for all the privileges that I get.

 

The problems I faced during the preparations for this event were mainly finding Zumba professionals who would like to be a part of this event. This was also the first time that I had to set and work on a budget. I was very nervous while approaching the sponsors because people rarely thought that fitness was an issue that needed awareness but the element of helping an NGO came across and I was met with their generosity which I am very thankful for. The major challenge I faced was to spread information about this event and attract a crowd because not many people had heard about Zumba so they didn’t show much interest.

 

I faced challenges that I had never faced like approaching sports clubs for ground space, sponsors for funds, publication house to make posters for the event etc. I also learned to show compassion towards others. I thought of an innovative idea for a CAS project and went through the required process. This was the first time that I had a work experience with professionals and I had to adjust according to their schedules and priorities.  
One thing that I realised was that the parents of these children might be conservative and may not appreciate their children dancing on stage instead of studying, therefore, I thought it was important to get their written consent. This experience taught me to take responsibility and work effectively to fulfil them.

 

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Bingo (Lit.Hum Fest)

 

For Literature and Humanities Fest 2015-2016, I had planned two Activities and one of them was “BINGO”. The objective of this event was to promote Literature and Humanities as subjects so through this event we were trying to promote the importance and value of Literature and Humanities in life and education. Unlike the other which was “Scrabble Wall,” I enjoyed organizing this activity. I was supposed to organize this fun activity with one of my juniors.

Bingo was one such game that I have played and enjoyed a lot in my childhood. Organizing this activity wasn’t a big challenge as we didn’t change the authentic bingo game we just replaced the numbers with the words (as through this fun activity we also had to promote both subjects: Literature and Humanities). In the beginning, we were in so much hurry that we planned the activity in a way which was not fair because we made only one list of words for all the students. Later we realized that this fun activity was for different grades and there might be a point where students from different grades might come together to play. The list of words that we had prepared might be easier for senior Grade students and very tough for junior Grade students. So while planning this activity we made sure that it is not unfair to anyone. To to this, we had to deconstruct our ideas and come up with a different strategy. After a lot of thinking and considering different views, we decided to plan the different games for each grade so that everyone should have an equal opportunity to win. The other issue that I came across was that we had to reuse the sheets and other stationery but even after informing students 10 times to carefully place everything back in the stationery basket properly, they misplaced pencils and erasers and threw away papers (so a lot of things were misplaced and a lot of paper was wasted). Our new idea required us to double our efforts in less amount of time which we dedicated for organizing the event and to manage everything nicely. We divided our work; I even gave my free slots to complete the tasks that were assigned to me.

But, as compared to scrabble wall event, we worked more productively for this event. Now that we could understand each other better we were able to work efficiently and, therefore, work as a good team (This reduced a lot of stress as now that I trusted her more I knew the work given to her will done on time and it will be quality work). As she participated in different events of that day so did I so we came up with a way so that the other one did not miss her activity at the same time someone is there at the activity both (This made our work easier). The event was a success as a good number of students participated and enjoyed it. Overall it was a good learning experience.

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Hindi Divas- Celebrating India’s Official Language _23-09-15_Creativity

Picture5Hindi is a language that I study on my daily basis but for the first time we celebrated a day for it. Hindi Divas was a fun event as we had to organize the activities which we played on daily basis. Out of three activities, Naomi and I were the head of ‘Arre Bhai Kehna Kya Chahte Ho?’ which had two rounds: First was Dumb Charades (Songs) and second was Taboo (Movies). We conducted the whole game, made rules, and decided the movies and songs. There will be two teams- Grade 11 and grade 12.

My companion and I worked together to decide the rules, movies and songs. We had few meetings with the event coordinators in which we had to show our plan and progression. 

Though sometimes the meeting were boring but I attended most of them, which portrays my dedication towards the activity.Picture2

I got frustrated when the seniors claimed that we have given easier movies/songs to the other grade by which they doubted our integrity. However, we informed them that we were honest with them and before the game started we made the team pick their own ‘team letter’. By this, they agreed and in a way I felt confident.

Due to the tight schedule and limited time, we did not justify the game and participants had less chance to play. It felt like when the players were getting the hang of it, the activity got over. Yet, we managed to make it as enjoyable as possible.

It was a challenge for me because I have never conducted any activity where the spotlight is on me. At start I was nervous, however, when I saw the participants who were extremely enthusiastic about the activity, the level of my nervousness reduced. I am that kind of a person who cannot speak in public, yet, it changed me in a way that it made me more confident about myself. The activity was small, but its effect was much big for me.

I wished we could get more time to organize the activity. Even so, I enjoyed a lot as we go an opportunity to organize one sector and also participate in other activities.

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Sharing and Learning-One day with Orphans _19-09-15

“A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.”- Steve Maraboli

Spending that one day with orphans and underprivileged kids was the day well spent. The excitement of meeting them helped me to stay committed and wake-up early morning on a Saturday. We invited the children of Charlie’s Help Age to our school so that we can use our knowledge and facilities for a good cause.

For starters, to know them we had like a quick ice-breaking activity in which we told them about us and asked them about their hobbies, passion and what they wanted to be in the future. My companions, teachers and I worked collaboratively to organize and execute different activities that were planned like card making, dancing, doing Zumba, playing dumb charade, dodge ball and watching movies. I used my creativity to help them by giving new ideas for card making and by teaching the younger ones how to draw. Moreover, I felt that they had so much potential and talent in each sector like visual arts, dancing or singing that they can become a remarkable individual in future if they are given an opportunity to do it.  

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One thing about them that touched me was the way they gave respect to what they are fortunate to have. For instance: praying and being thankful of the food they eat. They also taught me that we can be happy by enjoying small moments of our life because in spite of the fact that they were under- privileged they were extremely zealous and enthusiastic to do all the activities.

My main motive was to use that kind of gesture and language that makes them feel they are one of us and not upsetting them by any chance.

Yet, one difficulty that we faced was there were few young children who were not ready to open themselves with us as we were new to them. Though, I tried to blend with them and did some activities personally with them only to make them feel comfortable. At the end they were really close to me and ‘good-byes’ became difficult.

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At the end of the day, I felt that I have contributed something to the society, become reason to someone’s smile and used my time fruitfully. I think that we should have spent more days with the kids, so that we can know more about them individually, and share and learn some more life lessons.

 

Organizing Committee- Basketball 3/3 Tournament _25-09-15

Basketball 3/3 tournament was a student-led event. I was a member of Logistics Department and had to handle the MVP (Most valuable Player) tokens and the distribution of them. On the day of the event, I decided to come early in the morning to arrange everything in advance.

I had lot of work before and during the tournament as well. As I was in-charge of MVP tokens, I had to make almost 140 tokens. Designing, cutting and sticking, everything was my responsibility. This task was more time consuming than I thought it would be. However, I got some help from one of the tournament directors which made the task a bit easier to get it completed on time.

As I was working under the17 heads, I had to collaborate with them as well as with the referees. By this, I learnt how to talk to different people and surprisingly liked to know new referees and participants. My role was to ensure that both the MVP’s tokens are there on each table after every match and I kept a note about which player got MVP in which match. I also had to make sure that all the score sheet reaches to the Front desk/ table. Being a participant in one of the teams as well as being an OC (Organization Committee) Member, accomplishing my task became difficult.

One major problem that I faced was that my match timings were clashing with my work, and because there were four courts to cater to, distribution and recording of score sheets and MVP token became challenging. However, at times I delegated my task to other members.  

In this process, I learnt how to do multi-tasking and develop the skill of time management which will help me to develop as a person. In alI I felt that the tournament was a success and our efforts were worth it. At the end of the day, I was tired yet I enjoyed a lot as it was a new experience for me.
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