November 29, 2010: STANDARD IX ORIENTATION PROGRAM
After a lot of planning and correspondence, the AVEC team finally were able to address the students of St. Francis D'Assisi High School, Borivali. Three hundred and forty students belonging to four divisions of standard nine participated in two two-hour sessions. It was remarkable to see the good behavior of the students and the attentiveness with which they participated in the entire four hours. After an initial welcome and a floral tribute the students were invited to place themselves in God's presence and to listen to a prayer song.
Mr. Rochwyn Fernandes took the two groups through a meditative experience that involved fantasy and awareness of themselves. The seriousness with which most of the students took part was truly rewarding. Boys' schools are often labelled noisy and distracted. But today, the ninth standard students proved all these assumptions wrong. They took up the challenge to be 'light-house' students rather than 'wheel-barrow' students.
Fr. Glenford Lowe then took the two batches of students through an inspirational roller coaster...it was a fascinating ride to make a journey into one's life and to reset the clock. .."Invest your time on what is important in your life and make a difference in the world," Fr. Glenn kept reminding. Through a variety of small exercises and interactive moments and with the use of modern media techniques the students were kept spell bound all through.
Thanks to the two Value Education Coordinators, Mrs. Juliet Lobo and Mrs. Leena Valley for the preparation and creating a conducive atmosphere for the sessions. After the sessions, the students were invited to write their comments in the AVEC logbook. Find below a long list of comments:
“It was really an inspiring and directive program” Aditya Shinde, IX-A
“The concept of how to get up and inspire children’s was really awesome” Tushar Sharma, IX- B
“Awesome section, an inspiring message for us the youths. It was a helping stone for our future. Thank you.” Benoj Mathews, IX-B
“Inspired me a lot how to live our life and was a very inspiring show” Uddhav Surve, IX- B
“It was a very valuable and educative session.” Chirtan Gandhi, IX-A
“An inspiring show, which can help a student to inculcate good values.” Shubham Dalvi, IX- B
“An awesome inspiring message for the youth” Rudal S.S, IX- B
“All the essential advice needed for success: we will keep climbing! “ Reeve Lopez, IX- A
“It is very nice and useful for life” IX-C
“It was an awesome experience, one of the best seminars” IX-D
“It was wonderful” IX- D
“It was very nice and we have learnt something” IX-D
“It was very nice and truly motivating” IX-C
“It was simply wonderful. Had a wonderful value learning” IX- D
“It was a pleasant show teaching us the most important values required in our lives” IX- D
“Pleasant time” IX-D
“It is applicable for our whole life. And next time keep the show for 3 hrs” IX- D
The AVEC team looks forward to being with the remaining students tomorrow.