February 18, 2011: St. Charles Girls' High School: Vakola
At the invitation of Sr. Jacinta, Principal of St. Charles Girls' High School, the Value Coordinator Beena Suares made sure that all was well prepared for the animation program for the students of standard nine. Two hundred and forty young students had a three hour orientation program. The main focus of the orientation was to enable the young girls to look at life and their growing up problems with regards to relationships, self esteem and self worth.
Sr. Jacinta D'Souza, welcomed the guest speakers. Beena Suares then introduced the speakers to the students. Floral bouquets by Lizelle Fernandes and Ritu Dixit were presented to the speakers. Mr. Rochwyn then briefly introduced the day's program. A powerful video presentation that highlighted God's presence in the whole of creation was then screened. A fantasy meditation then followed in which the students took time to relax and refresh their tired minds.
Fr. Glenford Lowe then invited the students to look at their lives through a new lens; to compare their 'list of importance' with their 'list of daily schedules'. The students were able to see the importance of re-setting their life's clock and to refocus on investing more time on doing what is important. "It is more important to live life qualitatively rather than merely quantitatively", he emphasized. Through a lot of small interactive moments and exercises the students were able to grasp the essence of appreciating one's live as 'Valued and Loved'.
In the next session, Fr. Glenn was able to relate the Twelve Value points in relation to their 'growing up' concerns. He reminded the students that they are all 'Sensual', 'Sexual', 'Social' and 'Sacred' Beings. One need to grow in all these four dimensions in order to live life more fully. Failure to focus on any of these areas would lead to indifference, abuse, exploitation and loss of purpose in life. Through a lot of examples and daily life choices, he challenged the students to make responsible choices especially in their relationships.
All through the sessions, the students were highly attentive and participated actively in all the exercises. After the session, a number of students took time to write their views in the AVEC logbook of appreciation. Some of the comments are written below:
"Fr. Glenn was excellent. One of my best sessions. He made Value education fun and frank" Sayali Sawant IX-A
"The session was very inspirational. He enlightened not only my mind but the mind of everyone. I learnt a lot" Siona D'Souza IX-A
"Fr. Glenford's words were very motivating which made me realize who I am and it helped me to make a perfect character" Madhumati Yadav IX-B"It was a great session. I am really so inspired by your words. I will do my level best to work on what you have said and improve myself" Rashida Kagalwala IX-D
"Thank you Fr. Glenn for coming to our school and motivating us to learn good values and to make a positive attitude towards our life. It was a wonderful session" Neha Pandit IX-D
"Thank you very much. This is the first time I have observed that the students were actually attentive and enjoyed the session. It was heart touching and the way you tried to spread this message was really wonderful. Thank you once again and we hope to get a chance to meet you once again" Nikita Panchal IX-D
"The session was really enlightening. This is the first time I actually saw my friends paying attention. I am usually lost in my own world ...but today, I did listen with rapt attention. Fr. Glenn is very experienced, insightful and understanding. He is a wonderful priest (though I haven't seen many, for I am a Hindu). He was clear, frank and didn't shy away from talking to us on topics about abuse, relationship with boyfriends. The examples he used made us understand vital values with ease. Thank you father for such a 'different' session! " Sanjukta Shivaji Desai IX -B
Some of the students taking time to write their impressions on the AVEC log book.
Beena Suares, the Value education Coordinator for the school proposes the vote of thanks.