ST. MARY'S CONVENT HIGH SCHOOL - MULUND: STUDENTS & TEACHERS' ORIENTATION

ST. MARY'S CONVENT HIGH SCHOOL - MULUND: STUDENTS & TEACHERS' ORIENTATION

August 22, 2014

Thanks to Sr. Smitha, principal of the school, the AVEC were able to conduct a whole three hour session for the students of Std IX & X. 460 students participated in the Value Orientation "MY Life: A Valued Journey". The entire session was a moment of deep insights, coupled with humor and powerful video clips of inspiring lives. The session began with a a few words of welcome by Sr. Smitha. An interfaith Prayer song gave a spiritual tone to the session. Mr. Fernandes than took the students through a deep awareness fantasy meditation. Through rhythmic breathing, the students were able to relax and slow down. He then introduced Fr. Glenn to them.

 The session, "My Life: A Valued Journey" was an occasion for the students to introspect on their own personal lives and to go beyond merely seeing life from the material point of view. From the material point of view, there is hardly any value, living our lives on a higher level is significant and purposeful. Through the many examples of people who chose to live their lives guided by a 'value compass', the students were able to challenge themselves to choose higher values.

The exercise of the Now moment - listening attentively to the present, the 'Spiral of Life' - revisiting our past, and the "Wheel of Life' - reorganizing our future was a real moment of deep soul searching. The students really took part in the entire program very actively and their sense of discipline was above the mark. Congratulations! The session finally ended with 'writing their problems on the sand'. 

 At the end of the three hour long session, many students came forward to write their words of appreciation in the AVEC log book:

"You have awakened the real me within. You all are doing a wonderful job. Continue to motivate many like us throughout your life" - Avi Jain 10 A

"Its really going to change my life. I really came to know about my life. Thank you very much" -Humera Patel - X A

"I really enjoyed the speech. It was amazing. It just changes the thinking of my life. Thank you" - Sachi Rithe IX C

 "I really appreciate the teaching that Fr. Glenn gave us. It has helped me alot and to change my point of view" -  Pooja Thakkar IX C
"Thank you Fr. You have really touched all of us" -  Eullann Fernandes IX A
"I was really happy to attain this seminar"

 "It was an extremely helpful session. It helped open our eyes to the various problems of life and how we could deal with it. Thank you Fr very much for your guidance" -  Annie DSouza, Kalasha Shetty X B

 "Fr. Glenn really motivated and encouraged us. He prepared us for our future. He is an inspiration for all of us" -  Shruti A Mishra , Kashvi Gosran IX D

 "It was a great session and it really helped us release our stress and make our life worth living" - Kinnary Panchal X A

 "Thank you Fr. Glenn for giving us a session for us. We enjoyed it a lot and I am thankful for attending it. Once again thank you" - Shefali R. Lohar X A

 "I was extremely motivated by the session and felt inspired by Fr. Glenn's magical words. It was a mind-blowing experience. I would remember this all my life. Fr. Glenn talked to us in a way as if we have know him for a long time" -  Shreya Pai, Alisha Punwani X D

 "It was an excellent session and it motivated and guided us for choosing the journey's of our life and the important values needed for it" -  Anisha Nagaranjan, Saniya Khan

 "It was an excellent session. It made us understand the real meaning of our life and what to do in our future life ahead. Thank you Fr and Mr. Fernandes for giving us this meaningful and good seminar" -  Deepali Waval X A

 On behalf of the entire std IX & X, Ms. Kritika Krishnakumar proposed the vote of thanks.

After lunch, AVEC conducted a two hour session for 63 teachers of the school. Sr. Smitha once again introduced Fr. Glenn and Mr. Fernandes, and welcomed them to continue the part two of the session.

The session consisted on two parts: The first focused on basic teacher attitudes and assumptions and how Don Bosco's method of education could help in enabling the teacher-student relation to grow and be more effective.

The second part of the program focused on "Management By Values' and the teachers were asked to plot their values on the Brian Hall-Benjamin Tonna Value map. The teachers found this entire session very informative and practical too. It challenged them to make the necessary Value shifts in their personal lives in order to make the qualitative changes necessary in order to be a value guru in the lives of their students. Ms. Soni proposed the vote of thanks.

 "It was very inspiring. Taking the means available to achieve our goals was most creative and practical method. The session was short, meaningful and inspiring" -  Mrs. Beeta Allen

 "Thanks a lot for your inspiring sessions. I was helped to know my values, where I am and where I need to focus on. Thanks" -  Sr. Edwina

God bless you all and thank you for your whole hearted participation all through the sessions.