August 2018 Newsletter
Dear All,
I am pleased to welcome you to the month’s edition of our Newsletter.
Am sure most of us celebrated Ganesh Chaturti with great fervor –offering our prayers to the Remover of Obstacles.
Looking back at the month of August, we feel happy to have crossed our hurdles and celebrate our 3rd graduation day. We are very proud of our graduating students. They have overcome their obstacles and through their unflagging determination, are surging forward towards a bright future.
A great deal of planning and effort has gone into preparing the curriculum we provide at Swabodhini. The special education and therapy services help the students to value their own abilities and strengths by focusing on activities and projects that match individual interests and capabilities. The Vocational skills training curriculum is also developed with employablity as the end goal and is structured accordingly to provide intensive skill training to mainstream the students thus enabling them to lead a life with dignity in society.
The focus in Swabodhini is to empower our students to be prepared to face the world independently and stand on their own two feet.
And it feels very encouraging when all the efforts that we put in gets recognized. Swabodhini was facilitated with the Champions Of Chennai 2018 award for our contribution in the field of education. It was truly an August occasion to share the stage with the other award winners, all of whom have made tremendous contribution in their chosen field.
We dedicate this award to each and every one of you, for consistently supporting us in our jouney.
For the first time, Swabodhini is initiated in a crowd funding platform for a particular project. Please click on the link here to generously support the education & therapies of students with autism and related challenges.
Here’s a round-up of our activities for August 2018 for you.
Academic Updates:
Classes are progressing as per schedule, with the lesson plans well chalked out and a holistic development plan in place for each student.
Club activities also are being conducted every afternoon and is the most sought after class of the day for most of the students.
Graduation Day:
The most important event of the term is the Graduation day. This day is very special to us, because it’s a time to celebrate achievements and look forward to fresh opportunities. It’s our 3rd year running since we have been meeting at this time of the year to have our Graduation day at Swabodhini. 7 of our students graduated this year and it was indeed a very proud moment for us.
Dr. Mr. M. Selvaraj Principal of Guru Nanak College Velachery presided over the function which was held on 12 August 2018 at the Indian Officers’ Association Auditorium.
Our student, Mr. Kaustav graduated from the vocational course and is now employed at Guru Nanak College. He takes inventory of all the classrooms in the college and also prepares the relevant reports for the perusal of college management. We are very proud of our student and wish him all the best for a bright future.
Ms. Sunisha graduated from Pre-vocational to Vocational stream & our Primary graduates were Vishal Prabhu, Danish, Mani Muthu Kumaran, Pritish and Rishi Raj.
The function began with our students Ram and Aditi singing devotional songs which was followed by the Graduation ceremony were the graduates were presented with their certificates. The Chief Guest Dr. M. Selvaraj spoke from the heart, motivating the parents to bring out the talents of their children.
We also had Mr R.S. Murali, our well-wisher, who has employed our student Mr. Viswanath at MAGC Consultants since 2017, talk to the gathering about the work done by the school as well as the difference our student has made to the lives of the other employees in his organization. This was very heartening as well as encouraging to hear.
The function ended with the vote of thanks proposed by our Director Ms Anuradha Mahesh and a photograph of all the graduates with our Chief Guest, our Founder and our Director.
School Updates:
Events:
INTACH Club Activity:
The INTACH Club was inaugurated at Swabodhini by its member Ms. Malavika Harish Lakshman. Young INTACH’s from Swabodhini visited the ancient Marundeeswarar temple in Tiruvanmiyur as a part of the Madras Week Celebration Heritage walk.
Ms. Malavika explained the rich cultural and religious significance of this magnificent temple to the students. Our students also learnt about safety in public place through this visit.
New Flooring For School Terrace:
The Perambur Sports Meet was a day of competitiveness, grit and determination in the outdoors for our students. The excitement was palpable in the air as they got ready to leave.
On the field too they showed great determination and we are proud of all our participants and medal winners. All our students participated in the 50 meters running competition in their respective age category & the winners were
Sunisha placed first
Jabez, Praveen, Aliasgar placed second
Haresh, Mahati, Gurudas & Amruth placed third.
Perambur Sports Meet:
The second floor terrace now boasts of a brand new flooring –smooth and even, thanks to the generous contribution of Mr. Harsha Rajan. The second floor space is a multi-purpose, high utilization space & is used by the students primarily for yoga therapy & fitness therapy.
This space also serves as a common lunch floor and students have their lunch together which improves the interaction of students across different classes. Birthday celebrations, festival celebrations, rehearsal for cultural programs also happen here.
Outreach:
Corporate Visit:
On account of the Founder’s Day, employees from Multivista Global Pvt Ltd visited the school earlier this month and spent their valuable time with us. We were glad to share with them about the school and the work we do. We are thankful to them for visiting us & understanding about autism, special education, therapies and skill training. The company also made a generous donation, thanks to which the school now has a new inverter, to ensure uninterrupted power supply.
Women’s Economic Forum:
Our director Ms Anuradha Mahesh was invited to attend The Women’s Economic Forum organized by ALL Ladies League –Chennai which was held this month on the theme “Tamil Nadu Leading in Women Empowerment, Inclusiveness & Progress.” It was held at The Westin, Velachery on 18th and 19th of August, 2018.
Ms. Anuradha was part of the panel discussion on ‘Shaping the society into an Inclusive ecosystem’, and shared her views on inclusion and how individuals with autism can be integrated through skill training in mainstream work environment.
Accolades Time:
Champions Of Chennai:
“Champions of Chennai award” is an initiative of the KSA Trust , a non- profit organization which honors citizens who make a difference in the field of arts, education, environment, enterprise, healthcare and social initiative.
Swabodhini is the proud recipient of the Champions of Chennai award for education.
The award was presented to our Director Ms Anuradha Mahesh at a solemn function on 17 August 2018 at the Sivagami Pethachi auditorium. Shri. Sashi Kumar, Chairman –Asian College of Journalism was the chief guest and Kalaimamani Sri O S Arun was the guest of honour for this function.
A coffee table book featuring the work of all the award winners was also released.
Team Swabodhini believes passionately and works tirelessly towards transforming lives of individuals with autism and related challenges through special education, skill training and holistic therapies.
We thank the KSA Trust for conferring this award on us.
Bala Vikas Award:
Swabodhini’s founder and managing trustee Ms Radha Ganesan was awarded a memento by the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations – Chennai Metro South this month.
The Valmiki Nagar Sai Samathi has been conducting Bala Vikas/bhajans for Swabodhini’s students for many years. It is truly a privilege to be associated with the Samithi.
Celebration Time:
Independence Day Celebrations:
Independence Day was celebrated at both our Centre’s with much patriotism and gusto. Students helped in preparing their respective classrooms for the special day.
The students also put up a small program which began with a patriotic song and was followed by a dance to the “Jai Hind Song” and then a skit on Kattabomman .
We had special appearances from Mahatma Gandhi, Chacha Nehru, Subash Chandra Bose and Jhansi Rani who joined the celebrations. The program ended with the students singing the Vande Mataram.
Krishna Jayanthi & Birthday Celebrations:
The last day of the month is usually the time to celebrate birthdays at the school but with Krishna Jayanthi a few days away it was double dhamaka for the students.
A picture of Lord Krishna along with the usual offerings to him were placed and small puja was conducted. Thereafter the floor was open for some spirited dance and skit performances by our students, the cutest of them all being the dance between Krishna and Radhai.
We then had the traditional cake cutting for those whose birthday was this month.
The students and the staff enjoyed the entertainment for the day.
