A WISH TREE WITH A DIFFERENCE

Many a times we all feel a twinge of despair when we see poverty, hunger and helplessness around us. Yet, there are many amongst us who strive ceaselessly to translate the dream of a happy world filled with smiles into a reality. The class VI students of St.Mark’s Sr.Sec.Public School, Meera Bagh, celebrated the ‘Joy of Giving’ week, from 2nd to 9th October 2013, an initiative by Goonj in novel way. They prepared a wish tree and hung on it with satin ribbons small colourful slips on which they mentioned all that they wished to gift to their unfortunate brethren. Throughout the week the young students made the collections. Their colourful parcels included stationary items, colour boxes, T-shirts, sweaters, tiffin boxes, story books, sports items and more than 100 school bags which were gratefully accepted by the Goonj representatives.

‘My God is alive in my heart and in my deeds’


The students of St. Mark's Sr.Sec.Public School, Meera Bagh, extended support to the children of Anugrah Foundation, which imparts basic education to underprivileged children. As requested by the NGO, various stationery items like notebooks, drawing files, sketch pens, pencils, erasers and sharpeners were handed over to the representative of the NGO by primary level students.

St.Mark’s School Meera Bagh extends a helping hand.
The state of Uttarakhand faced untold misery when it was devastated by heavy downpours and floods. Lakhs of pilgrims as well as natives of the ravaged state were in a pitiable condition. The staff and students of St.Mark’s Sr.Sec.Public School, Meera Bagh, extended a helping hand to Goonj, an NGO which works for the underprivileged section of society, and contributed in cash as well as kind for rehabilitation efforts in the state. A cheque of Rs.1,81,000/- was presented by the Principal Ms.A.Aggarwal and rations like oil, pulses, rice as well as 330 woolen blankets were handed over by Ms.R.Verma and Ms.A.Mehta, teachers of the school, to the Goonj representatives. The SMS family prays that tranquility returns to the state resplendent with nature’s beauty.

GANDHI JAYANTI CELEBRATIONS


The students of class VI of St. Mark’s Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh celebrated the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation, on 1st October 2013. A tribute to Gandhiji was given by the students through various activities like an inspiring skit, depicting small stories from his life, bhajans Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram and Sabarmati ke Sant and a western dance performance on Raghupati Raghav. The students gave a mesmerizing Kathak performance on Vaishnavjanto. Our Principal, Mrs. Anjali Aggarwal, shared her views on Gandhiji and his ideologies. It was, in all, an extremely inspirational experience

GANDHIGIRI IN ACTION

‘The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.’ - M.K. Gandhi Keeping this in mind, the students of class XI and XII of St. Mark’s Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh paid homage to the spirit of the great man on Gandhi Jayanti by performing Shram Daan and volunteering to clean the nearby localities in Meera Bagh. This was a unique way of paying tribute to a man who believed in dignity of labour and considered no work to be ‘inferior’. On this day, St. Mark’s also initiated a computer literacy programme Parivartan – the change for the parents of the students belonging to the EWS category and some of the class IV employees of the school. This is a sincere endeavour by the school to translate Bapu’s dream of empowering India into reality.

FIRE DRILL IN PROGRESS


“Forewarned is forearmed”- In accordance with this saying a fire drill was organised in our school premises. On the ringing of the bell, we had to move quickly, jogging down the stairs in an organised way yet swiftly, helping others, and escape to the ground and run to a safer place . This was an effort by the school authorities to spread awareness and educate children on how to escape from fire if such a situation arises. This helped the children to learn the organised ways of escaping from disaster through different exits and helping and warning others.

INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

On 27 January 2014, 6 students of classes XI, along with Ms.S.Malik, attended the International Holocaust Remembrance Day organized under the aegis of United Nations at Alliance Francaise. The theme of the event was “Journeys through the Holocaust”. The holocaust began in 1933 when Hitler came to power in Germany and started persecution and planned slaughter of the Jewish people. It is estimated that 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. It ended in 1945 when Nazis were defeated by the allied powers. The representative of Israel through an interactive session and by showing brief films highlighted the travails faced by the Jewish population. The event was also attended by Ms.Kiran Mehra Kerpelman, Director, UNIC, who read out the U.N.Secretary General’s message for the day. The day ended with writing down of peace messages and pinning them on a barbed wire installation symbolic of Auschwitz concentration camp. It was a deeply touching session which convinced us to give ‘Peace a chance in this strife torn world’.

SOS

Hi Friends! My friend Sakshi and I would like to tell you something about SOS Village. SOS Children’s Village is a non-governmental, private social welfare organization which provides children a home, good nurturing and family-based care since 1964. They work for children who are orphaned, abandoned or whose families are unable to care for them and give them food, clothing and shelter. At SOS Children’s Village, they believe that every child should grow up in a strong family environment, and so their work helps families to create a loving, caring home. Their work focuses on strengthening families, helping them to stay together during difficult times and they provide the best possible care to the children. Every house consists of a mother and around 10 children who have come from different groups and societies but live together as brothers and sisters. The SOS mother builds a close relationship with every child entrusted to her, and provides security, love and stability that each child needs. As normal children, these children are also sent to well reputed schools. In the evening time, they play games together and have fun. In this way strong, supportive relationships are formed, so that children develop resilience to face life’s challenges. The children stay here until they get well settled and start earning themselves. I believe that SOS village is doing an amazing job. And our school does not only appreciate this work but also helps the SOS Village in the best possible way. Every year the children and teachers of our school contribute as much as we can and try to help these people. We just do a small little thing but what SOS Village does is highly commendable.