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Leadership in Action - Year 10

As part of the Leadership Programme, the Year 10 students participated in this year’s very successful Zawadi Bazaar by running 8 socially responsible business stalls. The student-run stalls provided a diversity of products and services, from selling foods and drinks to running a curio shop and branding water bottles. The main focus was not in making a profit alone, but in ensuring that the businesses were environmentally friendly and beneficial to the community at large.

As part of the Entrepreneurship Unit of the Leadership Programme, students in each mentor group had to conceptualise and implement a socially responsible business venture.  This involved several weeks of preparation including brainstorming, writing a business proposal and planning the budget.

Experiences such as these are designed to give students concrete opportunities to experiment with and develop their social entrepreneurship skills. The young entrepreneurs were highly effective in involving the local community in their projects with most products sold being sourced locally. The students also sought to get Mombasa businesses and organisations directly involved in their projects. 

For example, one group created “The Water Bottle Project”, a business initiative designed to promote recycling, and worked closely with Wildliving Resources, a local organization which promotes sustainability. Another mentor group teamed up with Springbreak, an NGO promoting social entrepreneurial skills, and used more than half of the profits generated by their business to buy and donate 10 solar lights to families in the town of Mavueni who had no access to electricity.   

Year 10 student, Rabia Dhanani, sums up the experience in her end of unit reflection: “[The] Leadership Programme this semester was very informative and a fun filled learning experience as well. I enjoyed the unit of social entrepreneurship mostly because it was more practical. I learnt a lot during Zawadi Bazaar because it was the time when I had to use everything I had learnt, which was awesome, and it also taught me how to diplomatically deal with customers.”

Shaivya Arya: Striving for animal rights

During the 2017-18 academic year, 18 Academy students volunteered at the Blue Cross of Hyderabad as part of a CAS project for spreading awareness about improving the treatment and living conditions of animals. Among them was grade 12 student Shaivya Arya.  “It has been a source of motivation to help those who cannot help themselves,” she says, “to raise a voice for those who do not have their own.”

 

Animal welfare organisation Blue Cross of Hyderabad provides ceaseless support to animals in the city by improving their living conditions, and changing people’s mindset about animal rights. Academy students volunteer regularly at the Blue Cross as part of their CAS activities. Student volunteers walk and groom dogs, assist the shelter’s administration staff and run introductory sessions for new volunteers. Shaivya’s activities were centered around the dogs of the blind and disabled ward. She learnt about dealing with cases of dog bites and interpreting dog behaviour. During her time at the shelter, Shaivya also attended a session by Blue Cross of Hyderabad co-founder, Amala Akkineni.

In her time as volunteer, Shaivya found herself in situations beyond her ken but felt pleasantly rewarded when she worked through them. “Gradually, I learnt how to handle unfamiliar situations without anyone's assistance,” she says. “The work experience serves as a method to identify our strengths and weaknesses.” Shaivya says that working at the Blue Cross has improved her communication, organization and time management skills. 

Shaivya is passionate about animal rights advocacy. Before her stint at Blue Cross, she conducted surveys for her personal project, ‘Ethical Treatment Toward Animals,’ to better gauge the issue of animal abuse. “What we do not realise is that activities such as visiting the circus, the zoo or even purchasing a certain product can contribute to animal abuse,” she said. Shaivya went on to lead a successful fundraiser for the Blue Cross at the Academy’s parent teacher meeting in January 2018, raising ₹34,000. The money went toward vaccination programs for strays in the city.

Shaivya’s group members at Blue Cross constantly supported her. She credits them with helping her through tough situations and reflects on how they grew together. According to her, the team’s diversity directly impacted the work they did at the shelter. Dogs would run away from baths or refuse to be groomed and Shaivya notes that that could have been frustrating if it wasn’t for her friends alongside her.

“Each one of us has the power to make a change,” says Shaivya. “To save an innocent creature’s life, to help animals. It is time we make this a better world for us, for them, for all.”

Sian Virani – our very own budding Scrabble champion

Sian Virani, grade 8, participated at the 14th international scrabble tournament hosted by Capgemini in association with the Karnataka State Scrabble Association in Bangalore between 11-14th January, 2018. “This was an amazing learning experience because there were 170 participants from all around the world, some of them champions and others who were retired and had taken Scrabble up as a hobby. I played in the fourth group, where I faced others who were new to competitive Scrabble. All of us were there because we wanted to do something for ourselves.”

In 15 years, Sian sees himself as a professional Scrabble player representing India in international tournaments. “Attending school here has helped me recognise my potential, not just in studies but also in hobby sports!,” he says. “I love Scrabble and I want to become a pro in it. When I first started playing, I could only make small words. But now I can also play bingos – this is when you use all seven tiles and get 50 points as a bonus. Scrabble is a game worth promoting because it improves your vocabulary, and can bring a change in the way you think about things.” Sian was first introduced to Scrabble by a coach, who has since mentored him and introduced him to the competition circuit.

It is no wonder that Sian’s favourite part of the day is enrichment, the after-school extracurricular programme offered at the Academy. He is currently part of the robotics club, where students build Lego robots that are able to move and perform different functions. He chose robotics because he already had an electrical engineering set that he had been tinkering around with, and because he believes that artificial intelligence is going to play a key role in the future of the world. Naturally then, his favourite subject is mathematics.

Sian, who joined the Academy when it first started in 2011, says his most memorable day in the recent past was 2nd December 2017. “We organised a Harry Potter themed Yule Ball which was our service project. Through this, we raised funds for the government schools we work with. We knew what they required, and with our contributions we are going to try to change the way the school looks from how it was before.”

We wish Sian the best with his Scrabble career!

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