Responsibility and Cooperation - Bloom BHIS

Volunteering is not a choice, it's a responsibility.

Hello everyone, today I wish to share a story about responsibility and co-operation based on an incident which took place in our school during the Academic Year 2019-20.

In the course of an Academic Year, we organize various inter-house competitions such as Inter-house Debate, Elocution, JAM, Doodle Making, Street Play among others. We also had a competition - “What’s the Good Word?” for the Secondary Section. We started with Grade 9, followed by Grade 8 and ended with Grade 6 and 7.

As I was put in charge of this competition, I listed down the steps involved in executing the event. I took the help of students to whom I could delegate various tasks, thereby enabling them to take on responsibilities. One such responsibility was to ensure practice and prepare the students of Grade 6 and 7. For this I wanted the students of higher grades to be involved, and hence I selected Avi and Dev from Grade 9. Both Avi and Dev were excited but at the same time were sceptical about their assigned responsibility as they had never done any thing remotely similar in the past.

I explained to them the nature of my expectations, which they diligently took note of. Soon, they initiated the selection process of participating students, collected content from various sources, had them verified from relevant teachers and prepared their juniors. Often I found them leading a practice session, assigning homework and taking tests. Before long, the participants were thoroughly prepared for the competition.

Finally, D Day arrived. All of us were excited but Avi and Dev were nervous as they fidgeted like mother hens! All their hard work would be judged. The six and seven graders participated with confidence, and finally, the result was declared. Guess what! The ones trained by Avi and Dev managed to bag the 1st position.

The happiness of their faces was a treat to see! Their efforts had paid off. In training their juniors, they had transformed into more confident individuals. In many ways, this was their reward. Avi and Dev had learnt that working in co-operation with others, taking up responsibilities and working towards executing them was the only way to achieve the desired goal.

Now, I see the radiance of confidence and leadership in Avi and Dev. They are always ready to take up new challenges. It is gratifying to participate in grooming the leaders and trendsetters of tomorrow.

We all do better when we work together. Our differences do matter, but our common humanity matters more.

Bloom @Billabong High International School, Thane 

- Priya Wagle, Ranjana Solanki, Rinku Lapasia, Manisha Joshi, Sharanjeet Kaur, Savita Rane, Manjit Kaur.

Courage and Patience - Harmony BHIS

Courage and Patience Reinforces Tenacity

“I believe that you can; of course, you can,” the teacher muttered reflexively as she looked deep into his eyes that mirrored the very depths of the ocean.

Yes, he is the true epitome of clarity, firmness and perfection. He confronts all challenges with his perseverance. Rohit always maintains his scores in academics. In Grade-IX too, he proved himself by earning the best scorer record. His journey was not at all a bed of roses. He treats ‘Patience’ as the companion of his wisdom and ‘Courage’ as the weapon to endure every situation.

As we know, our classroom is a miniature society, where we deal with many different minds and mindsets. Some are bold, some shy, or courageous while some are timid. His peers leave no stone unturned to comment on him but he always handles those tactfully, by turning deaf ears. Moreover, punctuality is an indispensable trait of Rohit. It is a foundation, not an embellishment for him.

It was time for selecting students to the student council. After a great deal of scrutiny, the names were forwarded. At the same time, there was a great deal of speculation among the students. “Rohit’s name will be forwarded, undoubtedly,” Riya said to her friend, Swapna, who sat beside her.

“Of course, he is the favourite of all,” Swapna responded meaningfully, glancing at Rohit.

The teacher could foresee the reactions of the other children present in the class. As usual, Rohit was indifferent to all those remarks.

Persistently Rohit cleared all the levels of testing as he inched closer to becoming a member of the student council. However, in what seemed to be a bolt from the blue, he did not make it in the final selection.

Predictably, no heartbreaks or overwhelming articulation of emotions came from Rohit. He seemed stoical in dealing with an adverse situation.

“Rohit, how do you feel about this result?” the teacher asked, perplexed at the youngster's calm and composed demeanour despite the defeat.

“Its fine, Ma’am! ... I am okay with everything. It’s all a part of life.” It was indeed a courageous answer from a school-goer like Rohit. He showed true mastery over his emotions as he had realised that despite his talent he lacked the power of charming others through the use of captivating words. This wisdom was beyond his years and can rarely be seen in the children of his generation. For him, success was not final, failure was not fatal; what mattered was the patience to continue.

During the Investiture Ceremony, the teacher witnessed the peak of his acceptance when he was assigned the role of an anchor. He worked tirelessly to write the script and he was on his toes to follow instructions. Once again he seized the attention of the audience and the guests. Being one of the most deserving candidates of the student council, he was neither sceptical about his actual role in school nor felt any regret over that event. Importantly, he did not grudge the success of his peers as they were called to the podium and felicitated - an honour that he had certainly coveted. Looking at his set countenance, the teacher saw his patient acceptance, without bitterness, confident in his conviction that its fruit will be sweet for him one day. 

Courage and patience are two fundamental attributes to achieve success. Both are complementary to each other. Courage does not mean being physically strong. As we have seen in the case of Rohit, courage means examining the situations or resources patiently and acting to rightfully achieve the goal. Sometimes, it is necessary to overcome our fears by taking risks to achieve success and careful examination of the situation will certainly gather the courage for the same.

Harmony @ Billabong High International School, Thane 
- Abira Chakraborty, Pooja Khona, Bhumika Ailsinghani, Rajshri Rane, Soniya Kuril, Poonam Choudhary, Kavita Shetty