Graduation at the Arya Samaj School
BY Smriti Ahuja & Sanjana Kapoor
HOUSTON: Arya Samaj hosted a Graduation ceremony for its students on Sunday, May 18. The ceremony, held in the Main Hall, was filled with award presentations and student performances. The day began with all the students participating in Havan in the school, and chants of Swaha filled the air. After the Havan, everyone proceeded to the Main Hall and the ceremony began.
The Graduation Day celebrations began with Minu Garg welcoming all the parents, kids and the guests visiting Arya Samaj. Speaker of the week, 9 year old Lakshya Gupta, gave a touching speech on why Humility should be one of the most important virtues for a human being. Beautiful Bhajans by DAV Sanskriti school kids, led by their teacher Smriti Srivastava, mesmerized the audience. A presentation by Minu provided everyone with the significant progress made by the DAVSS school and its students during the past year.
Winners of best attendance in each age group were announced and all those with attendance greater than 95% were offered a fee free school year ahead while those with 85% attendance or greater were offered 25% reduction in the fees. This wonderful gesture on the part of the school greatly motivated kids and parents for better attendance in the coming years.
There were also two performances by Arya Samaj students, one of singing and the other of dance. The participating students were part of the elective music and dance classes hosted every Sunday. The voices of the singing children soared through the hall, and were delightful to listen to. All of the singers knew their lines and blew their performance out of the park! The dancers wore cute costumes, with a white top and pink skirt, and under the guidance of their teacher Shelly, gave a beautiful performance, which had the audience clapping and swaying with enjoyment. Their spunky performance was dazzling and incredibly fun to watch.
Next was a presentation about the various impressive Arya Youth Mandal (AYM) activities accomplished including their over 350 hours of community service projects gained from participating in the Interfaith Ministries ‘Meals on Wheels’ on Thanksgiving day serving hot meals to seniors, the flower planting project, parking lot numbering and active support to the organization for the Holi and Diwali celebrations. Certificates were handed out to the five students with highest number of community service hours for the year.
Awards were given to those who attended the most classes, such as Jai Sehgal and Anusha Sood. Other awards were given out to those who had participated in special activities, like student Roma Nayyar. Awards were also given to those students who had helped the community and volunteered, like AYM volunteers Smriti Ahuja and Daksh Kapoor. There were other awards also handed out, like “Student of the Year” and “Youth of the Year” awards that one gained by working hard, doing well in all the tests and playing an important role in Arya Samaj.
More awards followed for the various quizzes, which had been conducted for all ages, and video documentaries made by the 13+ class presenting all that they had learnt during the year. Acharya Surya Nandaji addressed the audience briefly after the award distribution, and this was followed by Arti and Priti Bhoj.
The kids chattered happily during lunch, none of them sad that the year had come to an end, especially because they were all excited as they were planning to come back in 2 weeks for summer school.
If you are not a student at DAV Sanskriti school, enroll to get a taste of the wonderful environment at their summer school and you will decide to stay even after summer is over! You will find something you will love, learning from our various elective classes like music, dance, yoga, public speaking and Vedic Math. Arya Samaj Satsang is held every Sunday at 10 am and Arya Samaj Sanskriti School is held from 10am to 12 pm, followed by a “Priti Bhoj”.