Journalism of Courage
The strongest influences they say happen at a young age and with teachers playing an important role in inculcating thoughts and shaping the student. Some schools also do it through practical examples. One such school is Judson High School in Pimpri,that organises their events keeping in mind the need to encourage creativity amongst students.
Teachers,Shabana Sayyad and Lucy DeCruz,who teach English and Social Studies respectively and who are also in charge of organising the annual events for the students,say that in spite of the swine flu scare,they managed to hold their anual events well . One of these was the Free Expression Day celebrations held on September 10. The day happens to be the birthday of the principal of Judson High School,Freda Moore. On this day,the students are allowed to express themselves in whatever way possible and unleash their creative skills through an array of different outlets. There are a number of competitions we hold for our students on this day. For the higher class eight to 10th,we have flower arrangement,vegetable carving and rangoli drawing contests. Besides these,we also have the Little Chef competition,which happens to be a cooking contest. For the lower grades,we have various poetry,drawing,essay writing and painting competitions.
Shubham Gondra from class 10,who happens to be a national level volleyball state representative in Haryana for the year 2007 and international level India representative in Bangladesh for the year 2008,explains,I participated in the Little Chef competition on Free Expression Day and thoroughly enjoyed myself. There were also debates on the most important environmental problems we are facing today. Komal Sail,class five student and one of the youngest children in Judson High School,recounts her role in the Free Expression Day festivities,We had to put up a performance,which had us sing along to Michael Jacksons famous Heal the World anthem. All the students were dressed up in costumes,which were native to the different regions of India,to represent unity among different cultures. I enacted the first solo stanza of the song and I was dressed in white to symbolize peace. I felt good as it was a nice way of spreading cheerfulness among the staff and students.
Free Expression Day isnt the only event Judson High School holds for its students. Sayyad explains,We also have our AIDS Awareness Week December 1 to 7. During this week,the students are encouraged to participate in awareness raising skits,quizzes,as well as paint AIDS slogans on their t-shirts. We also hold a rally and the students are led to a little distance from the school to raise social awareness on the fatal disease. Also,some of our teachers attend special seminars on the subject which is conducted by the AIDS awareness trainers at the Seva Dham Trust.. Class 10 students Aishwarya Inamdar and Dhairyasheel Choudhary. The duo explain,We are provided with charts,television and other visual medium to aid us in our efforts to spread awareness. Besides the extra-curricular proceedings,Judson High School also provides support to its budding talents. Abhishek Suttar,class five student who has participated in state level archery competitions, expresses,The school,with its support,has made me brave enough to want to achieve the national level gold medal.
