Donation to UNICEF

DL DAV Model School in New Delhi, India raised 22,000 rupees for those affected by the storms in the Philippines. Well done students and teachers.  They sent the donation through UNIVEF.

Students in Oak Park Submit Design Plans

Every year the students from Lincoln Elementary School in Oak Park visit Graue Mill Museum.  When their classmate and Alec couldn't go to the second floor because he was in a wheelchair and there was no elevator, the students went into action.  Read what happened next!

St. Mark's Senior Secondary School, Meera Bagh

Every year, students at St. Marks are engaged in a variety of community service projects, remembering the needs of others.  Click the links below to read about these good works and see some of the students involved.

A wish tree finds students collecting goods for the needy.
The Eco Club is again this year involved in tree plantation.
Students also are involved in community service such as helping in the educational needs of underprivileged children and helping to provide relief for flood victims.

St Mark's Sr.Sec. School, Meera Bagh, New Delhi, India

Our Green Ambassadors in the Lap of Nature

Eco Club members of St Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School Meera Bagh were taken for aDay’s trip to Navdanya (literally means nine grains) at Mehpa Village, near Meerut 3 November 2012. The Day started with the tour of the fields where crops are grown using organic methods only. The Students enjoyed seeing various vegetables in the fields and were delighted to pluck chillies, brinjals (eggplant or aubergine), amlas (Indian gooseberry), guavas, to name a few. While taking a tour of the fields, students learned innovative methods of crop production like mixed cropping, crop rotation, irrigation methods, and adding manure. They also saw how jaggery was being made. The students got a taste of village life and food too. They also experienced the difference between rural and urban life.

Finally they were told about the importance of seeds and seed banks and why Navdanya is working towards seed sovereignty. 

The declaration given below was read by every student and teacher  of the school in every class via Educomp Smart boards.

DECLARATION ON SEED FREEDOM

• Seed is the source of life; it is the self urge of life to express itself, to renew itself, to multiply, to evolve in perpetuity in freedom.
• Seed is the embodiment of bio cultural diversity. It contains millions of years of biological and cultural evolution of the past, and the potential of millennia of a future unfolding.
• Seed Freedom is the birth right of every form of life and is the basis for the protection of biodiversity.
• Seed Freedom is the birth right of every farmer and food producer. Farmer’s rights to save, exchange, evolve, breed, sell seed is at the heart of Seed Freedom. When this freedom is taken away farmers get trapped in debt and in extreme cases commit suicide.
• Seed Freedom is the basis of Food Freedom, since seed is the first link in the food chain.
• Seed Freedom is threatened by patents on seed, which create seed monopolies and make it illegal for farmers to save and exchange seed. Patents on seed are ethically and ecologically unjustified because patents are exclusive rights granted for an invention. Seed is not an invention. Life is not an invention.
• Seed Freedom of diverse cultures is threatened by Bio piracy and the patenting of indigenous knowledge and biodiversity. Bio piracy is not innovation – it is theft.
• Seed Freedom is threatened by genetically engineered seeds, which are contaminating our farms, thus closing the option for GMO-free food for all. Seed Freedom of farmers is threatened when after contaminating our crops, corporations sue farmer for “stealing their property”.
• Seed Freedom is threatened by the deliberate transformation of the seed from a renewable self generative resource to a non renewable patented commodity. The most extreme case of non renewable seed is the “Terminator Technology” developed with aim to create sterile seed.
• We commit ourselves to defending seed freedom as the freedom of diverse species to evolve.

WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Aquaguard Machines installed in Govt. Schools - (2012)

Availability of clean, drinking water is a major issue in most of the Govt. run schools. Students of St. Mark’s Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh, felt that water is a dire necessity of survival. Translating this thought into action, the students of class VI, VII and VIII initiated a project wherein they collected money from their classmates and teachers and installed Aquaguard Water Purifiers in three schools namely :

Govt. Sr. Sec. School for Girls, Ambica Vihar
Govt. Sr. Sec. School for Boys, Ambica Vihar
Govt. Sr. Sec. School for Boys, Jwala Puri

The students not only funded the project but were also involved and present at the time of installation of these machines. The efforts of the students and their sensitivity was acknowledged and appreciated by the students and Principals of these stated schools. The group leaders were Manav Prabhakar, VII-C, Sabyasachi Chand, VII-C,Siddhant Malhotra, VIII-D, Radhika Aggarwal, VIII-D and Aastha Nagpal, VIII-D.

Anti-Fire cracker Campaign

Earth Saviours Club of St Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School Meera Bagh once again spread the message of celebrating an Eco-friendly Diwali. The members  made Power point presentations which were shown to the students through Smart Class Boards. They talked about the perils of bursting fire crackers and suggested the idea of celebrating Diwali online (virtual fire crackers). A street play was staged along with the Diwali rally in the neighbouring areas as part of the anti-cracker campaign

ANIMAL ACTIVIST ADDRESSES COMPANIMALS CLUB

 Ms.Aakriti, an animal activist visited St. Mark's Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh, on 09.11.2012 and addressed the members of Companimals Club of the school.  She emphasized on anti cracker Diwali as animals get scared and injured due to bursting of crackers.  She gave a presentation and emphasized upon the measures to be taken duringDiwali to help animals.

COMPANIMALS CLUB MEMBERS VISIT ANIMAL SHELTER

Members of the Companimals Club (VI-VIII) of St. Mark's Sr. Sec. Public School, Meera Bagh, went to Sonadi Animal Shelter on 20.12.12 where they were welcomed by Ms.Vandana Sen, Caretaker of Sonadi Charitable Trust, and Ms.Sita, a young lady with a selfless caring attitude.  They gave students a detailed account about the functioning of the shelter.  Students were inspired and motivated for the noble cause of valuing life in various forms.  It was an enriching experience.

Contributed by Lakshmi Srinivas,  Teacher at St. Marks

'World Walking Day 2012'

Veronica Woo and students at SMJK in Malaysia join in World Walking Day as part of their Health and Wellness of Teenagers project.

Helping the Hungry in Valencia

In Valencia, several of our teachers and students have been busy all year working to help the hungry in our community.  Two of the students to be honored for their contribution are also members of our GVC1119 team, Elia Yago and Ji Yea Shim.  Congratulations Elia and Ji Yea.  The following is an excerpt from a letter regarding their activity:

Macarron is a volunteer organization working to feed the needy in Valencia. Many of our students have participated in this effort this year. The work of Macarron is being honored at “La Casa Encendida” in Madrid on Friday, April 27. Their efforts are being included in a book titled Heroes Sociales 2.0, featuring different non – profit organizations which use social media to advance their goals. The directors of Macarron have been invited to the ceremony, and they have generously invited ASV students to join them. Five students and two teachers will miss school that day to attend, and they will be gone all day Friday.

More information about the Macarron Project can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/elmacarronsolidario
http://elmacarronsolidario.blogspot.com/

Submitted by Ms. Kathryn House, American School of Valencia

Service Before Self

ST. MARK'S MEERA BAGH WORKS FOR A CAUSE

Ms.S.Malik and Ms.M.Parashar, teachers of St. Mark's Sr.Sec.Public School, Meera Bagh, accompanied  guests Ms.Cecilia and Ms.Kajsa, from UNIVERSITY WEST  SWEDEN to visit SOS Village at Bawana, on 26.2.2011.  The guests from Sweden and children of SOS interacted with each other about the curricular and co-curricular activities.  The Swedish friends were impressed with the infrastructural facilities of SOS as well as zealous approach of students of St.Mark’s School, Meera Bagh, who have always extended a helping hand to SOS.  Finally, after cutting the cakes and distributing chocolates and Pepsi lovingly sent by the senior students of St.Mark’s Meera bagh, they bid adieu to SOS Village inmates with a silent promise to be back again.

SOS Children's Village is an independent, non-governmental international development organisation which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children since 1949. It was founded by Dr. Hermann Gmeiner in Imst, Austria. According to the Financial Times, the 2004 turnover of SOS Children's Villages altogether was US$ 807 million, and it was ranked 33 out of a 100 global NGOs for "global accountability". Its international umbrella SOS-Kinderdorf International was founded in 1960, after national associations had been established in France, Germany and Italy in addition to the original Austrian association. 

The organization's work focuses on abandoned, destitute and orphaned children requiring family-based child care. Millions of children worldwide are living without their biological families for a variety of reasons including:
♣    parental separation,
♣    domestic violence and neglect
♣    they have lost their parents due to war or natural catastrophes
♣    disease - including, increasingly, AIDS.
Such children are supported to recover from being emotionally traumatised and to avoid real danger of being isolated, abused, exploited and deprived of their rights.
SOS provides about 50,000 such children and 15,000 young adults with a permanent new family, with a '24 hours a day' new SOS mother to provide family-based care. Typically (in the developing world) about ten children are grouped into a house with an SOS mother and between ten and forty of such houses are grouped together as a "Village" with shared facilities. Family groups once formed are kept together as a priority.
Come let us give a loving home to every child.
http://www.soscvindia.org 

Ramakrishna Mission: Sharada Milk Scheme
Ms L Srinivas Of St Mark’s Meera Bagh had the wonderful opportunity to be witnessand contribute to this Noble Cause. The pictures were taken by her.

http://www.rkmdelhi.org/
http://www.rkmdelhi.org/activities/social-uplift/

Gadadhar Abhyudaya Prakalpa and Vivekananda Swasthya Pariseva Prakalpa:
The Free Milk Distribution Scheme which was inaugurated on 1st May 2009, gained momentum in course of time when many poor children in the vicinity (age group of 2 to 6 years) and expectant/lactating mothers started taking the benefit of free milk distribution. The number of beneficiary children gradually increased. As on 31st March 2011, as many as 200 children became the beneficiaries of
this scheme per day.  Two programs titled Gadadhar Abhyudaya Prakalpa and Vivekananda Swasthya Pariseva Prakalpa were also started this year. A total of 450 children (215 boys and 235 girls) were benefitted by these programs. In addition to milk, nutrition in the form of snacks is also provided.  Besides, some useful items like tooth brush, tooth paste, school uniforms, pens, exercise books, soaps etc. are also being given every month according to their needs. On some occasions, medical aid is also provided to them.

GOONJ  aims to address one of the basic needs of the mankind i.e. clothing out of three i.e. food, shelter and clothing simply by addressing the urban feature of space constraint and consumerism, due to which urban household discard old clothes and other household material. 
GOONJ channelises this material to the poorest in the far flung areas of the country, where, it not only fulfills a basic need but also frees up their meagre resources for other more pressing needs. 
The thought   is very simple and straight. They   ask people to give them all such material at their home or in office, which they hardly use. After a rigorous sorting and in a very systemic manner, it goes to needy people in the remotest parts of the country for whom these are very valuable. We collect - A growing child’s old clothes and old toys which are gathering dust in some corner of the house, utensils, clothes, blankets, one side used paper, medicines, stationary, old newspapers, magazines, anything and every thing you don’t feel like throwing away but don’t need any more. We firmly believe that anything can be reused, if we do it systematically and it has a potential to solve a major problem of someone needy. 


Muskaan

This year too as in the previous years St Mark’s Meera Bagh extended a helping hand to Muskaan an Ngo which looks after the needs of ‘Gods own children’.  The school was venue the for sale of candles, Diyas (earthenware lamps), lanterns, spices, and various other home grown items produced by the inmates of Muskaan. The word Muskaan means Smile and it aims to put a smile on every face which is in need of it. Our school too made an attempt to put a smile on Muskaan’s face. Our students helped them by promoting the sales in a big way.

Muskaan started as an effort to provide opportunities for meaningful education amongst children from deprived background in late 1997. Twenty slum children, working and out of schools, became part of a 2-hour schedule of fun and learning (both ways). The daily interaction with the children and a constant exposure to the hardships the communities and specific groups go through resulted in an increased and a more planned response to other concern areas including education and also the number of children and slums. We are thus today working with over 400 children across 6 slums and with their parents.

 by Simran 10B St Mark's Senior Secondary Public School, Meera Bagh, New Delhi, India