Reviewing Greatness!

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In an attempt to get some real life insight into the vast field of Business, Finance and Commerce in general, the 11th Commerce class, inspired and guided by Purvesh Sir, have started a series of book review presentations. Four groups have been formed, each working on different books:
The first review presentation in this series was held on the 26th of March in the auditorium to the teachers and students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir. The presentations of the other 3 groups will soon follow.

The book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins is written to guide and enlighten the already good companies to the path of greatness. To give a review presentation on this book a group was formed in which each one was assigned a task i.e. Karan Jivani (Presenter), Vikkim Patel (Computer Dept.), Parth Patel (Artist and Designing) and Meet Pansuria (Research).

The book is about companies who followed certain principles and became great. These concepts in a nutshell were explained by a working model. It was designed in such a manner that it could summarise the entire book.

Every page of the book has information that seems inevitable to achieve greatness! A few of all the important concepts in the book were the Hedgehog Concept, Level 5 Leadership and The Flywheel Effect.

The hedgehog concept is the intersection of what we can be the best in the world at? (And equally important—what can we not be the best at?) What is the economic denominator that best drives our economic engine and what are our core people deeply passionate about?

Level 5 leadership is about leaders who are humble, but driven to do what’s best for the company. While the flywheel effect is the additive effects of the small initiatives.

This book is answers to a curious question ‘how to reach greatness?’ These principles can also be beneficial in an individual’s personal life. Like the hedgehog concept is useful in making a career choice. The level 5 leadership teaches us values of humility and strong will.


The presentation was followed by some intriguing questions posed by the audience – students and teachers. The team put their best effort in responding to them and ended up gaining even more insight about the book.

This was a great learning experience and it also promoted the habit of reading good non fiction books. 

Quick Links:

Book review 2: We are
like that only
Book review 3: 2G
Spectrum Scam
Book review 4: Lords
of Finance: The bankers who broke the world

Written by: Karan Jivani and the Good to Great Team (11 Commerce)

An Enlightening Early-Summer Day’s Trip to Gandhinagar

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Activity and experience based learning is a significant part
of student-centred environment of Atmiya Vidya Mandir. Students understand,
read and write through their active involvement in the process.
As a part of their on-going learning session for
professional and vocational courses, senior students of grade 11th
from Commerce and Science streams, recently visited the Gujarat National Law
University (GNLU), one of the leading law schools of India, which offers various
law related courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
The university is currently ranked third among the other law
schools in India, within its eight years of inception. The students were made
aware of vastness of academic challenges and in-campus university procedure
through a complete campus tour to observe all aspects of this University – infrastructure,
academics, student/staff, hostel facility and a rich and well equipped library
opened for students till late hours.

Students got an opportunity to briefly meet with the Dean and also to interact with the senior
professors of the university, who generously devoted their time guiding the students
about the various career options available in the field of Law. They were very
approachable and supportive.
Students were made aware of the fascinating and lucrative
job opportunities associated with the study of law; it seemed to be one of the
best careers one could choose.
Overall, the experience of visiting GNLU was a big eye
opener for the students and they left the campus highly inspired.
The students then had a quick lunch on the go and had
darshan at the Gandhinagar Akshardham Temple. The scorching sun made the
ice-creams even more delicious at the temple!
The journey then took them to the New Sachivalay Campus
where they got an opportunity to witness live proceedings of the state assembly.
Many MLAs had arranged for citizens of their constituencies for a visit of the
capital the same day. The topics of discussion were science, industry and
education. Turn by turn, the ministers presented the progress, plans and
projects. Honourable Chief Minister Narendra Modi demonstrated that to be an
effective speaker, one must learn to listen.
Being the future citizens of India, it was an absolutely
learning session for all the students. They all brought back a feeling of
pride, of being a part of a system so big and so powerful. They gained a
reality check that to run a developing country with a population of over 1.2
billion is not a piece of cake; And India’s doing great!
After getting a true insight about how the state was run, the
students then moved on to the next part of the educational tour – campus visit
of the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology
(DA-IICT). Gandhinagar being a peaceful place, the campus of DA-IICT was even
more peaceful and enchanting.
First of all, the students attended an induction session by
the Dean (Academic Affairs) who introduced the institution’s philosophy to the
students and made them aware of the courses offered. The students realised the “research
driven education” approach of the institute and were left impressed by its
efforts to apply ICT in the rural areas of India.
Thereafter, the students had a chance to interact with some
existing students of the institute who took them on a detailed campus tour. The
students were shown around the labs, lecture rooms, the resource centre
(library) and the sports facility. It was very heartening to witness the
institute’s hands-on approach to education – there is one whole building for
just different labs (all having some state of the art equipment)!!
With some final words of gratitude, the students (now more enlightened than 24 hours ago)
parted to be back at home away home, Atmiya Vidya Mandir.

Ohh, and our dearest Pavakbhai (still doing brilliantly in academics and sports) was the host for the dinner. The guests had their dinner at his place and then finally left the capital of one of the most development frenzy state of India!

Written by: Students
of 11th Science and Commerce

Spell – Bee Bash at AVM

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The 21st century is full of technology that is designed to help us communicate. However, some of this technology may in fact contribute to poor communication skills. Think of Twitter – while it’s a great way to provide short updates and notices, the 140-character limit means that people frequently abbreviate their words. Because our brains are designed to recognize and comprehend patterns, v r abl 2 undrstnd msgs&wrds w/o all the ltrs in them, lk this 4 exmpl!!!!!!!!!!!
This issue is particularly important for children these days, who are growing up surrounded by this new form of abbreviated communication. There’s no doubt, though, that teaching children how to correctly spell words, and how to train them to continue to improve their spelling, is a critical part for teachers from the earliest grades onwards. But students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir are made aware of the fact that how poor vocabulary and misspelled words have alarming and detrimental effect on communication; With this wakefulness they recently participated in the World Spelling Day 2012 held on 5th March 2012, which is designed with a purpose to help the school going children to improve their spelling, enhance their vocabulary, understand phonetics and perfect their grammar.

Test of English is an integral part of most competitive examinations and recruitment processes world over. The English Department of AVM is effortful to enable the students on various aspects including comprehension, vocabulary, verbal analogy, sentence skills, grammar usage and the World Spelling Day proved to a medium to inculcate the same.

The World Spelling Day competition is not just a great opportunity for students to have fun but it can also improve students’ core skills. Over the last three years, students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir have shown good improvement in speed and accuracy in the World Spelling Day games, making it a powerful way to improve and develop their effective communication skills, comprehension and usage of words that will help to fulfill their quest for academic knowledge.

For the World Spelling Day 2012, students were given their own personal online games login ID which was supportive to match up with other students of similar age from various parts of the world to face live challenges. Students earned points for correct answers, with their tally growing as the challenge continues. The games were open to students aged 4years to 18years. 

Sahishnu Patel (age group 14-18) who was the Indian Ambassador for the World Education Games 2012 stood 89th in the world and 4th in India.
All spelling tests of World Spelling Day were coupled with typing drills. Students were to complete the test by spell and typing every word correctly. This world level spelling competition is meant to create an awareness of the necessity to spell and pronounce words correctly; it also develops enthusiasm amongst students to learn new words.
ALL THE BEST to the students for the upcoming final exams with an expectation that poor grades due to spelling mistakes is a far off reality for them now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mega Math Mania at AVM

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Many of us think why sweat calculating in the mind, when we have easy tools like calculators handy? Though we all have cars, we run jog and walk for physical exercise. Similarly, Mental Calculation is a mental exercise for the brain. Research has proven that there is a direct relation between numbers and brain stimulation and development.

Here, at Atmiya Vidya Mandir, the students took another opportunity participating in the World Maths Day 2012, an event which runs as a global challenge set to trigger calculation frenzy amongst children and teenage competitors. WMD is a mathematical puzzle contest where a sound knowledge of mathematics together with speedy calculations is essential to solve problems. AVM students appeared in this competition for the third time in a row, in the last three years.
Results of the World Maths Day 2012
Team
Name
Age Group
World Rank
Archimedes9
9 To 11
8th
Newton6
6 To 8
8th
Ramanujan3
3 To 5
12th
Fibonacci9
9 To 11
24th
Aryabhatta1
1 and 2
40th

Prashant Gupta (age group 11-13) of Class 8A stood 87th worldwide and 11th in India.

Set to take place from 6-8th March, this worldwide competition had seen 5.5 million children competing from around the world from over 200 countries and territories. It was a worth seeing scene in the computer labs of the school that children typing or striking the right key finding it just a means and not an end; it is their computing and calculating skill which leads to an efficient and quick solution. The technical skill helps children to strengthen and improve their mathematical competence in calculating with speed, and of course accuracy.

The motivation behind this Mathmania is to provide a platform for the students to delve into unfamiliar areas and learn new ways in a fun and recreational context. The Mathematics Department of the school has a wonderful team of dedicated teachers like Prabhumagna Sir, Swayam Madam, Deepika Madam, Suhani Madam, Bhavna Madam, and Mrugesh Sir who created this opportunity as a great way for kids to show off their new math skills and share their passion for math and learning with other students.

The participation in this competition was with a purpose of allowing our students to gain valuable experiences through the process of competition and evaluation and to develop their talents and have a platform for their God-given abilities.

Saransh – Lets celebrate each other

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Apart from academic excellence, students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir are being trained for developing skills like time management and team work .For this there are various co curricular activities. The end of the year’s co-curricular activities was a momentous occasion. There was a feeling of anxiety amongst the students as the event was going to unveil the winner academic and non-academic competitions that were held throughout the year.

 The show began with a flashback of the entire years events through a humorous skit. It was followed by the conveners of the four houses. While Sharmil Ma’am, the convener of Satyam House, talked of the unity of Satyam House, Tarun Sir, the convener of Shivam House, thanked the efforts of IT Dept. Seema Ma’am, the convener of Sundaram House, shared her experiences while Anand Sir, the convener of Suhradam House, thanked the sports team and the M-A-D (Music-Arts-Dance) group for their valuable contribution. Later Prajval Sir came on the dais to thank Vallabhmama, housemasters, didis, Pranav Sir and Ishwar Sir for extending their cooperation and working diligently behind the scene in making the events of the year successful. Meanwhile the hosts Sahishnu bhai, Ghanshyam bhai and Aneesh bhai did a remarkable job in keeping the crowd interested and entertained through their little gags.

Sports is a very important aspect of student life, to develop it better the school had conducted various inter-house sports competitions. Suhradam House emerged as the winner in this category.

Academic competitions were also held to test the knowledge of the student’s. Here Shivam House won.

Visual form of representation is always better. To display values like importance of Prayer or life and message of Rabindranath Tagore softboard display was used. Each house got a chance to decorate the softboard at the end of the week in their own creative manner. Sundaram House won the award for the best softboard display.

Every Saturday morning has a different feel to it, thanks to creative assemblies. Sometimes it was life of Swami Vivekananda and sometimes it was struggle of independence by freedom fighters. Here the best creative assembly award went to Satyam House as well as Shivam House.


On the backdrop, there hung a gigantic screen where glimpses of the various competitions and activities were shown just before the award was about to be declared.

There was also a melodious song sung by AVM’s flourishing singers Samyak bhai and Deval bhai this song was followed by the moment that was awaited by everyone ‘the house of the year’ award. This time the competition was fierce but Suhradam house won it once again.


The event truly lived up to its name; the students in true sense celebrated each other. No matter which house won there wasn’t a single student who did not cheer the winner. That is exactly what Swamiji wants from us, to be humble and imbibe the value of Atmiyata. 

Written by: Karan Jivani (11 Commerce)
 

Igniting Scientific Temper

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Flying is a dream cherished by almost every child. To give wings to such dreams of students from Std 8, 9 and 10, an aero-modelling workshop was organised during the Christmas weekend. A team of enthusiasts from the Department of Aerospace Engineering (IIT-Bombay) were invited to conduct hands-on sessions on building balsa-wood glider, paper boomerang/plane and flight simulator. Students were also introduced to the designs of peculiar aircrafts and were made aware of the air-crash investigations.

Biology Lab-Skills Workshop

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Scholar Theodore Roszak rightly said that Nature composes some of her loveliest poems for the microscope. The students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir had the opportunity to look at some of those poems through the microscope in the recently concluded Biology Lab-Skills Workshop.

Science has uncovered quite a few complicated phenomena but life still remains the most complicated yet simple creation of GOD. One of the purposes of studying science is to create curiosity amongst the young minds by helping them make sense of things around them. Science is supposed to be a hands on subject where students should be able to do different things and have fun. To create that enthusiasm amongst students, the Biology Department at AVM organized a basic lab skills workshop which allowed the students to learn some of the basic laboratory skills at an early age.

The secondary school Biology curriculum only allows students to observe different specimens and slides. It is only in high school that they get to prepare slides and do other activities on their own. To give a head start to the students of AVM, such a workshop was organized for the students of standard 10. Around 42 students took part in this week long workshop.

Mrs. Archana Patankar (M.Sc. Botany) – HOD Biology, explained the students how to prepare the slides of a plant and animal cell. She also explained the importance of materials used and showed them how to use different apparatus. Since the arrangement was such that each student would get their own microscope and other apparatus to perform the activity, the excitement in the biology lab was very visible. Mr. Sarvajeet Parsaniya (M.Sc. Biotech) was also there to guide and help the students. One of the heartening things to observe was the way such students who had found the theory class challenging, excelled in the lab. They prepared some wonderful slides with the correct techniques and proper methodology.

The principal of AVM, Dr. Vijay Patel, a keen science enthusiast himself, visited the Biology lab to observe the proceedings and more importantly to encourage students. At the end of the workshop, each student was given a questionnaire to fill. The idea was to see if they understood and learnt the basic skill set required, which they passed with flying colors.

Great Explorations!

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“Science is nothing else but perception” – Plato.

Atmiya Vidya Mandir School believes the only way in which we can equip a new generation to cope with a rapidly changing environment is, to teach them How and Why behind natural and non made phenomenon.

On August 27, 2011, the Science Department of AVM presented an exciting event of Inter House Science Competition.

Opportunities for learning exist everywhere! This Science Competition was an attempt of showing some ways, in which these opportunities can be made use of.

Science Competition highlighted the following events:

· Visual Quiz for Standard I and II

· Live video demonstration Quiz for standard III and IV

· Poster making and presentation for standard V and VI

· Team challenge for standard VII and VIII

· Group presentation for standard IX and X

From Junior group, each participant was engaged in joyful exploration of the scientific world around and harmonizing with it.

During the team challenge activity, the team participants were asked to design a bridge from the given sheets of paper and resource material. Surprisingly the paper bridges were found sturdy enough after the verification of their strength!

Participants of standard IX and X were allotted the topics a week earlier and they were allowed to proceed with their scientific views, keeping presentation outline in mind.

The topics chosen by Science team was

· Satyam House: Sound and its applications/ dispersion and scattering of light

· Shivam House: Chemical Reactions

· Sundaram House: Nervous System (Control and coordination)

· Suhradam House: Exploring Universe

This event was the combination of several scientific skills. The teacher’s role in all activities was not of transforming information but rather one of being a facilitator, a leader and a resource person in a learning process.

The activities were designed to encourage students to observe and explore their environment; to understand relationship in nature and between human and nature; and to learn better how humans are an integral part of the intricate web of life.

Learning Science can be more fun, both for the student and teachers, when it’s based on real experience. We hope that these activities will lead to Joy of understanding, a process in which both students and adults enjoy exploring their environment together.

The entire events were meticulously judged by Honorable Principal Dr. Vijay Patel along with Dr. Rupashree Madam. Vijay Sir announced Satyam House as the overall winner and enlightened the students to promote the analytical ability to develop scientific approach towards the life.

Written by: Archana Madam and Kshitij Sir

Failure is an event, NEVER an Individual.

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Winston Churchill famously said that Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. Famous author JK Rowling in her commencement speech at Harvard University said that, schools prepare students to succeed rather than to face and handle failures in life but latter is a more likely event.

The Cultural Committee at Atmiya Vidya Mandir seems to be ahead of Harvard University in that respect as they decided to celebrate a unique value at Atmiya Vidya Mandir “Failing Forward”. Shivam House got the opportunity to celebrate such a unique value recently.

The original idea came from a book written by John Maxwell: “Failing forward – turning mistakes into stepping stones of success.” The book itself is one of the best sellers from the author and more importantly an inspiration to the readers.

Shivam House started the week with a presentation on Monday. The idea was to introduce the value to all the students with simplicity. Through various videos and examples it was made clear that if one can learn from a mistake then it is no longer a failure but a success. It was conveyed in the presentation that failure is a part of life, no one can avoid failure. More importantly it is about how to face the failure and bounce back from it. Students from Std 10 (Pranshu Savani and Hemal Gadhiya) gave a very meaningful presentation on 7 steps to fail forward. They cited different examples with videos which made the students and teachers want more. On Wednesday, Kishan G (Std 10) gave a speech on the importance of not to fail backward. He mentioned some criteria to help to see if one is failing backward or forward when they meet with failures.

On Thursday, Prajval Sir gave a presentation on the need to learn from mistakes and be prepared to face the failures in life as it is inevitable. He stressed the fact that failure is not fatal if we are ready to learn from it and not repeat the same mistake. Shivam House brought a new perspective to the value on Friday with a speech from Sarthak Jariwala (Std 12). Sarthak talked about the need of divine intervention when we cannot overcome the failures in life. He gave some good examples from different fields of life to make a very good point. He also explained Gunatitanand Swami’s vaat “Dosh rahe che ne tali jata nathi…” and explained the importance of setbacks in life.

Every week, students look forward to the creative assembly as it brings a lot of excitement and new ways to learn about a life value. Shivam House increased the excitement of students by multi-fold through a video sneak preview of the Saturday creative assembly. Pujeetbhai prepared two very well made sneak previews for the Saturday’s event which caught the imagination of the whole school including the teachers.

Shivam House did not disappoint the students by showcasing the assembly in a very innovative and refreshing form of a talk show. Vaishvik Patel (Std 8), the House Vice Captain, was the host of “The Saturday Morning Show with Vaishvik Patel”. Vaishvik impressed everyone with his humour and his casual but friendly attitude. He was equally intelligent and respectful towards his guests on the show. In the show, the students of Shivam House presented a scintillating and inspirational dance performance on the song ‘Chale chalo’ from the movie LAGAAN. Suhradam Sir choreographed the dance very meaningfully and told a story of failing forward through the dance. The dance (lead by Vinay Rathi) showcased the spirit and enthusiasm which lifted everyone in the hall. Then it was a time to call upon the guest played by Bhavik Parekh (Std 9). Bhavik confidently played the part of a motivational speaker and put across his points successfully with videos of Isiah Thomas (basket ball player) and America’s 16th president Abraham Lincoln. Bhavik explained that Lincoln was a very ordinary man and faced plenty of failures in his life but what made the difference was his attitude towards those problems. He also answered some questions from the audience.

One of the features of the show was its commercial breaks. The adverts were selected very carefully so that they were relevant to the value and also motivational for the students. The show ended with thanking the participants and key members of the staff who made the show possible through end credits. Shivam House also prepared a small ‘The making of Failing Forward’ video showing the efforts put by all the students and teachers with some funny moments.

Softboard presentation is a unique feature at Atmiya Vidya Mandir, as students and teachers prepare them week in week out with such creativity to convey some important life values.

Every success story is also a story of failure. All the successful and famous people overcame the hurdles and then became successful. Shivam House chose a similar theme of depicting the ‘famous failures’. They included the lives of Michael Jordan to Albert Einstein who all were told they could not succeed in life. But their courage and perseverance brought them unprecedented success. Such examples also included Amitabh Bachchan, Abraham Lincoln, Steve Jobs to name a few others. The message on the soft board was loud and clear “Achievers reject rejects, they never give up, and they redefine the failures”.

Shivam House thanks everyone who made this week possible and made it a huge success. 

Shivam House