The Monthly Newsletter & School Blog of the Gandhi Ashram School, Kalimpong
April & May 2023 Newsletter
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Post the Easter break, Jenny Cafiso, Executive Director and Juan Emilio Hernandez, International Programs Coordinator of the Canadian Jesuits International visited us. Sr. Ann Stevens SJC, General Councillor of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny also visited us.
We also has the Inauguration of the Campus road by the GTA Chairman Anit Thapa, Accompanied by MLA Ruden Lepcha, Municipality Chairperson Rabi Pradhan, Councillors. The GTA has promised a football ground for the school.
Our Music Team worked along with Belgian conductor, Rozemarijn Vanwijnsberghe to present the ‘Hope Concert’ with over 170 students in the chorus and orchestra, performing extracts from the Oratorio ‘Heavens’ by young beligan composer, Philippe Lamouris, in multiple languages, drawing from spiritual traditions of the world. It was truly the most modern repertoire that the team ever performed and the students rose up to the challenge in style.
We kickstarted our Annual Interdisciplinary Project, ‘Our Common Home; Our Shared Future’ on Earth Day. We will mark World Environment Day as culmination. A Dance Musical with the School Chorus and Orchestra as well as an exhibition by students, staff and parents as well as the Seeds of Hope and Action (SOHA) Exhibition in collaboration with Bharat Soka Gakkai will be presented on Sat, June 3.
As part of the Project, our Classes 8,9,10 and Staff participated in the 3-day Nature in Art Festival organised by the Himalayan Trust for Natural History Art in Pudung with many exhibitions, workshops and activities. We also gave a workshop ‘Music inspires Art; Art inspires Music’, with the nature theme. It was well received.
We invited two actors visiting from Uruguay to present their show, ‘Rio: Khola’ at the school teaching the children the importance of water. Two staff members attended their 5-day training and they also conducted a workshop for our Class 10 students. Drama truly brought out the hidden qualities of our students.
We have also been presenting Class assemblies on the topic and approaching the project through various subjects. The parents body received a workshop on Zero-Waste Village and Zero-Waste Campus’ by Kamlesh Rai from Darjeeling.
Taking the School Year Theme ‘We Build Each Other’ forward, we have launched a year-long project ‘Adolescent Life SKills Education and Staff Capacity Building’ with Naveen Jhajharia.
We had encouraging outcomes from the Madhyamik exams. All 26 of our students except 2 did well at the Madhyamik exams. One of our girls stood third in St. Philomena’s School. 3 disqualified candidates from last year passed this year.
The English and Nepali Teams organised Tug-O-Words, our Inter House Debates.
The Class 9 and 10 students appeared for their Trimester 1 Written Evaluations. We bid farewell to our dear Fr. Binod Kerketta SJ for his new stage of formation and future ministry.
We have had two very eventful months. We had the investiture ceremony for our Student Council
Full Ceremony Video Below The Ceremony in pictures The Student Council escorts Fr. Paul & Fr. Santy to the gathering Fr. Paul, Fr. Santy & Br. Gilbert are welcomed The GASOrchestra & GASChorus perform Karl Jenkins' Adiemus (from Songs of Sanctuary) Sr. Veronica Lepcha SJC leads the gathering in prayer followed by the gathering singing Jacques Sevin SJ's Prayer For Generosity The Assistant Director & outgoing Principal, Virgil Vihaan Sequeira emcees the event Fr. Paul lights the candles Fr. Santy lights the candles Monica Mothay, our seniormost lady teacher garlands Fr. Paul with a Phago Rip Sa Lyaak Fr. Paul addresses the gathering as the outgoing Director Vivian Yonzone, our seniormost male teacher garlands Fr. Paul with a Phago Rip Sa Lyaak Fr. Santy accepts a violin from our outgoing Director, Fr. Paul as a symbol of the core of our mission at Gandhi Ashram School - Music as a tool for transformation Fr. Santy accepts the portrait of our dear f...
The GASChorus, Musician and Dancers from Xavier Sangeetanjali and Young Musicians from Delhi and Mumbai toured with the GASOrchestra for a week presenting one-hour-long concerts at Siliguri, Kurseong, Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Gangtok as part of the Strings of Hope Concert Tour. The project was a powerful union of two of our projects - Strings Concert Tour Project (started in 2011 by the then Music volunteer Virgil Vihaan Sequeira at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai) and the Hope Choral Project (started in 2023 by Belgian conductor Rozemarijn Vanwijnsberghe). We are indebted to our organisers in each location - Fr. Edu Arockiaraj SJ and Fr. Tommy SJ at Matigara, Fr. Kevin Moktan SJ and his team at St. Alphonsus, Mr. Cassian Dukpa, Ms Dipika Adhikari and the team at Hayden Hall and Fr. Edward Baretto at Darjeeling, Br. Gilbert and our school team at Kalimpong and Mrs. Laxmi Rai Gurung and the staff at Tashi Namgyal Academy and Ms. Sharolyn Zimba at Gangtok. The tour has had an impact beyon...
We began March with a Eucharistic Celebration and the Blessing of the School by Fr. Francis Xavier Subba SJ. We started with the first round of Class-House Assemblies this month interpreting the school year theme - Culture of Human Excellence. A french artist, Anne Guilhbaud gave a workshop to our promising artists from Class 6 through our partners, the Himalayan Institute of Goodwill and Living Ethics. We also began our Musical Mornings with a cello duet presented by our senior cello students under the guidance of our Cello Facilitator, Devraj Rai. Our Music Volunteer, Philipp Engel presented German childrens’ songs with our Kindergarteners. Our Music Team organised ‘Rendition 2024’, the school’s talent festival, this time focusing on unique performances. Our Senior Orchestra performed at the International Women’s Day event organised at the Kalimpong Town Hall by the Anandadhara unit of the District Administration and Hayden Hall Institute. A...
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