Himanshu Sethia
An Experience of a Lifetime
Situated in Norton, Massachusetts which has a population of about only 10,000 people is Wheaton College offering various courses in different fields and summer programs for those looking for different life experiences. One such course was The Global Leaders Program, which consisted of 15 students of grade 11-12, aged 15 to 17, who were from 8 different countries from all over the world.
The program offered development of different life skills mainly communication and community building and connecting various fields of studies to business as to bring a change in the world as a social entrepreneur. The two weeks course was divided in the first week and the second week. The first week being all about community building and having experiences in different fields of study such as Anthropology, Political Science, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Data Visualization, Art and Design, etc. In the second week we had to prepare 2 business plans; First, a grouped one which was to bring in a change in the society associated to a pre provided United Nations Sustainable Development Goal, the second one was an individual one which was supposed to be so realistic that we could have done it with our own skills and available resources except of money, which the investors (the judges) would have invested in to whichever they would have found more realistic and effective.
We also enjoyed some outings such as a rope course, community building exercises, Museum of science, University visits and The 4th of July. The 4th of July was a completely a different experience, we had some sports activities in the morning, followed by a water balloon fight, which was followed by dinner and a wiffle ball game with the college president and in the night, we went to Bridgewater to witness a firework show and some local food. The different universities we visited were MIT, Boston University and Harvard.
Over the two week period we made some new friends and were supported in our each step by the 8 mentors who sacrificed their holidays to help us and make our visit a better one, though I’m sure they enjoyed our company and had a great time with us because personally, I miss the group and the mentors and would love to go on another such program if and when I get such an opportunity, because such opportunities are rare and give an experience of a lifetime and adds so many stories and connections to your life.
Chelsi Bhansali
C.C.A. Captain
(Agastya House)
From being a cornered kid to interacting with people on bigger platform. I evolved.
Well this change wasn’t much easy. It costed me sleepless nights and desperate efforts. It was yet another morning which filled me with tonnes of energy and enthusiasm to make my space in this busy world of judgemental mindsets who stood strong as hurdles in my path. But, everytime I took a pause because of one question that troubled me. “How will I make my space amongst so many who are already there?” Everytime, when this question struck my mind, I was left with only one answer - “I am different.”
You must be wondering who sowed this seed that i was eager reap. It was none other than my family and one special friend. What once use to be my weakness had now turned into my strength. The support of my family was as much important as the motivational talks of that special friend. Some lessons were learned and some were yet to experience. The most important thing was that I was prepared to struggle, fail and succeed too. I did not know what was written in my fate but I definitely knew that my hardwork could mould it.
My initial achievement was getting not one, not two but four “BEST PHOTOGRAPHER “ awards at different events. One of them was most special because along with the trophy , I received 2100 Rupees cheque. my first income. Well, this was all about my passion for photography.
I happened to club these skills with filming and that brought a thunderstorm on social media. Yes, I started with my YouTube channel. My dreams had turned into reality . It was another accomplishment as I was the first one to start my own YouTube channel in the school. It that was the moment when I became insane , I remember how i use to capture every moment. I knew I had I started the YouTube channel but what about the content? “What would I upload?”, I asked myself. And the answer was very clear - makeup and styling videos. It didn’t take me much time to decide because I knew what my interests were.
The journey continued and I started uploading videos frequently. Many appreciations filled my bag. I was happy. Every video was a motivation to film the next. I wish I could describe the satisfaction in words. Even the people who didn’t appreciate initially, started loving it because they saw me growing. Even I know how much I improved myself in every video and now when I look back. Every second, is evidence of my growth. Well now I know the seed is coming out from the ground. It was worth investing my time in YouTubing. This journey made me realise what i wish to do in the future. Now, i have changed.
All those who are reading this, do take out time to like,share and subscribe the channel. You will find how much true this story was.....
Meghal Jain
Head Girl
MY JOURNEY…
In 5th grade I failed my math exam.
I scored 0. In my AS Levels I scored an ‘A’ in math; 50/50 in Statistics and 72/75 in Pure Math. 122/125 in total.
Until 6th grade I never used to study. I was living in a delusion that studies are not important but being practical is. Little did I know that I was only giving myself reasons to run away from hard work and determination; I was feeding my laziness. When I hit puberty, my life started to fall apart. I started losing friends because people started seeing me as a dumb person. I felt that I didn’t have a purpose but I always had big dreams. “ Dreams are not what you see in sleep, it is the thing which doesn’t let you sleep”, one day my dad read this quote by A.P.J Abdul Kalam to me and that hit me really hard.
Since then my life changed.
I stopped living in the illusionary world that I had created for myself.
My mom always told me that hard work pays off and if you put your heart and soul into something you will get everything you want. With that I started working on myself, I took baby-steps but with 100% honest efforts.
In 6th grade, I managed to pass. In 7th grade, I got 70%. In 8th grade, my entire life changed. I joined Bodhi. I not only scored 90% but I topped my class. I felt beyond happy and something that I had always lacked in my life- Sense of Achievement.
Studying is extremely important. It has changed my entire life. It has produced millions of opportunities for me and has opened so many doors to success. It didn’t only boost my self-confidence but also helped me and kept me rooted to my sole purpose of life. It gave me direction.
My motivation to study has always been the feeling of success. I strongly feel that academic excellence has helped me develop qualities like dedication, determination and hard work.
I’ve worked really hard on myself and I’ve definitely learnt to sacrifice. I wouldn’t go out with my friends because I learnt to prioritize what’s important (not saying that friendships are not important, they are a vital part of everyone’s life). Prioritizing is what’s the most IMPORTANT key to success. If one fails to prioritize, it means that they become inefficient in life. To me Inefficiency is wasting priceless time, efforts and energy on something that adds little value to you.
Henceforth, you need to know that you’re the only person who’s responsible for your own future. If you feel like something that’s going to bring your closer to where you want be in the next 10 years of your life, you should definitely do that and vice versa.