ADHYAYAAN LEADERSHIP
PROGRAMME
-
Ms.
Cressieda Murzello
St. Joseph’s High School,
Wadala,
29th June 2013
What started as a rainy day for Mumbaikars on 10th
June 2013 proved to be a day to cherish for the leaders of St. Joseph's High
School, Wadala and Don Bosco High School, Matunga. All thanks to the Adhyayan
Organization for their interesting, creative and innovative eight-day workshop
for the leaders of the four Salesian schools in Mumbai (simultaneously, a
similar leadership program was on for the leaders of Don Bosco High School,
Borivili and Dominic Savio High School, Andheri).
On the first day, the leaders were greeted by Mr. Michael
and Ms. Sophia from the Central School of Speech and Drama, London . The
workshop began with an energetic exercise of rhythmic exercise that was
followed by 'The Penguin Song', a weird yet an interesting and innovative
concept . Then ensued a host of invigorating activities in groups as
ice-breakers and value-discovery exercises.
On day two, the participants were engaged in a blindfold
game advocating ‘trust’, and an absorbing treasure map task that drilled in the
impact of leadership qualities in managing one’s team. The end of the day saw
all rocking to the song, “I say boom chicka rocka chicka boom”. The amusing banana song sung by the leaders
on a conjectured lonely island following a plane crash was the day’s first activity
on the third day of the workshop. The
tough ‘mother hawk’ game and the ‘man monster cum survivors’ team game took us
to the end of yet another entertaining day.
Following a break of four days, the workshop resumed on 17th
June with some enthusiastic tasks for the leaders. The qualities of teamwork were best put to
use during the construction of the longest tower with the help of straws. Thereafter, a ‘Democratic System of Student
Council’ was explained to the students by Ms. Shagun. The students met in smaller groups to work on
the formation of the Students’ council for the school, and discussed the
problems and the issues that could be addressed and solved through this
forum. This important activity was continued
right through the next day. On the fifth
day, the leaders thoroughly enjoyed the game called ‘THE ULTIMATE NINJA’ –
which was soon to become a hit- that taught them a great lesson: to survive and succeed one has to listen to his leaders. The students then worked on
charts to present their plan to conduct school council meetings.
On the second last day of the workshop, after the
preliminaries of songs and games, the students got down to their task of
defining the goals of the Student Council, and nearly created a 'CONSTITUTION'
for our very own country-like school. Later
the student leaders were given a lesson in the conduct of a Student Council
through a role play activity – Chair, Vice Chair and the Scribe. On 21st
June, being the last day of the leadership camp, the boys marched in with
abundant energy and enthusiasm. Energetic
exercises, the games SPLAT and ‘the cat and the mouse’ were the prelude to the STUDENT
COUNCIL MEETING. The issues of the
meeting that featured ‘change in uniform’ and ‘cleanliness around the school’ were
selected by the Chair and the Vice Chair appointed by Mr. Michael and Ms. Sophie
.
This was sadly the last session at the camp. The students of
St. Joseph’s presented Ms. Sophie and Mr. Michael a ‘thank you’ card and a
photograph as their token of appreciation for them. We have just begun a new
scholastic year – may these inputs prove to be fruitful and productive for the
entire school community.
