Every school has its traditions. One of them here in Manila is an event called Battle of the Bands. Taking place in two rounds, over two separate weekends, it allows for bands and individual singers to compete against each other. The best move on to the second round. This is taken quite seriously. As you can see from the pictures, there is a professional set up of stage and lights. We get one or two guest judges in the music industry to participate. It is a night of celebrating student talent. This year I managed to make it to the finals of the Battle of the Bands and now have a sense of what it all about. I was impressed by the diversity in song choice amongst performers and the quality of the music. I have to say we have some definite performers amongst our students which made the evening much more enjoyable. I'm still not quite sure how the one tenth grader managed to play his electric guitar behind his head...While music is not what I would consider one of my talents it is enjoyable to see what some of our high schoolers can do.
"We'll come and tell the people, we're going to start a war
We're going to start a riot, bigger better than before."
That refrain was on endless repeat yesterday at school, as the Junior took a part of their batch (grade level) cheer and turned it into one of their standard cheers throughout the day as they dove with high energy in B.o.B or Battle of the Bearcats.
Batch of 2017 getting ready for their cheer
Battle of the Bearcats is a bit difficult to describe to someone who hasn't ever had the ear shattering experience of being on campus for it. It is a one of the few days when our high school students stop worrying about academics and actually act like kids for a while. They complete as grade levels (9 vs 10 vs 11 vs 12) in a variety of competitions for spirit points, which are often earned by the batch that is the loudest, initiates the most cheers, encourages the other batches and has a sustained support through an event. Unless you can picture a exuberant group circled around 8 students that are participating in the final event of the day, speed painting, you will never have a prayer of understanding this school tradition.
The end of speed painting.
How varied are the events? I'd almost guarantee way more than you would predict. Here is the list of activities for this year: batch cheer, 7-second challenge, badminton, basketball, bearcat challenge, bearcat idol, bearcat's got talent, board games, volleyball, capture the flag, chess, cupcake decorating, debate, dodgeball, escape hunt, recycled fashion design show, FIFA 17, graphic design, gym baseball, human calculator, jeopardy, League of Legends, Lip-sync battle, Mario Kart, NBA 2k17, photography, poetry slam, Quidditch, rap battle, robotics, rock climbing, short story competition, So You Think You Can Dance, soccer, speed painting, Super Smash Bros 4, swimming, table tennis, tennis, touch rugby, track and field, ultimate frisbee, water polo, and Whose Line is it Anyway (improv). I honestly think there is something for everyone on that list, which is good as pretty much every student is required to participate in something, and can at most take part in 2 events.
Winning Junior cupcakes (the horrible green color is because of the shade cover we have...
As you can imagine, this also requires quite a bit from the teachers, as we volunteer for activities to oversee/judge, serve as advisors to individual batches and be a presence as they work on their cheer in the weeks leading up to the event. This year I put myself down to judge the cupcake decorating challenge where I was quite impressed by the junior's team who brought in all hand made decorations, including sugar glass flames to go with their batch theme of riot. Along with rap battle, a bit of a disappointment this year, but then I'm always amazed at what kids are willing to get up on a stage and try. I also ended up helping out with the end of the recycled fashion event, where teams were given newspaper and packaging tape to create an outfit out of. It was actually impressive what some of them came up with.
Sophomore recycled fashion design
I do think, though that my favorite activity of the day is the opening ceremony with the entire high school in the gym when each batch gets a few minutes to perform their cheer, and I think overall the cheers were of a much higher quality this year. I manged to record three of four, just to give you a sense of the high energy that persists the whole day.
It is an incredible, almost indescribable day, although I have to admit I'm quite happy to be alone in my quiet apartment today recovering from the over-stimulation that encapsulates B.o.B.
Last night was the second annual Benefits of Fashion show that students at my school organize. Now, I've been to more fashion shows then I ever anticipated thanks to working at schools where students seem to have a desire (and the connections) to pull things like this off, but I have to admit that this one is a step above many that I've been to. Why? To start with the clothes are designed (but not sewn) by students working in groups of three to create three distinct collections. This year the first collection was focused on formal wear, the second collection on a cultural fusion of color and fabrics and the third was inspired by the Crusades. All of the clothing is modeled by other students, and this appeals to me for a couple of reasons...first it means that not everyone is stick thin and an unrealistic role model (although after seeing many of our girls dressed in form fitting clothes I realize how thin many of them are), it also means that there are just as many boys out there as girls. Second it provides an opportunity for many of our students to do something outside of their comfort zone and usual experience. Will they turn in to models, no, but there is a sense of confidence in oneself that can come from successful walking down a spotlit runway while photos are taken of you in front of over a hundred people. The real reason I enjoy this particular fashion show more than others though is that all of the money earned in this rather elegant endeavor goes to support a group that is working towards women's empowerment. This year the recipient is an organization call Work + Shelter which is trying to "create safe spaces in India where women can come to live and work." The following is from their website:
WORK+SHELTER focuses on women’s empowerment and poverty alleviation. Fundamentally, we provide women in India with fair-trade work and, should they need it, a safe place to live with their dependents. Each shelter has a physical location where activities are centralized.
At our pilot, W+S New Delhi, women are entered into our paid training program where we teach them the skills to create high-quality products for the export market. The only entry prerequisite we have is demonstrated economic need. When the woman completes training and begins to produce for the export market, we increase her pay. The women are paid whether or not the products sell.
Beyond work and shelter, we regularly confer with the women to ensure their other key needs are met. For example, at W+S New Delhi we are currently assisting one stakeholder to find medical support for her kidney problems. We also actively support the women to ensure children in their family are in school. We are aware of each woman’s unique challenges and actively work with them to overcome them together.
I know that they are working to be able to open up several more shelters for women in need and I have no doubt that our students have helped them out with that goal. When you think about that, it would be hard not to go watch a fashion show!
Yesterday was the Fall Fiesta. The one big fund raiser that the high schoolers at AES do. Almost a service project in and of itself. It is a 4 hour undertaking which has just about every student in the high school hoping from booth to booth to work to provide a Halloween carnival for the lower and middle school students. For the price of one wristband, a child can play endlessly at any of the booths that have been set up with home grown games. Some of my favorites this year were the Whack-a-mole booth where students donned helmets, stuck their heads through some circles cut in a sheet and let the kids hammer their heads with an inflatable helmet, the face paint booth for the littlest kids is always a big hit, there was a hoola-hooping station this year, a paper plane flying booth, and not one but two angry birds throwing balls destruction games. There are a couple of things that are always present at Fall Fiesta: bouncy castles (I put in an hour of corralling kids there, but I'm only willing to work the first hour when it is the smallest children after that it is just volunteering for a head ache), the dunk tank by the swim team, the beat the keeper game by the soccer team, the haunted house put on by the theater program, and of course a raffle. I'm always kind of impressed with what our students are able to put together. It has a definite home made feel to it, but I kind of appreciate that. Most of all, though, I appreciate that I won't be asked for money every week during the school year to help fund a variety of activities our students are doing. No, part of putting this on, is that this provides all of the funding for the activities our students do - community service, athletics, theater, etc; no extra fund raising is allowed. Making this an activity our entire school can get behind.
A few weeks ago I received this email, sent out to all of the faculty at our school:
Dear AES Community,You may recall hearing from me last fall, when we held our other “Big Event” for the part of ReachOut we call “Access to Education.” At that time, each year, we have the School Uniforms Drive; and each spring we have the School Supplies Drive…As always, we need your help!For those of you who don’t know,“a proper Uniform and basic School Supplies”are the simple requirements necessary for admission into the Delhi state school system. We are now in our 23rd year of helping our Vivekanand neighbors meet this need. The value of Education is now fully embraced by the colony, with 100% of their children attending school…(and Zero percent engaging in begging or street performing)!So, please try to come to the Main gym, at 9:00 this Sunday morning (sorry, the Gym is not available anytime Saturday!). We will be sorting and loading a record number of backpacks (483!). After a 45-60 minute break, we will distribute the backpacks to the students of Vivekanand, at around 12:30. We won’t need as much help for distribution, but I encourage all who can to at least stop by to view (and photograph?) the milling Colony children outside of Gate 5, or those who come inside—12 at a time—to receive their backpacks.This year, Colony families are paying part of the cost of Uniforms and School Supplies, and will pay more each year, until we are only helping a few families who truly cannot pay. This is exiting and important. The colony has a much improved economy, as Education has improved their lives and Incomes! Therefore, outside help is becoming less and less necessary.This event is a culmination of the efforts of many over the years. We continue to benefit from the ongoing substantial financial support of our generous PSA, and others.Gagan (Middle School Tech and teacher), Ram (a resident of Vivekanand, and now working in our main Tech dept.), Cheryl and I look forward to seeing you this Sunday morning and/or afternoon. Come celebrate with us.Thanks from the “Access2Ed” Team,Jeff
One of the assumptions I had made coming to India is that I would be involved in more community service, how could you not be? Sadly that turned out to not be the case for me. True there are plenty of opportunities to support our students in their activities, but thanks to other obligations on my part I wasn't able to make a long term commitment in this arena. This, then, seemed like a way I could do something small to help support one of the long term successful programs our school engages in. I showed up at 9 and it took us just over an hour to unwrap and pack over 400 backpacks for the students that live in the colony across the street from the school. Thanks to the weather heating up we decided to distribute the bags early, and Ram took care of letting the families know that we would start early.
By the time we returned from a short break they were lined up outside the gate (lined up! one of the volunteers who has been involved with this for years said it was shockingly quiet and calm with very little pushing this year, perhaps they've realized we'll make sure every student gets his bag of supplies and there is no need to push and shove to be first.) Children were let in ten at a time. One group headed directly to they gym where their cards were checked to make sure they had met the attendance requirement we have in place (we'll provide supplies as long as they are actually attending school at least 75% of the time), another group sat on benches in the hallway, a third group sat on the sidewalk outside, the last group hung on the gate in the entryway waiting their turn to enter while a line stretched around the corner outside the gates. It was so great to see them excited to pick up their materials. The littlest accompanied by siblings, their eyes bright at the thought they would be going to school this year. Those in elementary and middle school excited to show us their papers saying they were ready to move on to another class. The high schoolers I passed bags out to were to cool to seem eager, but when I spoke with them, particularly those who were starting their last two years, you could see the pride in their eyes. Pride in the fact that they were going to make it through school as their parent's hadn't.
I walked away humbled by how much the chance for an education means to these children. Pleased that there are people at my school who care enough to make sure that all of the children around us has that opportunity.
How many fashion shows have I been to in my role as a high school teacher? Way more than I ever would have dreamed. Of course one probably would have been more than I ever dreamed. Last weekend brought that count up to five, or is it six? Although I will say this one was a bit more student involved then the ones in Asuncion. Four IB diploma students decided to take on the task of organizing a fashion show to benefit a NGO which works on women's rights and safety. An area in India that is increasingly coming to the worlds notice with reports on gang rapes, young girls being forced into prostitution and domestic violence. (In fact did you know that in the week following the well publicized gang rape and the subsequent death of Jyoti there were 9 more rapes reported in Delhi, and that is only in Delhi, and only the ones that were reported). What made this fashion show different? Nine students designed their own collections (okay, three collections designed by groups of three students), employed tailors to sew them, and other students to model them. The even which took place on the gardens of the Australian High Commission was a big undertaking, and provided us with an excuse to dress up for the evening, plenty to observe and perhaps a reminder of the need to choose a side in the women's right campaign that seems to be gaining strength in India.
In the foothills of the Himalayas, with only a large dam to observe, we put three rafts into the Bhagirathi. A stretch of river that is remarkably isolated and untouched in heavily populated India. I did not even know that such places existed in this country. I spent three hours paddling through the white water with 19 students, 2 other teachers, and 5 guides. Untouched India. I never dreamed I'd get into that, much less thanks to school and the trips it sends the high school out on every year. This year I signed up for a rafting trip. Having never rafted I wasn't at all sure if that was a good choice, or if I it was a mistake for my first experience to be with 19 high schoolers (the answer to that is mixed...). Luckily we had a good group, some nice water, beautiful scenery, and enough rapids to satisfy those thrill seekers among us (which I'm determining is not really a word that describes me). We rafted on three separate days. Two days on the river Ganges, and for the third we headed upstream, past where the Ganges technically starts, to raft the western branch called the Bhagirathi River. One of the tributaries that joins the Alaknanda River at the confluence to form the Ganges. I'll admit I was having a great time, enjoying the scenery, our campsite, the down time and, yes, the students, until I was on the one raft that flipped over the last day headed into Rishikesh on the Golf Course rapids. I suppose it wasn't really surprising, as I did learn that the only way to get through rapids is to paddle through them (well that or float on your back while the water splashes you in the face) and with high school girls in my raft who stopped paddling as soon as they got hit by any water it was just a matter of time before we went over. I've decided to look at it as being thoroughly blessed by the river Ganges, washed clean inside and out after going completely under then swallowing a good amount of water before I could be pulled back into a raft. It just goes to show you never know what a trip will bring.
I walked off the bus followed by the 6 boys who showed up for our game yesterday. We had our first away game since I've started coaching here, thanks to a tournament taking place in our gym. As we walked into the courtyard of Adarsh Public School I thought sure there was some big event going on. There was a big sign welcoming visitors. Six lovely women in their colorful saris were lined up by the door, one with a pan of paint to give each of us a bindi, another with a bowl of loose flowers she tossed over each person. What is going on? We were just coming to play a volleyball game, but it turns out the big event was just that, us coming to play a volleyball game. We had to stop and take pictures in the foyer of the school, then were herded into the director's office to meet him, extend our thanks/receive a welcome and take a few more photos. Then we were lead out to the volleyball court, a dirt rectangle in the middle of the school courtyard. The chairs set up, the sound projection system in use and the other team waiting for us on the far side of the court all started to clue me in as to how important of an event this was for them, that we were willing to come out to their school to play a match. Needless to say my boys were a little overwhelmed for their first match! After the game they were asked to speak with a gathering of middle schoolers who were curious about were they came from (US, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Colombia) and how they were adapting to India. Then on to visit the primary school where a group of little ones were practicing a dance routine for a competition and were happy to give high fives and bump fists with the boys after they took a quick tour of some of the rooms and then posed for yet a few more pictures. Despite the game not going so well, a quick 3 set loss, I am so glad we were able to bring some of the players for this experience beyond all I expected. It brought them together as a team, reminded them of how lucky they really are in so many respects and helped add a little bit of real Delhi to their lives. You just never know what to expect here.
The spotlight came on and he slid down a rope from the catwalk at the ceiling to reach a trapeze, which he then flung himself around in gravity defying movements. I knew in that minute I'd be staying at school to see more of his performance Friday night. How could anyone resist the chance to watch an aerial artist at work? A chance to see balancing acts on a chair which defy normal body contortions? Who would want to miss the gasp inducing moment of a spin down a rope which stops just a foot from the floor? Certainly not I. No, I would spend an hour Friday night barely blinking, staring mesmerized and awed by the pure strength, control and magic Cohdi Harrell brought to the stage. an hour of enjoying what has been the most incredible visiting artist performance I've seen yet here in New Delhi. Who would have ever thought I'd have the chance to be stunned by an aerial artist at a high school campus in India? There is nothing to do but express gratitude for the opportunity and quietly shut my mouth which has dropped open in awe.
Cohdi Harrell performed at AES on August 24, 2012 as part of the visiting artist series.
I've been putting off posting because I want to write about this summer, in the meantime I'm having experiences that I feel like are worth a post. So I thought perhaps I'd be better off sharing some of the small things that have happened recently and getting myself back into the swing of things, after all I've been back in Delhi a month and we just finished our third week of school.
One cool thing that has come out this week is that the 100 people project is featuring a video they shot at our school which highlights the exchange our high school students do with the Vivekanand Community across the street. It will give you a glimpse of what life is like here for some of our neighbors. I've attempted to embed it here, but you can watch it at the 100 people website if you click on India (or try this link if that doesn't work).
5 days with 13 students. 3 days of hiking. 2 days of safari. This was mincourse (the equivalent of week without walls) last week for me. I have to say it was a enjoyable event. It gave me an opportunity to see a bit of India I hadn't seen before, vaguely northeast of Delhi. My first glimpse of the Himilayas, snow covered peaks with several other levels of mountains adding to the beautiful scenery. A quick stop to take photos before the cloud cover settled in and then we were off to start our hiking. Three days of 5-6 hours mostly downhill. We passed through a few small villages, vistas showing the field terracing, past a stream (and a few dry stream beds), down the winding paths, through a single tree type forest (where is the diversity?), and after several falls and some ugly blisters for certain individuals we made it down. To the cheers and pleased expressions of the students for sure. I was kind of sad to be leaving the clean air and heading back to a city.
The second half our trip was to safari in Corbett National Park. The first protected area set aside in India was made a national park in 1936. It is home to a large diversity of birds (including almost 50% of the bird species in India) as well as tigers (we only saw paw prints), three types of deer and a variety of other animals. In our two early morning starts we saw no tiger (don't be disappointed, some of the road signs remind - there are many other worthwhile things to see in our park), a few wild elephants shaking the trees, some deer and plenty of birds including a wild peacock and my favorites, kingfishers and a pygmy woodpecker.
Have to say I enjoyed the week; getting to know a few more students here at school, spending time out in the fresh air and visiting a new piece of India.
Well I seem to finally be well and am no longer spending all of my free time sleeping. Hopefully that means I'll be back to my somewhat regular updates on life.
Keith Terry, body percussionist. That's what all the signs around campus said. A body percussionist? I have to admit that I was intrigued. What kind of artist were they bringing in for our visiting artist series? I have to go check that out. So Friday night found me in our school theater for what turned out to be a very entertaining evening and a much more interactive hour and a half then I expected. It turns out that a body percussionist is exactly what it sounds like. Keith Terry makes music by striking, rubbing, snapping, clicking and tapping different parts of his body. You can see a short clip of him here, or check out a longer youtube video here. It was an interactive evening where I learned how to make more of the sounds then I thought I would be able to (you have to be able to keep a beat though) as he imparted little nuggets of information about different traditions of body music (such as the slave tradition of playing the ham bone - the side and/or back of your thigh). A thouroughly entertaining evening and a great interactive show for the kids; I'd highly recommend checking him out in person, or maybe even wandering over to one of the international body music festivals that he organizes once a year (they've even be reviewed by National Geographic!).
