SuMargadarshak - Scholarship & Mentoring program

The objective of the program:

1. To help students understand teamwork.
2. To help students develop teamwork, presentation skills, and public speaking.
3. To help students identify their areas of interest in the industry.
4. To help students understand the different social issues.
5. To encourage students to learn about systematic problem-solving. 

Process of the Program:

1. The program's team first identified the activities that would be relevant for their age.
2. The topics of discussion were decided as follows

1. Industries
2. Social Problems

3. The activity was spread over 3 days, where the students were put into 6 different groups of 3 students each. These groups were made based on the recommendations of the teachers who have been teaching the 10th standard students.

4. Each group was accompanied by 2 SuMargadarshak students as facilitators and one teacher, who would coordinate between the facilitators and the students.

5. Day 1 started with an introduction to the activity and the facilitators. After the introduction, the facilitators created their own communication groups with the team members and explained the day's activity.

6. The rest of the day, the students worked with their teammates on the research and formatting of the presentation.

7. At the end of the day, the students would send the group presentations and the participation report, indicating the roles played by each student.

8. The following day, the student groups make the presentation, followed by a Q&A session.

9. After the presentations, the facilitators grouped back with their groups to start their work for the second day's activities, following which, a similar process took place.

 Program Outcomes:

• There were totally 13 groups of students. 
• Each group worked with their teammates to make the presentations. 
• They not only worked as teams but they also got to experiment with their creativity while developing the presentations.
• Additionally, their self-confidence levels increased due to the oral presentations of the work that they had done.
• The question-answer sessions also made them understand and think about appropriate responses.

 Virtual Session Interaction with our special volunteer, Raveena.

Our students got the opportunity to interact with Raveena, a very special volunteer with SUKRUPA. Residing in Atlanta, Raveen spends time with our children on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 A.M. During this interaction, she spoke to the students about her interests, her likes, and her favorite subjects in school. Being an avid book reader, Raveena conducted a book reading session with the students. She is a highly motivated individual, with a strong belief in social justice, which would explain her drive to become a lawyer. What makes her special? Being a person with visual impairment, she has overcome her disability and followed after her passion.

"It was a very good discussion. Both Akka’s and my favorite subjects are science. Even though she is blind, she has really helped me a lot." Chaitanya - 6th Grade

"The session was very interesting and funny. She taught us about Grammar. I know I can do better and I look forward to learning new things." - Dhyan - 6th Grade

 Thank you, Raveena, for being a role model for our students.

Virtual camp

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown have led to the shutting down of schools, leading to a more lenient academic life with close to zero recreational activities. Activities that are available online are inaccessible for children from lower economic backgrounds. Unfortunately, the consequences of the lockdown have impacted our beneficiaries the most, as they are children of migrant daily wage earners, who live on a hand-to-mouth income. Owning a smartphone is a luxury, rather than a necessity.

Keeping the need for recreational activities in mind, SUKRUPA is conducting a virtual camp for the students of 8th, 9th and 10th standard, studying in our school. This camp is supported by Salesforce, a US-based company and a well-wisher of SUKRUPA, which is funding the camp kits, providing smartphones as well as providing us with enthusiastic volunteers, who, along with the college students of the SuMargadarshak program,  will be conducting the activities with the students.

The activities revolve around important life skills, such as decision making, communication, conflict management, and empathy, which we believe are extremely important to inculcate in them. Along with this, we also have art and craft activities to encourage self-awareness and sustainability. We have ensured that the fun is not lost, by making the sessions interactive, where the students can also build their self-esteem.

The camp is for 150 students, over a span of 2 weeks.

STEMforce Activity

Unheard, a company that thrives on career counseling, experiential learning, and project-based classes, conducted a 1 month session on STEM for students from various organizations. 9 students from SUKRUPA were selected to attend these sessions. The topics ranged from the various SDGs, financial literacy to entrepreneurship. They dedicated the entire month to ensure that there was enough knowledge transfer and retention by the students. The session included individual activities as well as group activities, giving the students a chance to interact with students outside of SUKRUPA.

The entire workshop started on 1st July 2021 and ended with a group presentation on 23rd July 2021, in the presence of a jury of panelists. What reinforced their participation is that the students received t-shirts with the STEMforce and Unherd logo.

During this time of pandemic and lockdown restrictions over the city, workshops and training sessions are ensuring that students are not sitting idle. SUKRUPA is always open to any sessions that increase the knowledge and skills of our children. Therefore, when Unherd wanted to conduct this workshop, we immediately grabbed the opportunity. We want to ensure that restrictions do not become a hurdle for learning.

Testimonials from Children and Parents

“I enjoyed all activities. I learned many things from these activities. My favorite activity was the tea party because I enjoyed that activity with my family. and I learned many things about Trees, animals, birds, and human beings. and I learned how to do abstract art. and I love drawing”. Thank you, Akshaya  From 8th grade                                                                

'During my lockdown time

1.Spent more time with the family.

2.Playing games with my friends.

3.I'm studying and drawing with my brother

4.I'm cooking at home, eg:-fried rice, french fries, Dosa, making tea and juice, etc.

5.Watching cartoons at home and spending quality time with my family. Thank you'

Akhil from 8th grad.

“I used to feel very bored, sitting at home and doing nothing during the quarantine. So, when the activities were sent, I started doing them and my boredom vanished. Even my family started enjoying doing these activities. I did art and craft, physical activities like skipping and cooking without fire. I used to record videos of these activities and send it to my teachers. I learned a lot from these activities. Thank you.. - Keerthana  10th grade

“I was very happy that my daughter was doing activities at home. It helped me bond with her and see how talented she is. This is a very well-designed program.” - Sujatha / Parent 

"The activities sent to my daughter have not only brought out her talent, it has also given her a chance to bond with her brothers. They help her out in some of the activities.. – Yasmin / Parent