Page 267 - DAIS Insignia 2020-21

MOMENT OF JOY ECOSPEAK

EcoSpeak MAD Project is a CAS initiative that
Through the MOJ MAD Project, we aimed to create an
awareness of mental and physical well-being in the world of was started by 15 students of Grade 12 in order
sports, utilize yoga to reduce this feeling of stress, and to provide a platform to raise awareness about
anxiety and spread the joy of sports in rural communities. We environmental concerns. Along with a panel
incorporated CAS in this project in the following ways: that featured three prominent climate activists
Activity (in the form of Yoga sessions); Service (through from Mumbai, we have also published two
mobile phone collection drives, ESports competitions in FIFA editions of our magazine, The Ecopedia. The
on the PlayStation and football freestyling competitions and panel served as a way for students to learn from
Donations; and Creativity (by designing posters and through the first-hand experiences of those involved in
promotions on Instagram). tackling environmental issues, while the
magazine provided a way to use the creative
One integral aspect of this project was to make it as talents of our student body to create a dialogue
streamlined as possible. With the division of work with the on these critical problems.
help of the Logistics team, a timetable was formulated that The Ecopedia had five subcommittees to come
all the other teams had to follow. Every part of this project to fruition: editing, administration, outreach,
was conducted, keeping in mind the deadlines of the IB social media, and layout. Every Tuesday and Friday, we would move to
Calendar, as well as the internal deadlines that have been breakout rooms to collaborate on different aspects of this complex project.
decided in our timeline. 'The Ocean’ was the perfect theme to base our first edition on because of the
To further delve into the main stages of this project, we ocean's azure blue aesthetic and unimaginable vastness. For our next edition,
planned Yoga classes for the Shastrinagar School, for 10 we decided on the theme – 'Fire and Ice', to explore the detrimental and
weekly sessions of 1 hour each. We conducted an Esports terrifying effects of climate change. Both these magazines were broadcasted
competition and a football freestyling competition. We launched a mobile Phone collection drive, and we created an Instagram account to promote to all students in Grades 8-12, as well as published on our school website.
each aspect of our project. Through the Esports competition, we decided to conduct an online gaming competition to help raise money rather than a On 4th October 2020, the DAIS CAS Team 'Ecospeak' also organised a virtual panel focusing on “Mumbai: Conservation, Activism, and Sustainability.”
physical competition due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The ESports Competition was to be played on both FIFA 20 and FIFA, and an entry fee of 500 The panel featured distinguished panelists Stalin Dayanand, responsible for saving the Aarey Forest, Sumaira Abdulali, founder of the NGO Awaaz, and
rupees with a 2000-rupee prize for 1st Place and a 1000-rupee prize for 2nd Place was decided. All the money raised from this initiative was channeled Pawan Sharma, founder of RAWW.
to the BCM Shastrinagar School. We also conducted a football freestyling competition. Freestyling is the art of self-expression through creatively Mr Stalin Dayanand spoke about not only his own pioneering efforts but also the initiatives of other young students in protecting the forest, inspiring
juggling a football using any body part except the hands. This competition would help raise money for the coaching at the Shastrinagar School. The age listeners to take action no matter how small the scale. Ms Sumaira Abdulali provided novel insights on the sand mining industry in India. She shared
groups involved were 12+; however, there was no limit. There was an entry fee of 250 rupees and a prize of 500 rupees for the winner. Through the with the listeners the extreme measures she took to fight against the environmental injustices that were prevalent in her community. Mr Pawan Sharma
points system with a specific criteria: Control 5 points, Creativity - 5 points, Style - 5 points, Difficulty - 5 points. TOTAL - 20 points, the winner was highlighted measures that students can take to ensure the well-being of animals and wildlife. He highlighted the importance of coexistence between
decided. This attracted a great deal of interest from the target audience of students and football lovers. wildlife and humans especially in urban environments like Mumbai. The students also engaged in discussions about the leopards in the Sanjay Gandhi
Through our mission of aiding the development of students at the Shastrinagar School, the activities were successfully conducted. Initiatives such as National Park, Mumbai, who are under threat due to human development.
the weekly yoga sessions were especially helpful since they provided a platform for kids to relax both mentally and physically to avoid the immense DAIS students across age groups enthusiastically attended the panel to learn about environmental consciousness and conservation measures. The
stress caused by the lockdown. Moreover, by moving towards Esports tournaments, we managed to stick to our goal of raising money through sports, panel embodied Ecospeak's mission of bringing sustainability from the margins to the
and we extracted the best out of the lockdown situation to give us a successful project. 1/3 of the world's food is wasted each year, yet 1 in 4 mainstream.
children experience food insecurity or hunger. This ruse Saachi Jain, Prarthna Chabria, Jispa Doshi, Eesha Bodapati, Tia Jasra, Rashi Lalan,
Adit Kadakia, Dhruv Jhaveri, Rishi Kothari, Aditya Sundesha, Devavardhan Bajla, Dev Kapashi, Shiv Karnani, Ayushman Singh, of adequacy is fueled by irresponsible production. It is
Farrah Patel, Krish Bajaj, Tara Agarwal,Suakshi Soni, Paree Rohera,
Yash Kothari, Siddhant Nanavati, Aman Acharya, Arjun Chougule, Shiv Desai time to look beyond our privilege and do more with less. Nandini Pradeep, Yohan Kuriyan, Yuvan Chugh, and Shanaya Piramal.
Insha Lakhani
The inspiration for Peer Help MAD Project
PEERHELP came from our previous experience of informally
helping juniors with academics. Encouraged by Decálogo del consumidor responsible Aishani Dass
the positive feedback we had been receiving, we
decided to create an official platform in school that enabled peer-tutoring.
Es importante que nosotros
Although we were confident that this project would be effective, we had a lot of Es urgente que las personas
work ahead of us including recruiting other mentors, proposing the idea to Heads reciclemos los productos del digan NO a las bolsas plásticas
of school, and finding students willing to take part in such a project. plástico que usamos.
We were probably most nervous about presenting the idea to the Heads as we were
unsure about how they might react to the idea of setting up an internal academic
assistance system. However, to our surprise, they were very keen on implementing it Es vital que los individuos vayan
and promptly scheduled the sessions for us. en bici para ahorrar energía y Es fundamental que todos
One of the trickiest aspects of this was pitching the idea to both teachers and para ayudar a reducir el efecto consumamos comida ecológica
students. While convincing the authorities of its benefits, we had to find evidence invernadero.
supporting the need for such a program and we went to the extent of conducting
surveys to ascertain whether students would find this helpful. On the other hand, Es indispensable que los
while asking students to enroll, we had to convince them that they would enjoy it. Es necesario que la gente ahorre profesores hablen sobre el
Since we were asking them to go out of their way and invest time in this program, we energía apagando las luces
had to be as engaging as possible to meet our end of the deal. As a result, our cuando no se están utilizando. impacto ambiental de los
structure had to be both effective and enjoyable. We also made sure that this was a rellenos sanitarios a sus
bilateral exchange, where we learned as much from teaching as they did from alumnos.
learning.
Despite the obstacles in our journey such as organizing sessions on Microsoft Teams, Es fundamental que todos Es importante que nosotros
asking for enrolments, and communicating and logistics, we learned how to tackle compremos ropa sostenible. cerremos los grifos y utilicemos
such problems with tenacity, patience, and adaptability.
dosificadores
The experience was highly fulfilling as we got to interact with many students types:
from those who were eager to go beyond the syllabus for their love of learning to
those who just wanted the skills to cope. We experienced not only the satisfaction of
clearing academic concepts but also gaining students’ confidence and faith. Es de mucha importancia que Es imprescindible que los N I
los alumnos creen conciencia T A
We are proud to have not just made a short-term impact, but to have established a long-term process that connects those willing to teach their peers individuos sepan cómo reciclar S ABILITY
and those who can benefit from it. We aim to bridge any disconnect across grades, ensuring that students can reach out to their own seniors for help, sobre la contaminación del los desechos tóxicos S U
and never feel that they are without sufficient guidance. The DAIS student body is supportive and intellectually passionate, we merely agua y de la tierra.
created a platform to catalyse this.
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