Page 35 - DAIS Insignia 2020-21

EDITORIAL & It was a pleasure to work closely with the Insignia team to showcase the wonderful events that took place in primary school last year - for a
year gone by, which will forever stay etched in our hearts. The creative efforts of the students show an unmatched imaginative power, and
the ability to express themselves through art and writing. We were overwhelmed by how often the kids thought out of the box and it brought
us great joy knowing that the kids are benefiting a lot by channeling their powerful imaginations into storytelling and creative writing. It also
helped us understand the magnitude of work that goes into the insignia, which made us appreciate the effort put in by everyone involved.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We hope they carry on creating stories well into the coming year and beyond. - Aishani Dass, Anagha Srinivasan, Ananya Srinivasan,
Devika Kothari, Dhruv Bhalla, Sanaa Beriwala, Vivaan Turakhia
Student Editorial Team:
IGCSE G 8 & 9 - Aamanya Sejpal, Nysa Agrawal, Hrishita Shah, Drishti Agarwal, Anaaya Agrawal, Anaya Bansal, Aanya Malhotra,
Samika Jain, Tejasvi Gupta Tishaa Dutt, Sara Adukia, Meghna Pillai, Nikita Parera, Divya Karnani, Falak Shah, Aarav Nanavaty
IGCSE G 10 - Sanaa Beriwala, Anagha Srinivasan, Ananya Srinivasan, Devika Kothari, Dhruv Bhalla, Vivaan Turakhia
IBDP G 11 - Shanay Ambani, Samiksh Jain, Annette Mehta, Aakash Doshi, Aditya Bhargava
IBDP G 12 - Aishani Dass, Suakshi Soni, Eesha Bodapati, Insha Lakhani

The school year 2020-21 will be etched in our hearts forever. When virtual schooling was first introduced,
we thought of it as futuristic, unprecedented, and unknown. As the months passed by, we adjusted to this
new normal and began to delve deeper to understand the true potential of online schooling. It brought
everyone from LKG to grade 12 together, learning and growing as one. Virtual schooling brought the world
into our homes and gave us the opportunity to learn the importance of our resources and explore
sustainability. - Valli Madhavan, Teacher Editor
The INSIGNIA Editorial Team was excited when Ms Isha Ambani Piramal declared 'Sustainability' to be this
year's theme. Students in the editorial meetings were overjoyed as the theme played a number close to their
heart; it was topic that DAIS students are heavily immersed in. Students discussed theoretical knowledge from
subjects that covered sustainability and explained how each one of them was involved in school based
environmental activities that had sustainability as the core goal.
The Insignia team was heavily invested in using the UN's Sustainable goals for the sections of our
Valli Madhavan
magazine. After an approval nod from the Heads of school, student editors decided on a framework for V alli Madhavan
the distribution of over twelve out of the seventeen sustainability goals for all classes spanning the Primary,
Middle, Senior and IB sections. Grade 8 and 9 student editors worked at scripting goal statements for every
section divider, while the senior students of Grade 11 and 12 took up responsibility to co-ordinate apprising the DAIS school community
about the class-wise themes, submissions and deadlines. Student copy editors reached out to students to write quotations to support the
theme and these have been used in every class page. Layout, design and text were well-planned for, and soon articles, poems, photographs,
videos started pouring in from students of DAIS. Essays on sustainability, art work on sustainability, poems on sustainability- the theme
resounds on every page. The Art work for all section dividers are DAIS students' creations and every section divider has a message for a
sustainability goal penned by student editors. Every page has creatively pushed forth the message that our
planet, if made sustainable, will survive and thrive. The Cover page emerged after looking at over 200
One of the sustainability goals, which in our opinion is the most crucial one, is building partnerships to attain the goals. This is much akin to pieces of art submissions based on the theme. The theme page this year shows an overview and two
the journey creating this magazine has been. There are three I's in Insignia, yet we felt like there were none. Personally, getting involved with poems, all in students' own words. Words that envisage a vision and wisdom to make our planet safe.
students from all year groups - from having sessions to explain sustainability goals to collecting and writing pieces for the Insignia, this was an THE INSIGNIA 2020-21 Editorial Team has endeavoured to put forth one strong, unequivocal message: Let us make
arduous yet enriching journey. And now beholding this incredible magazine, the product of our collective effort, is the ultimate reward. our world Sustainable. Let us value, conserve, restore and worship our planet. Every step forward ought to be a
-Samiksh Jain and Shanay Ambani, IBDP Grade 11 - Chief Student Editors sustainable step. A step where people live in harmony with nature and each other, a step where people respect
environmental conservation, a step where we all become conscious global citizens driven towards sustainable living.
The Insignia Club was extremely fun, and seeing the whole process behind the publication that we read and cherish every year was amazing!
From creating banks of articles to visualizing the layout of pictures and articles, this year was extremely unique. With not many physical events Great efforts have been put by the Editorial Team to make this year's publication eventful. This year again,
using the Microsoft Teams platform for innumerable virtual meetings, we have a digital magazine for our
taking place, it was a challenge for the team to incorporate all the elements and achievements, but through the extensive support of our readers. We have colourful pages with beautiful photographs art work portraying student experiences of
heads and teachers we have been successful in our annual publication. It was a brilliant experience, and we learned so much over the last
school life this year. The surprise element…. Videos!
year. - Nysa Agarwal, Grade 9 and Dhrishti Agarwal, Grade 8 - Student Copy Editors
Nisha Maniar
Happy reading and happy viewing! - Nisha Maniar, Teacher Editor Nisha Maniar
An insignia is a badge of honour - and working with this creative, brilliant team definitely has been one. Insignia created an almost magical
space for us, where our ideas were always entertained, and we could all contribute to this publication. We have always seen the magazine in
print, and being a part of this club was a lot like going behind-the-scenes, watching it come together, piece by piece. Co-ordinating online ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
with teachers and classmates has been truly different. An unforgettable experience, working towards culminating the magazine has been a
wonderful experience. This year has been exceptionally unique because we created this magazine online. Even though the circumstances INSIGNIA 202-21 successfully saw fruition due to immense co-ordination and co-operation from the entire DAIS community. First and
were not ideal, Insignia has been an amazing, unforgettable experience. - Samika Jain, Tejasvi Gupta from Grade 8, Aamanya Sejpal foremost, we wish to express deepest gratitude to our Chairperson Mrs. Nita Ambani, for her steadfast support and guidance. We are in
from Grade 9 - Student Copy Editors deepest gratitude towards Vice Chairperson Mrs. Isha Ambani Piramal, for her foresightedness in selecting SUSTAINABILITY as this year's
theme. Her eye for detail and her advice on the choice of student art work for the Cover and Section dividers have helped make our
Being a part of the Insignia club has been one of the most valuable experiences of this year. We are thankful for the opportunity to implement publication profoundly meaningful. The Heads of our school have been our strongest guiding force. We thank them for trusting us and giving
our ideas in this issue. Although virtual school made it more difficult to communicate with one another, in some ways it made it easier. Even us this responsibility. Mr. Abhimanyu Basu, Dean of Academics, has been instrumental in setting goals for integrity and accountability with his
though most of us worked with students much younger than us, the tension washed away quickly and it became more fun than it was
tedious. - Aakash Doshi and Annette Mehta, IBDP Grade 11 Student Heads for Design and Layout vision to bring every school experience alive in this publication. A sincere 'Thank you' to Ms. Zarene Munshi (Consultant and Advisor to the
Chairperson), Ms. Farida Taraporevala (Head-Primary), Ms. Mahrookh Tangri (Deputy Head-Primary) and Ms. Vimi Lima Santos (Deputy Head,
Being a part of the editorial team of Insignia 2021 was an unforgettable experience. Being able to coordinate projects, working with each Learning and Research, Primary), Ms. Anjana Roy (Head, National Curriculum -Middle and Secondary School), Ms. Shiney Verghese (Deputy
other, talking to teachers and collecting materials was a great way to socialize on an online platform. While getting the magazine together Head, National Curriculum - Middle and Secondary School) Mr. Micheal Shields (Head-International Curriculum) and Ms. Sonali Bajaj
through online means was troublesome at times, and it would become hard to coordinate with everyone, the support from our teachers and (Deputy Head- International Curriculum). Our Heads of school have held our hands in support, at every stage of this publication. We are also
fellow team members kept us motivated. We really hope everyone's effort and hard work will be evident through Insignia 2020-2021and thankful to all our school Co-ordinators, who have contributed effortlessly to help liaison with teachers and students. DAIS Faculty and Staff
that the entire editorial team cherishes this experience as much as we did. - Anaya Bansal and Anaaya Agrawal from Grade 8 - Student members deserve a strong mention of appreciation for collecting experiences of student work. We thank the Arts
Copy Editors and Layout Team Department for providing a mammoth amount of student art work on the theme of sustainability. The Sports Department
is appreciated for compiling student achievement. The IT Department have enabled proactive on-line support. We
The Insignia Club has surely been one of my most memorable experiences from this year. Collecting data for the Insignia was an
humbly thank the Reliance Branding Team for layout, design and videography, especially for being accessible to us at all
extremely enriching experience as I realized the mammoth amount of work that goes into creating the magazine. Additionally, odd hours. The biggest cheer is truly for all our DAIS students for their pointed dedication to contribute towards making
working together and collaborating with others has been an elevating learning experience. - Hrishita Shah, Grade 9 Student Copy this year's magazine a joyful experience.
Editor
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