Page 283 - DAIS Insignia 2022-2023

INTERNATIONAL

BACCALAUREATE

DIPLOMA PROGRAMME

The Bubble Project

The Bubble Project was our student initiative to create a more inclusive school
community, reducing academic and personal anxieties through discussion between
English - junior and senior students. Due to the pandemic, some younger students at school
were having trouble readjusting to school. The 8th grade especially struggled with a
Vinglish very fragmented social environment with constant breakdowns, disagreements, and
social exclusion. To improve this, we created support groups called bubbles, where
English-Vinglish is a
junior students could communicate their issues or questions in a protected, confiden-
student-led
tial space. The bubbles consisted of 7 students from Grade 8 and one from Grade 12
organisation for our
as leader. To prompt deep conversations, we developed games and frameworks that
CAS project. It
established rapport within the group. My favourite was a game called 'Spectrum'
supports the staff in
that delved into contentious topics like academic competition, social rivalry, and homophobia. Constructive discussions helped students
our school from the
realise that many of their opinions were based on wanting to be perceived as “cool”, and not how they really felt. Authentic conversa-
bus staff to the
tions brought the class much closer together, with teachers reporting fewer instances of exclusion and dispute.
housekeeping and
security guards by
teaching them English
and improving their DAISMO
linguistic skills to
make them more confident communicating not only in their work environment, but also outside school in their everyday lives. We DAISMO is a challenging,
gauged their previous learning in the initial sessions to identify their strengths and weaknesses and made weekly personalised lesson multifaceted mathemati-
plans. Since the bus staff was at a higher level than the security staff, we divided them into two groups to ensure everyone was getting cal Olympiad intended to
personalised attention. We conducted a variety of intriguing activities to build on their speaking, reading, writing, and listening English test the critical thinking
skills from everyday applications to fun games. At the end of the sessions, not only did they improve their conversational skills, but also and analytical skills of
became more confident learners. middle and high school students. Apart from spreading
the spirit of mathematics, our mission also includes a
Menstrual Movement societal impact: we plan to donate all the funds we
collect from this competition to the Angel Xpress
Despite being in the era of progressive feminism, period Foundation, an NGO working towards improving the
poverty continues to be one of the gravest issues in India, lives of underprivileged children through education.
due to various reasons but majorly, stigmatisation. Lack of
access to quality education for underprivileged girls also stands In this CAS project, we identified 2 age groups, juniors:
Grades 8-10 and seniors: Grades 11-12. We created questions based on various mathematical concepts: probability, sequences and
as a pressing issue in the country. In an effort to mitigate
these problems in our locality, The Menstrual Movement aims to destigmatise menstruation, series, geometry, vectors and algebra. The aforementioned concept were then evaluated based on difficulty and then used to create the
raise awareness about menstrual hygiene among underprivileged women, alleviate period Olympiad. The questions were pilot-tested by a random sample of students from grades 8-12 before being used to ensure that they
poverty, and improve access to educational resources. were understandable. These questions were designed to challenge the participants and test their mathematical knowledge and skills.
We have collaborated with the Myna Mahila Foundation in Mumbai to support the education This Olympiad was different from other Olympiads since it was divided into two rounds, a preliminary and a final. In the first round, only
and menstrual hygiene facilities of women housed at the organisation. To this effect, we the best-performing participants qualified to take part in the final round. The preliminary round was held on the discord platform and
conducted a donation drive, collecting stationery items, loose sheets, school bags. We made the final was held on the website exam.net. In our 1st round, we coded our own bot to ask contestants questions automatically
nearly 70 notebooks out of the loose sheets, altogether donated to the foundation. Further, we designed informative pamphlets about contests answers, keeping in mind the time taken by a contestant to answer a question. We then took 11 people in our senior category
the menstrual cycle and menstrual hygiene methods in English, Hindi, and Marathi for the women to increase awareness in them about
and 21 people in our junior category to the next round. Our team invigilated participants using the Microsoft Team application through-
menstruation. Moreover, we have conducted a fundraiser in the CAS Fete, selling handmade and second hand jewellery, stickers, out the 1-hour exam. The Olympiad was held on 1st October 2022 with the qualifiers from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. IST and the finals from
notebooks and various merchandise. We successfully sold out all items and are presently in the process of calculating the funds and
3:00 - 4:00 p.m. IST. After the exam, we received many positive comments and all the participants wished to know when this event
facilitating the transfer to Myna Mahila.
would be held again. We raised over Rs. 50,000 for Angel Express and the best performers in their categories received certificates with
Finally, to extend our impact on to our surrounding community— the school— we also conducted an educational session with the non-
the top performer earning a special certificate.
teaching female staff to create dialogue about the prejudice and stigma enfolding periods in an attempt to shatter these. It was
heartwarming to hold progressive discourse with them, particularly receiving their feminist standpoints on how they are attempting to Ishaan Shah, Krish Waghani, Tarush Mayani, Ribhav UK, Aditya Iyer, Aditya Mehta, Mainak Nistala, Aarnav Gogri,
destigmatise periods in their families. Mudit Baid, Maahir Jain, Bhavesh Agarwal
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