Saturday, August 13, 2011

Failure is an event, NEVER an Individual.

Winston Churchill famously said that Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. Famous author JK Rowling in her commencement speech at Harvard University said that, schools prepare students to succeed rather than to face and handle failures in life but latter is a more likely event.

The Cultural Committee at Atmiya Vidya Mandir seems to be ahead of Harvard University in that respect as they decided to celebrate a unique value at Atmiya Vidya Mandir “Failing Forward”. Shivam House got the opportunity to celebrate such a unique value recently.

The original idea came from a book written by John Maxwell: “Failing forward – turning mistakes into stepping stones of success.” The book itself is one of the best sellers from the author and more importantly an inspiration to the readers.


Shivam House started the week with a presentation on Monday. The idea was to introduce the value to all the students with simplicity. Through various videos and examples it was made clear that if one can learn from a mistake then it is no longer a failure but a success. It was conveyed in the presentation that failure is a part of life, no one can avoid failure. More importantly it is about how to face the failure and bounce back from it. Students from Std 10 (Pranshu Savani and Hemal Gadhiya) gave a very meaningful presentation on 7 steps to fail forward. They cited different examples with videos which made the students and teachers want more. On Wednesday, Kishan G (Std 10) gave a speech on the importance of not to fail backward. He mentioned some criteria to help to see if one is failing backward or forward when they meet with failures.

On Thursday, Prajval Sir gave a presentation on the need to learn from mistakes and be prepared to face the failures in life as it is inevitable. He stressed the fact that failure is not fatal if we are ready to learn from it and not repeat the same mistake. Shivam House brought a new perspective to the value on Friday with a speech from Sarthak Jariwala (Std 12). Sarthak talked about the need of divine intervention when we cannot overcome the failures in life. He gave some good examples from different fields of life to make a very good point. He also explained Gunatitanand Swami’s vaat “Dosh rahe che ne tali jata nathi…” and explained the importance of setbacks in life.

Every week, students look forward to the creative assembly as it brings a lot of excitement and new ways to learn about a life value. Shivam House increased the excitement of students by multi-fold through a video sneak preview of the Saturday creative assembly. Pujeetbhai prepared two very well made sneak previews for the Saturday’s event which caught the imagination of the whole school including the teachers.

Shivam House did not disappoint the students by showcasing the assembly in a very innovative and refreshing form of a talk show. Vaishvik Patel (Std 8), the House Vice Captain, was the host of “The Saturday Morning Show with Vaishvik Patel”. Vaishvik impressed everyone with his humour and his casual but friendly attitude. He was equally intelligent and respectful towards his guests on the show. In the show, the students of Shivam House presented a scintillating and inspirational dance performance on the song ‘Chale chalo’ from the movie LAGAAN. Suhradam Sir choreographed the dance very meaningfully and told a story of failing forward through the dance. The dance (lead by Vinay Rathi) showcased the spirit and enthusiasm which lifted everyone in the hall. Then it was a time to call upon the guest played by Bhavik Parekh (Std 9). Bhavik confidently played the part of a motivational speaker and put across his points successfully with videos of Isiah Thomas (basket ball player) and America’s 16th president Abraham Lincoln. Bhavik explained that Lincoln was a very ordinary man and faced plenty of failures in his life but what made the difference was his attitude towards those problems. He also answered some questions from the audience.

One of the features of the show was its commercial breaks. The adverts were selected very carefully so that they were relevant to the value and also motivational for the students. The show ended with thanking the participants and key members of the staff who made the show possible through end credits. Shivam House also prepared a small ‘The making of Failing Forward’ video showing the efforts put by all the students and teachers with some funny moments.

Softboard presentation is a unique feature at Atmiya Vidya Mandir, as students and teachers prepare them week in week out with such creativity to convey some important life values.

Every success story is also a story of failure. All the successful and famous people overcame the hurdles and then became successful. Shivam House chose a similar theme of depicting the ‘famous failures’. They included the lives of Michael Jordan to Albert Einstein who all were told they could not succeed in life. But their courage and perseverance brought them unprecedented success. Such examples also included Amitabh Bachchan, Abraham Lincoln, Steve Jobs to name a few others. The message on the soft board was loud and clear “Achievers reject rejects, they never give up, and they redefine the failures”.

Shivam House thanks everyone who made this week possible and made it a huge success. 
Shivam House

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