Senior Indian Revenue Service Officers inspire AVM students

On 28th March 2012, a Senior Income Tax Officer Mr. Deepak Vyas with the Joint Commissioner of Income Tax - Surat Mr. Yogesh Surti visited Atmiya Vidya Mandir to guide the students of 11th commerce on the matters of income tax. They introduced themselves and informed the students about the nature of their work.

They gave the students an insight about how income tax is collected and where the collected tax is used. They also explained the students about the various aspects of income tax and highlighted the importance of income tax. The students got aware of the different ways of paying tax and the tax slab system.

The esteemed guests also spent some time answering the queries of the students in a very informative way and guided the students about the various career prospects in this field. It was a unique learning experience for the students to interact with such experienced officials on a personal level, an opportunity that the students feel really grateful about.

Their message to the students was that not paying tax was a crime, so they appealed to them to become responsible citizens i.e. ‘Jagrat Nagrik’ and to spread awareness in the society of the importance of paying tax.

The students now look forward to preparing themselves to become such individuals so as to do their bit in solving the grave problem of tax evasion in the society.

Written by: Nikhil Chaudhary (11th Commerce)

Reviewing Greatness!

In an attempt to get some real life insight into the vast field of Business, Finance and Commerce in general, the 11th Commerce class, inspired and guided by Purvesh Sir, have started a series of book review presentations. Four groups have been formed, each working on different books:

• Good to Great - by Jim Collins
• We are like that only - by Rama Bijapurkar
• 2G Spectrum Scam - by Subramanian Swamy
• Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World - by Liaquat Ahamed

The first review presentation in this series was held on the 26th of March in the auditorium to the teachers and students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir. The presentations of the other 3 groups will soon follow.

The book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins is written to guide and enlighten the already good companies to the path of greatness. To give a review presentation on this book a group was formed in which each one was assigned a task i.e. Karan Jivani (Presenter), Vikkim Patel (Computer Dept.), Parth Patel (Artist and Designing) and Meet Pansuria (Research).

The book is about companies who followed certain principles and became great. These concepts in a nutshell were explained by a working model. It was designed in such a manner that it could summarise the entire book.

Every page of the book has information that seems inevitable to achieve greatness! A few of all the important concepts in the book were the Hedgehog Concept, Level 5 Leadership and The Flywheel Effect.

The hedgehog concept is the intersection of what we can be the best in the world at? (And equally important—what can we not be the best at?) What is the economic denominator that best drives our economic engine and what are our core people deeply passionate about?

Level 5 leadership is about leaders who are humble, but driven to do what's best for the company. While the flywheel effect is the additive effects of the small initiatives.

This book is answers to a curious question ‘how to reach greatness?’ These principles can also be beneficial in an individual’s personal life. Like the hedgehog concept is useful in making a career choice. The level 5 leadership teaches us values of humility and strong will.

The presentation was followed by some intriguing questions posed by the audience - students and teachers. The team put their best effort in responding to them and ended up gaining even more insight about the book.

This was a great learning experience and it also promoted the habit of reading good non fiction books. 

Quick Links:

Book review 2: We are like that only

Book review 3: 2G Spectrum Scam

Book review 4: Lords of Finance: The bankers who broke the world

Written by: Karan Jivani and the Good to Great Team (11 Commerce)

An Enlightening Early-Summer Day's Trip to Gandhinagar

Activity and experience based learning is a significant part of student-centred environment of Atmiya Vidya Mandir. Students understand, read and write through their active involvement in the process.

As a part of their on-going learning session for professional and vocational courses, senior students of grade 11^th from Commerce and Science streams, recently visited the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), one of the leading law schools of India, which offers various law related courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

The university is currently ranked third among the other law schools in India, within its eight years of inception. The students were made aware of vastness of academic challenges and in-campus university procedure through a complete campus tour to observe all aspects of this University – infrastructure, academics, student/staff, hostel facility and a rich and well equipped library opened for students till late hours.

Students got an opportunity to briefly meet with the Dean and also to interact with the senior professors of the university, who generously devoted their time guiding the students about the various career options available in the field of Law. They were very approachable and supportive.

Students were made aware of the fascinating and lucrative job opportunities associated with the study of law; it seemed to be one of the best careers one could choose.

Overall, the experience of visiting GNLU was a big eye opener for the students and they left the campus highly inspired.

The students then had a quick lunch on the go and had darshan at the Gandhinagar Akshardham Temple. The scorching sun made the ice-creams even more delicious at the temple!

The journey then took them to the New Sachivalay Campus where they got an opportunity to witness live proceedings of the state assembly. Many MLAs had arranged for citizens of their constituencies for a visit of the capital the same day. The topics of discussion were science, industry and education. Turn by turn, the ministers presented the progress, plans and projects. Honourable Chief Minister Narendra Modi demonstrated that to be an effective speaker, one must learn to listen.

Being the future citizens of India, it was an absolutely learning session for all the students. They all brought back a feeling of pride, of being a part of a system so big and so powerful. They gained a reality check that to run a developing country with a population of over 1.2 billion is not a piece of cake; And India’s doing great!

After getting a true insight about how the state was run, the students then moved on to the next part of the educational tour – campus visit of the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT). Gandhinagar being a peaceful place, the campus of DA-IICT was even more peaceful and enchanting.

First of all, the students attended an induction session by the Dean (Academic Affairs) who introduced the institution’s philosophy to the students and made them aware of the courses offered. The students realised the “research driven education” approach of the institute and were left impressed by its efforts to apply ICT in the rural areas of India.

Thereafter, the students had a chance to interact with some existing students of the institute who took them on a detailed campus tour. The students were shown around the labs, lecture rooms, the resource centre (library) and the sports facility. It was very heartening to witness the institute’s hands-on approach to education – there is one whole building for just different labs (all having some state of the art equipment)!!

With some final words of gratitude, the students (now more enlightened than 24 hours ago) parted to be back at home away home, Atmiya Vidya Mandir.

Ohh, and our dearest Pavakbhai (still doing brilliantly in academics and sports) was the host for the dinner. The guests had their dinner at his place and then finally left the capital of one of the most development frenzy state of India!

Written by: Students of 11^th Science and Commerce

Admission Announcements 2012-13 at a few good places - 1

Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information & Communication Technology - Gandhinagar

Sumandeep Vidyapeeth - Vadodara

Symbiosis Institute of Technology - Pune

Symbiosis Institute of Computer Studies and Research - Pune

JIPMER - Puducherry

National Institute of Homeopathy

Please visit nih.nic.in for further details of the institute. 

National Institute of Homeopathy (India) Admission Notice

Spell - Bee Bash at AVM

The 21st century is full of technology that is designed to help us communicate. However, some of this technology may in fact contribute to poor communication skills. Think of Twitter – while it’s a great way to provide short updates and notices, the 140-character limit means that people frequently abbreviate their words. Because our brains are designed to recognize and comprehend patterns, v r abl 2 undrstnd msgs&wrds w/o all the ltrs in them, lk this 4 exmpl!!!!!!!!!!!

This issue is particularly important for children these days, who are growing up surrounded by this new form of abbreviated communication. There’s no doubt, though, that teaching children how to correctly spell words, and how to train them to continue to improve their spelling, is a critical part for teachers from the earliest grades onwards. But students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir are made aware of the fact that how poor vocabulary and misspelled words have alarming and detrimental effect on communication; With this wakefulness they recently participated in the World Spelling Day 2012 held on 5th March 2012, which is designed with a purpose to help the school going children to improve their spelling, enhance their vocabulary, understand phonetics and perfect their grammar.

Test of English is an integral part of most competitive examinations and recruitment processes world over. The English Department of AVM is effortful to enable the students on various aspects including comprehension, vocabulary, verbal analogy, sentence skills, grammar usage and the World Spelling Day proved to a medium to inculcate the same.

The World Spelling Day competition is not just a great opportunity for students to have fun but it can also improve students’ core skills. Over the last three years, students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir have shown good improvement in speed and accuracy in the World Spelling Day games, making it a powerful way to improve and develop their effective communication skills, comprehension and usage of words that will help to fulfill their quest for academic knowledge.

For the World Spelling Day 2012, students were given their own personal online games login ID which was supportive to match up with other students of similar age from various parts of the world to face live challenges. Students earned points for correct answers, with their tally growing as the challenge continues. The games were open to students aged 4years to 18years. 

Sahishnu Patel (age group 14-18) who was the Indian Ambassador for the World Education Games 2012 stood 89th in the world and 4th in India.

All spelling tests of World Spelling Day were coupled with typing drills. Students were to complete the test by spell and typing every word correctly. This world level spelling competition is meant to create an awareness of the necessity to spell and pronounce words correctly; it also develops enthusiasm amongst students to learn new words.

ALL THE BEST to the students for the upcoming final exams with an expectation that poor grades due to spelling mistakes is a far off reality for them now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mega Math Mania at AVM

Many of us think why sweat calculating in the mind, when we have easy tools like calculators handy? Though we all have cars, we run jog and walk for physical exercise. Similarly, Mental Calculation is a mental exercise for the brain. Research has proven that there is a direct relation between numbers and brain stimulation and development.

Here, at Atmiya Vidya Mandir, the students took another opportunity participating in the World Maths Day 2012, an event which runs as a global challenge set to trigger calculation frenzy amongst children and teenage competitors. WMD is a mathematical puzzle contest where a sound knowledge of mathematics together with speedy calculations is essential to solve problems. AVM students appeared in this competition for the third time in a row, in the last three years.

Results of the World Maths Day 2012

Team Name	Age Group	World Rank
Archimedes9	9 To 11	8th
Newton6	6 To 8	8th
Ramanujan3	3 To 5	12th
Fibonacci9	9 To 11	24th
Aryabhatta1	1 and 2	40th

Prashant Gupta (age group 11-13) of Class 8A stood 87th worldwide and 11th in India.

Set to take place from 6-8th March, this worldwide competition had seen 5.5 million children competing from around the world from over 200 countries and territories. It was a worth seeing scene in the computer labs of the school that children typing or striking the right key finding it just a means and not an end; it is their computing and calculating skill which leads to an efficient and quick solution. The technical skill helps children to strengthen and improve their mathematical competence in calculating with speed, and of course accuracy.

The motivation behind this Mathmania is to provide a platform for the students to delve into unfamiliar areas and learn new ways in a fun and recreational context. The Mathematics Department of the school has a wonderful team of dedicated teachers like Prabhumagna Sir, Swayam Madam, Deepika Madam, Suhani Madam, Bhavna Madam, and Mrugesh Sir who created this opportunity as a great way for kids to show off their new math skills and share their passion for math and learning with other students.

The participation in this competition was with a purpose of allowing our students to gain valuable experiences through the process of competition and evaluation and to develop their talents and have a platform for their God-given abilities.

IIIT-Delhi Admission Notice for BTech-2012 courses

The Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology - Delhi offer B.Tech. programs in both CSE (Computer Science and Engineering) and ECE (Electronics and Communication Engineering). Details of their admission procedure are given here.

Please see below for their admission notice for 2012-13.

Holi! A spring of unbounded fun, frolic and festive spirit!!

Amidst strenuous studying hours and coping with the demanding rigorous practice for final exams, students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir held off for a day to take the warmth of the festive spirit ushered in a new season at the advent of spring. AVM campus is never bereft of fun and frolic reckoning with long academic sessions and ongoing celebrations.

Festivals are the mainstay of the Indian culture - Not a month goes by without a celebration. However, none are as fun as Holi, (especially for children) the festival of color. Held annually at the beginning of spring on the day after a full moon, this year's festival was celebrated by AVM family on March 8th, 2012.The students experienced through this celebration how the regal festival of Holika Dahan perpetuates centuries-old time-honoured traditions. Holi Festival brings us close to our Religion, Tradition, Culture and our mythology as it is essentially the celebration of various legends associated with this festival.

 

 

In the esteemed presence of the elders of the AVM family, trustees, principal, administrator, hostel staff and all teachers and students; the bonfires were lit on the eve of the festival, also known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika). Prayers were said and praise was offered as all the students and teachers took a round around the holy ring of fire. Students recalled the mythological reference as the bonfires were lit in memory of the miraculous escape of Prahlad when Demoness Holika, sister of Hiranyakashipu, carried him into the fire.

Other than the historical significance of the festival, the students enjoyed it greatly as it is a beautiful reminiscent of the importance of colors in our life. The colors could be held symbolic of happiness, brotherhood and humanity. This festival gives yet another occasion to come together and indulge in some merriment and have a good time together which is the underlying purpose of every festival that we celebrate.

As the teachers, house masters and students started with smudging the faces of one another with dry colours, the students, in no-holds barred sessions, splashed water at each-other, later substituting this with squirt guns and colourful "pichkaris." Gulal - red, green, yellow and countless, as a day's canvas - a riot of colors. Sprightly students were running hither and thither amidst the Rainbow of colors, dashing from every nook and corner, rejoicing at the marvel of colors. They enjoyed this day filled with luster and gaiety. At about midday, this friendly mayhem comes to an end and everybody hurried to take a shower to cleanse off, followed by feast and a well-deserved siesta.

Once again, this festive spirit was not to steer the course of the journey as AVM students are back to the buzz of humdrum of unrestrained studies after this short maneuver.

National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) 2012-13

The Council of Architecture (Government of India) who handles the admissions to the B. Arch. courses in India have begun the procedure of receiving applications for the National Aptitude Test in Architecture (NATA) 2012-13.

Visit http://www.nata.in/www/default.aspx for more information about this test.

Please see below their advert about this announcement.

B.Sc. Economics offered by Symbiosis-Pune

The Symbiosis School of Economics (Symbiosis International University - Pune) have opened admissions to their 3 years BSc Economics course. 

Visit http://sse.ac.in/courses/courses-offered/bsc-economics for more information about this course.

Please see the advert below for their announcement. 

Prayer-a connecting link between Human and Divine

Prayer is a wonderful experience with GOD. Prayer is a type of e-mail that we send to God. It is a link between God and us. Prayer isn’t just a thanksgiving but also an instrument through which we experience Divinity.

Now the question arises that how to pray. Different religions have their own way of prayer. Muslims pray by keeping their palms open facing to the sky. Christians cross their hands and we Indians join our hands near the chest. Though the ways are different but the intentions are same. All remember and invoke their Gods.

When we pray we have to forget all worldly affairs and problems. We have to visualise God and think about His glory. This is how we pray.

Prayer can be done at any time, but mostly people pray before beginning any task. Prayer is a thing one can do in one’s most difficult times. Prayers are not always offered in the temples. One can pray to God anywhere.

There are many benefits of prayer. If we pray all our sins wash away. When we pray we feel better. We feel as if we are in the abode of God; abode of love, abode of peace.

Prayer is really a wonderful experience being with God. It is the best, easiest and the only way to connect you with God. Please experience!


Written by: Ravi Patel (6th B)