Good evening Ladies & Gentlemen!!
It is my proud privilege to welcome you all on to our 20th Annual prize distribution day.
I am grateful to our chief guest for the evening, Mrs. Renuka Mattoo,IPS (Retd.), Special Director, IB, and our Guest of Honor Mrs Nivedita Kukreti, SSP, Dehradun, for their graceful presence. Certainly your presence today adds more joy and color to this evening’s festivity. I extend a warm welcome to you both.
It is amazing how time flies. One more year has been added to the glorious journey of Olympus High. And we reach the magical number of 20. Well, toddler Olympus, has grown, and reached new heights.
I still remember the rainy day of July 1999, when we officially started Olympus High, as a Kindergarten, and proudly sat with two rooms, five students, (out of those, two we happened to catch, from our own family), one teacher, one ayah and one Guard cum Mali. My husband and I resolved, that whatever the number, we must give them exposure that they deserve. So, ladies and Gentlemen, we had our first ‘Annual day’, in December, 1999, with 7 students performing mini Ramayana. The memories and stories of those days can go on for hours. In short, today, I have multiple classrooms, 1100 students, 65 teaching and 50 non-teaching staff. Yes, Olympus High has become a shining example, amongst the leading organization in Dehradun, which has created a quality name in education. So my friends, by celebrating this 20th year we are celebrating not only the success of our students and teachers , but also the parents of our students who have shown immense trust in our organization.
For me, trust has the ability to believe in others, and also, being trustworthy. For being successful, it is important for any institution to balance both the sides.
Often, I have been asked, as to what is the reason, behind the success of our institution, and what, its biggest strength is. I always have one impromptu reply: the teachers of Olympus High. To all the new and old teachers, I would say, that a team can perform best, only when it is united. I am extremely proud of my team, and I can wholeheartedly say that I have some of the best human resources in my organization.
Inside classrooms, they are serious in their teaching and keen to explore students’ potentials. Outside classrooms, they teach with their words and deeds. They connect with students both as teachers and as friends, and become their life mentors. Our teachers are always willing to offer their suggestions, and demonstrate excellent team spirit. It is a blessing, to have the chance to work, with each one of them.
Our non-teaching staff is our silent, strong pillars, hidden, but, the most important. They are motivated, and passionate, and caring at the same time. They have always stood by the school through thick and thin. Sometimes, beyond their line of duty. I take this occasion to thank all of them.
In the future, we have yet to face many challenges. I believe that with guidance of our elders and member of Board, Mr. and Mrs. N S Malla and Mrs. P L Pundeer, and the concerted efforts of staff and students, and our well-wishers, we will scale new heights. We will continue to provide quality education and produce generations of Olympians, who aspire to pursue knowledge, academic excellence and lifelong development.
It’s a matter of great pride to see ourselves embracing good value system, and achieving more than what we have ever thought of. The school has been cultivating in our students, the seeds of ethical growth, and is keen to pass on knowledge, to the next generation. We endeavor to equip our students, with all-round abilities in order, that they can contribute to society in the future, serve others and glorify the Nation. I will not be exaggerating if I say that my students, are responsible, willing to serve, and ready to take up challenges. I am sooo proud of them!
With this, I present our achievements and the milestones reached in the previous academic year:
- First, we’ll have a quick look at last year’s Board results. For Class Xth 2017-18, Parthvi Sachan topped the batch with 97%. A few of the other achievers were Sunidhi Chauhan, Akansh Raturi, Chaitanya Jalwal and Diksha Sharma.
- In Class XIIth, Shruti Pandey topped Science Stream, with 93%, Lipika Guha topped the commerce Stream with 92%. School average was counted at 78%.
- Lipika Guha and Shruti Pandey, of XIIth 2017-18 batch, were awarded Scholar’s Certificate by CBSE for their meritorious result.
- I am pleased to announce, that this year, our class Xth batch passed with flying colours again. Ragini Pant topped the batch. She achieved 99.2% with a 100 each in Maths, Social science and Hindi, which made her attain 4th position in Dehradun and 6th in the state of Uttarakhand.
- There were about 30% of students who achieved more than 90% marks.
- Our 6th batch of class 12th also passed out with flying colours. Avi Singh was the topper for XIIth Science with 93% marks, Tanubhav Gupta for Commerce Stream with 93% marks, and Angkit Dutta Roy for Humanities with 96% marks.
- The Class average went up to 80%.
- Here, I would also like to mention Ashmit Dutta Roy, who appeared for Class Xth boards as a special child and passed the class with 83% marks.
- Around 200 students, from classes K.G. to VIIIth achieved the average result of A+ or 90% and above.
- Our students appeared for the SOF National Olympiad in Math, Science, English, GK, Cyber and CS. Our students won a total of 38 Gold, 32 silver and 26 Bronze Medals.
- Olympus High has given a commitment to support students who are talented yet do not have the financial means. For this, we continue to support, the economically weak, but bright children, to give them equal footing in society.
- To ensure that our students grow up to be responsible citizens, we organized session on Nutrition and Health education, Swine Flu, Blood donation, Cyber safety, traffic rules, life skills, leadership skills,. Career counseling and the important aspect of Anti – bullying and Identifying Abuse. They also worked upon Recycling Waste, Swachchta Mission and Tree Plantation.
- This also includes their participation in Terry Fox Run for Cancer awareness, and celebration, of our festival of Garhwal, ‘Harela’, in collaboration with ‘Dhaad’ society.
- We have also started Book Reading Program in the school for nurturing the literary side of our students. Eminent writers of the city have addressed our students. Recently, we had a book reading session with Mrs. Pooja Marwah, for her book, ‘Pursuit ‘– Drawn by Destiny.
- In order to provide exposure to a variety of culture, we did a Student’s Exchange program with The Tibetan Home, Rajpur Road. Class Xth students were involved from both the schools and spent an eventful day with Football and Basket ball matches,and cultural programs.
- Two of our students, Chaitanya Jalwal and Tanishq Gupta, had the privilege of attending Summer Workshop at ISRO Centre, Dehradun.
- Theatre Workshop was organized in the School Campus, by National School of Drama, under the guidance of Shirish Dobhal ji. Three of our students, Maliha Malla, Suhani Sareen and Vibhu Tyagi had the priviledge to be part of the workshop.
- Our students have won prizes in various inter – school activities. I would quickly go through some of the achievements.
- Vertika Pundeer (class XII) and Amritansh Tiwari (class IXth) represented our school in the English Debate organized by the Seven Oaks School. Vertika was adjudged the best speaker.
- Ragini Pant (class X) and Kajal Koranga, (class IXth) participated in the Hindi Debate, at Himalayan Public School. Our school won the trophy for the best team.
- Vertika Pundeer and Angkit Dutta Roy (class XIIth) bagged First and Second Prize for Inter-school Speech Competition organized by Dena Bank.
- Our students participated in the Mock United Nations, organized by Himjyoti School. Aditya Sharma, Tushita Kulshreshtha, Angkit Dutta Roy, and Vertika Pundeer were adjudged best speaker. Maliha malla was hailed as the promising member in her syndicate.
- Our students also had the opportunity to be a part of the Military History Seminar, held at the Welhams Boys School. Ragini Pant and Angkit Dutta Roy were prominent speakers there.
- Olympians participated in the first ever Inter School Shakespeare Slam, organized by Helen O’Grady International and won first prize. Again, Angkit Dutta Roy bagged award for the best actor.
- Sachin Dagur of Class X, was awarded scholarship for scoring exemplary marks in NTSE. He was felicitated by the Branch head of Akash Institute.
- The little ones, not to be left behind, participated in Inter-school competition under various categories. Saanvi Jain (class II) won consolation prize in Inter school English Handwriting competition and Class Vth won for Hindi Poetry Recitation at Jaswant Modern School.
- The school continues to give students opportunities to play sports through its Sports Education Programme as well as inter-house games for all levels.
- Our school teams have also participated in Badminton, Football, Basketball, Chess and various Cricket Tournaments.
- They also participated in the District Athletics Meet, at RIMC and proved their mettle in various events. Here, I would like to mention, Ankit Kumar (X) came 2nd in Shot-put throw, and, Yashowardhan Singh (XII) stood 2nd in 100m dash.
- In the Uttarakhand State Karate Championship, our boys proved their mettle in all the categories , they participated in. Shivansh Bhatt, got a special mention for his performance.
- Complementing the co-curricular programs, were the various initiatives carried out by our academic departments.
- The English Section, for example, conducted Elocution, Solo Recitation, Handwriting, Theaterisation of Poem and Debate as enrichment for all age groups of pupils. The Mathematics Department trained students for the Mathematical Olympiad for the senior section.
The Hindi Department organized competitions on various levels again for Handwriting, Recitation and Debate.
Not to be outdone, the Science and the Social Science Department presented a wonderful Exhibition along with our Art and Craft Heads.
- As part of CBSE Sahodaya Schools Complex Inter school celebration of cultural activities, our school participated in presentation of choir at Universal Academy, Nukkad Natak at Scholars Home and Poem Theaterisation at Jaswant Modern School.
- Now, I would like make special mention of a few of our students whose achievements are in different arena than school—
- I’m pleased to inform that Maliha Malla of Class XIth, played a pivotal role in a Bollywood movie, 1978, a Teen Nightout. She also recorded a song for the same.
- Shourya Negi, our singing sensation of class VIth, was awarded at the International Kids Film Festival, at IRDT auditorium. He was also felicitated by the Hindu Jagran Manch at Doon University, by Mr Dhan Singh Rawat.
I am extremely happy to welcome my new teachers. I am proud of this dedicated team who offers their energy, effort and continued support in motivating students and maintaining the high standard of teaching methodology.
Here, I would like to make a special mention of our Junior School Co-ordinator, Mrs. Seema Dora, who has been nominated as a member of Child Rights and Protection Commission by Uttarakhand Govt. She has been honoured in the same capacity by Former Chief Ministers, Mr. Harish Singh Rawat and Mr. Nishank, as well as, several private and government schools and health organizations.
I would also like to mention, our TGT Hindi, Mr Hemant Dabral, who is a Gold Medal awardee in his MA (Sanskrit).
Our Librarian, Mrs Sonika Sharma, was invited to be a part of the Annual Librarian’s Roundtable, organized by Booknerds, Dehradun.
Mrs. Sarita Dhuliya, TGT, Social Science, received a letter of appreciation from the HRD Ministry.
Our Music Head, Mr. Kishlay Shah, got an opportunity to work with Our Managing Director, Mr. Kunal Shamshere Malla, as a music arranger or a Bollywood song.
In conclusion, I would like to thank our managing director Mr. K. S. Malla for his trust in our ideas and experimentation we put forward, and providing a conducive environment, and finances for the same.
I would like to convey special thanks to my coordinators Mrs. Hazarika, Mrs. Seema Dora & Mrs. Beena Sharma, Shilpi Arora, Mrs. Vandana Thakur and Manpreet Singh.
And, with a heavy heart, I bid farewell to my Middle School Co-ordinator, Mrs. Vandana Thakur. Ma’am, you will be missed.
I would specially like to thank all the parents who have always supported and cooperated with us in our endeavor. I have no words to express my gratitude for your relentless support.
Thank you for your attention and please enjoy our Sound and Light extravaganza, ‘Alibaba and the Forty Theives’.
Now, I leave you with Ragini Pant and Shaurya Chandola to introduce the play in front of you.