Guru Vandana - Teachers Appreciation Program in Schaumburg
HSS Chicago Chapter organized Guru Vandana (Teachers Appreciation) Program on Sunday, May 3rd, 2015 at Sheffield Towne Clubhouse in Schaumburg to honor and thank Teachers as per Indian Tradition. Around 100 people and 15 teachers including one school Principal came to attend this program. Dr. Daniel Cates, Superintendent of School District 211, was the chief guest.
Hard work and preparations went into this program. Flyers and invitation letters were sent with kids to their teachers. Many kids came forward to present their talent. Kids also prepared Posters on the Hindu Culture of India for this program. Many parent volunteers like Shubha Seetheram and Arti Ayachit helped with Cultural program and coordination.
On the day of the program, Volunteers prepared the hall very quickly. Ravi Patel and Subramanya Dixit took charge of Audio system for the whole show. Teachers and attendees started to arrive around 3 PM. Kids stood proudly by their Posters and explained in detail to the teachers and everyone who came by. Topics of the Posters ranged from Arithmetic, Astronomy, Festivals of India, Classical Arts, Yoga, Ayurveda, Namaste, Hindu Woman, Geography of India and Guru Shishya Parampara (Teacher Student Tradition). A program brochure was handed to everyone.
Parag Awachat, volunteer of HSS, kicked off the program with his welcome speech and then turned it over to emcees Neeti Joshi, Samruddh Ayachit, Ishika Awachat and Adithya Mohan. Chief guest, Dr. Cates, was invited to light the lamp in front Saraswati Devi (Goddess of Knowledge) to commence the program while Siya and Riddhi recited Shlokas.
Chief Guest, Dr. Cates, delivered a wonderful speech in Hindi! It was the highlight of this program as it moved everyone.
After the speech it was time for Teacher felicitation. Emcees called upon each kid on stage one by one along with their invited Teacher(s). Kid presented a Memento to their Teacher and then Teacher gave brief introduction. It was the most important part of this Teachers Appreciation program.
Cultural program started with Violin and song recital by Sammy Seetharam, Abhinav Bhashyam, Arvind Kakanavaram & Navya Raghunandan. It was followed by Bharatanatyam Dance performance by Aparna Sarma.
Tanish Nigam & Abhimanyu Sarma danced to a Hanuman Chalisa song followed by Kathak Dance by Pragya Kansal. After these great performances, a skit on Teacher Student fun made everyone laugh. It was directed by Sneh ji Garg and acted by Adithya Mohan, Sauruv Garg, Ishika Awachat, Siya Aparanji, Riddhi Bhagwat, Shreya Seetharam, Sammy Seetharam, Isha Rustagi, Chhavi Rustagi & Sanchita Teeka.
Vyoma Aparanji, Arush Bhagwat, Dron Nigam, Abhimanyu Sarma, Tanish Nigam presented a fancy show of Indian Dresses. This was followed by a Fusion Dance by Shreya Seetharam & Sanchita Teeka. And then a beautiful Bollywood style dance by Venya Joshi, Nikita Sharma & Pragya Kansal.
Manish Garg, Coordinator of HSS, gave vote of thanks to Chief Guest, all the teachers, attendees and volunteers. Program was concluded with a surprise group dance on Gujarati song 'Kaka Bapana' by Sanjay Patel. Everyone including Teachers danced to the tune and thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards everyone mingled and relished the light Indian snacks like Samosas and Kaju Katlee with Chai organized by the volunteers of HSS.