GRATEFUL

Every night before dinner, the children have what they call prayer time.  It is a time when the children gather together to sing songs, offer a prayer to their greater being, and learn lessons about becoming better people.  This past Wednesday, a volunteer, Kenady Bunker, shared a lesson on being grateful.  What a great reminder it was for me to be grateful for the things I have in my life.  As Kenady was presenting her lesson she asked the kids what things they are grateful for.  Hands immediately shot up through out the crowd as they waited for her to call on them.  Great things were mentioned such as family, school, and friends, but towards the front of the list was SPONSORS.  Little Abisha raised her hand and when called upon, her quiet little voice expressed her grattitude for her sponsors. 

I just want you to let you all know that your sponsor children love you very much.  They talk about you all the time and love receiving your letters and pictures!  Their faces light up as they receive your letters, and they quickly run around showing all of their friends.   Thank you for all that you are doing for these children.  I hope that you realize these children could not be where they are at without you! 

Best reguards until next time!

Visiting Artist

It has been such a pleasure to have Katie and Craig Jenkins at Rising Star this past month.  Katie is a Music/Violin Proformance Major and brought her violin to India with her.  Katie was nice enough to share her talents with everyone on campus.  She did three separate proformances.  One for the teachers and two for the children.  They all loved to here her play the violin so beautifully.  What a great opportunity Katie provided for these children to hear and see what one person can do when they put their minds to it!!  Thank you Katie and Craig!  You are both missed here at Rising Star Outreach.

Best reguards until next time.

Students' of the Month

Vannakam

It was time today to announce the Students' of the Month here at Rising Star.  Students' of the Month are recognized in front of the whole school and Rising Star staff during assembly as well as awarded 10 stars that they can spend in the Star Store.  The Star Store is a program set up at Rising Star that allows children the ability to earn prizes for good behavior at school and in the hostile.  If the child receives good marks, they can earn up to 8 stars a week and spend them at the weekly Star Store on treats, toys, and things useful for school.

Now time to recognize all the Students' of the Month to you all.  For UKG, A. Aravind Raj was awarded for reading and writing exceptionally well.  He is silent during classtime and does well in all of the subjects.

For 1st Standard(Standards are the equivalent to Grades in the United States), Sarathy was chosen for good behavior during class.  He has improved his writing, reading very well, and he finishes all of his classwork.

For 2nd Standard A, Peter was chosen for good behavior and doing extremely well during Math class.

For 2nd Standard B, Vannamalar was chosen for being very helpful to the teacher and other students.  She also plays very well during PT class(the equivalent of PE in the States).

For 3rd Standard, Ramya was chosen for being at the top of her class.  She is an excellent student in all subject and studies hard.

For 4th Standard, Vijayabalaji was chosen for being obedient and having exceptiontally good behavior during class.

For 5th Standard, Mispa was chosen for good behavior during class and excelling in Math class.

For 6th Standard, Naveen was chosen for his careful attention to detail.  Naveen has extremely good handwriting and is a quick learner.

For 7th Standard, Vijayalakshmi was chosen for paying close attention to all of her teachers, including following directions and good behavior.

For 8th Standard, Joseph was chosen for doing well in all subjects.

For 9th Standard, Megala was chosen for being an excellent student.  Megala listen, obeys, helps others, works hard, and is doing well in all of her classes.  Her teachers also noted that she is a very sincere student that gives her best in everything.

For 10th Standard, Sujatha was chosen for her talent at being an efficient but hard working student.  Sujatha is doing well in all of her classes.

New Year's Eve

Vannakam (This means hello in Tamil, the language here in Tamil Nadu),

What better way to start the new year than with a brand new blog just for the sponsors of the wonderful children here at Rising Star.  You all make it possible for these children to be here to receive a high quality education creating countless opportunities for them in their bright futures.  Every child at Rising Star loves their sponsors and is so excited to be a part of your lives through letters and photos; I hope through this blog, you will find that they will become a larger part of your life.

Check this blog often as their will be an update at least once a week telling about events that happen on campus.  Today, I am going to tell you about the children's New Years Eve.

The day started with a half day of school.  Every school day starts with a five to ten minute assembly that takes place in the beautiful courtyard of the school.  The children will recite prays and the Pledge of Allegiance, sing the National Anthem, and recognize children infront of the school for a birthday or other such awards.  After assembly finishes, the school day began.  Children at Rising Star learn every subject that students would learn in the United States. They are however taught their native language,Tamil, as well as English.

After lunch at noon, the students were released from school to finish their daily chores and play.  Playtime at Rising Star often consists of little organized games that the children start such as tag, soccer (football), cricket, and countless more.  At 4:00pm, the older boys organized a very competitive game of cricket.  

Left to Right: Pasitha, Malavika, Priya, Ambiga, Logeshwari, Soniya, and Theresa.

Christraj and Sathish dancing to Tamil music.

The volunteers and staff at Rising Star had a New Year's celebration planned for the children later that evening.  At 7:00pm, the Rising Star staff set off fireworks for the the children in front of their hostel (living quarters).   Volunteers put on music for the children to dance to and brought bracelets, noise makers, and silly string to hand out to all of the children.  If that wasn't just the cherry on top of the perfect day, the children then went to the Dining Hall to watch a holiday movie after the fire works had ended, none other than "The Grinch".  I wish that I could explain how much better a movie is when you watch it with 200 Rising Stars, but I don't know that I could sufficiently do so.  The ringing of laughter and bright faces makes any movie worth your time!

Photos taken by student M. Vignesh




Unfortunately every movie has and ending as did this one.  The ending came, the lights flicked on and the children started wish everyone a Happy New Year as they headed back towards their rooms to go to bed. Some of the older boys thought that it would be fun to make a sign for everyone when they came in for breakfast the next morning, so they spent a little extra time creating it out of some flower petals that had at one point been a celebration necklace worn around the neck of a volunteer.





The boys and their sign: Left to Right: Ashok,

Krishnamoorthy, Deepanraj, Rajesh, Joseph, and Shankar

Krishnamoorthy adding the finishing touches.



In honor of all the children here at Rising Star, I want to wish you all a Happy New Year.  Thank you for all that you do for these children. They love you so much and talk about you always! 

Take care until next time!