Opening Ceremony!

A few days ago, it was the opening ceremony! It was so amazing, it was such a great turnout! In the end, we had over 100 students combined in all of the workshops!

First, we started with everyone signing in, and receiving a folder with two worksheets, a notebook, and a pen. Then the parents and the students were separated into two different groups, with the parents going to the auditorium, and the kids beginning their first ITSA workshops. 

While the parents were listening to a great speech that Riana gave, the new ITSApreneurs were getting to know each other in their workshop groups. There are three groups; Sustainable Development, Economic Inequality, and Intersectionality & Access. They did various activities that introduced them to certain social issues, and allowed the workshop leaders to see which topics concerned the students the most.

There was a great speaker at the parent’s presentation, David Udry. He is the principal of the first school that ITSA ever worked with. He said some really great things about how ITSA teaches the 4 things that are crucial to education—critical thinking, creativity, community, and communication. I completely agree with him; those aspects are intertwined with ITSA’s core curriculum. He gave a great talk, and was clearly very excited that ITSA was still alive and running.

After the parent’s presentation, I was able to go in and sit in on a couple of the workshops that were happening. While the classrooms were pretty packed, it was great to see that so many students were interested in what ITSA has to offer. In some of the small group discussions that I heard, even when there wasn’t a facilitator nearby, the students were still avidly discussing problems and possible solutions. I think that’s the most accurate measure of how attentive students are!

After the workshops, all the students came together in the amphitheater of Anand Niketan Satellite, which is a beautiful campus. We took group and class photos, which all turned out great!

This year is going to be so great! Welcome to the ITSA family everyone!