By Our Staff Reporter
DEHRADUN, 19 May: “Celebrate Cultural Diversity and Foster Unity” was the message that prevailed at the 30th Annual Speech & Prize Day at St Jude’s School on Saturday.
The Annual Speech and Prize Day for Juniors (Nursery to Class V) was held on Friday and the Chief Guest was Ratna Manucha, an educationist, author and columnist.
Ratna Manucha said that children have a special place in her heart and stressed on fairy tales playing an important part in shaping their personalities. She also advised parents to spend quality time with their children and to express their love for them every day, in order for them to be successful in life.
The Annual Speech and Prize Day for Seniors (Classes VI to Classes XII) was held on Saturday. Chief Guest, D Hilton in his address, praised the invaluable contribution to education of, both, RV Gardner, President, Board of Governors, and VR Gardner, Director, for bringing up St Jude’s School to what it is today.
He also congratulated M Gardner, Principal, St Jude’s School for the traditions fostered and cherished in this temple of learning. He advised the students to be courageous in action, overcome fear and have conviction in their capabilities. He spoke of teachers being Artists whose medium is not paper or stone or inanimate wood, but a child’s mind to evolve.
He advised the parents, “Teach your children to give back to society while empathising with those who need our help the most.”
M Gardner, in her Annual Report, highlighted the cultural and academic achievements of her students. She requested the parents to gift their children the luxury of spending time with them. “Allow them to become the best versions of themselves, teach them to embrace failures, as precursors to success and to choose paths you have not ventured on,’’ she said. “The world requires intelligent, level-headed, open-minded individuals that work relentlessly for the well-being of all those around them.”
The Vote of Thanks was proposed by VR Gardner.
The evening began with the Academic prizes being handed out. Prakshal Jain (ICSE Batch 2023-24) created history for St Jude’s School by becoming the first State Topper with 99.6%. Pranav Bhatt topped the ISC Board Examination with 98.25%. Pranav Bhatt, Agrima Mittal and Adnan Zia were amongst the 1% achievers of the ISC, 2024, as per the criteria specified by the Union Department of Science and Technology. Therefore, they were eligible to register for the INSPIRE Scholarship for Higher Education.
The School Toppers of the Science and Commerce Stream along with the other Academic Prize Winners were felicitated. Students who won laurels at the various National Level Competitions in the session 2023-24 were also felicitated.
An Action Song “It’s a Beautiful Day”, was sung by the Primary School Choir, which was followed by the Junior School Choir that sang the popular song “Alone Part-2’’.
The variety entertainment commenced with the Choir’s rendition of the song, “Any Dream Will Do”, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber & Jason Donovan. The Choir was trained by Vijay Shahi and Deepak Chettri.
The young students of Classes 3 to 5 performed “Cinderella”. This Musical Play was about a young pure-hearted girl who gets a complete makeover by her fabulous fairy godmother. This spectacular Musical were directed by Janice Tindale and Christina Bruce. The dances were choreographed by Wilson Lakra. The singers were trained by Deepak Chhetri. The Multimedia Presentation was created by Rekha Jaraut.
The St Jude’s School Choir paid tribute to Kishore Kumar with a mashup of retro songs of the 1970’s. The songs were originally sung by the great Kishore Kumar and the legendary Mohammad Rafi.
Students of Classes 6 to 12 presented a play “My Fair Lady”.
The play was directed and produced with dialogue by M Gardner and dances were choreographed by Shama Kukreja. The singers were trained by V Shahi. The costumes were created by Reema Saklani. The props were created by Reema Saklani & Anjali Rawat.
