CHENNAI: A school is a space where we have captured pictures of experiences and stored it on our minds. A new painting on the wall, a friendly bond with a teacher, a friend wearing a colourful dress on her birthday, a special assembly by your classmates, solving a math problem on board, sending secret notes, laughing and eating between classes. These memories stay with us and resurface when we meet a fellow student.
To rekindle their friendships, retell stories and celebrate the time spent together, the alumni of Vidyodaya Schools are set to return to their alma mater this Saturday. “Vidyodaya, a 101-year-old educational institute, is a premier girls’ school and has been a beacon of education and knowledge giving an all-round holistic education,” says Latha A Kumaraswami, an alumni member from the 1975 batch who has been attending alumni meetings since then to “network and catch up on children progress.”
The alumni visit the campus on Independence or Republic Day every year. But, over the last 25 years, the alumni association, Purva Vidyarthi Samaj, and the school have been organising ‘The Vidyodaya Schools Alumni Reunion’.
Here, the past students gather in the auditorium for a meeting. Latha says, “It is a proper meeting where the school heads and the correspondence give updates on what’s happening in the school — the achievements of our students and how we (the school) have progressed over the years.” It is followed by a briefing on the special progress made by the students in sports and academics during that school year.
The important agenda of the meeting is to distribute scholarship certificates and cheques to the selected students between classes three and eight. “Some 18 years ago, we thought of giving meaning to our gathering. We know that our children, some of them, can be from low socio-economic backgrounds, so we set up a scholarship programme,” she explains. This year, 12 scholarships amounting to `1.44 lakh — `12,000 each to 12 students — will be distributed.
Additionally, the association and the school honour the old and retiring teachers of the school. The finances are collected from donations, fixed deposits and fundraising shows such as one by the popular playback singer AR Reihana. Actors Meena and Jayachitra, educationist Swatantra Shaktivel, and lawyer Sudha Ramalingam were a few famous personalities who attended the school.
For the 25th year, the school is installing stalls at the meeting and raising a donation of Rs 5,000 per stall. The stall owners can exhibit their products and increase their visibility. After visiting the stalls, the members also take a walk down memory lane while going around the school chatting about values such as discipline towards life and traditions such as tree lighting and planting ceremony of the school.
To participate in the reunion, contact Vasanthi Ravi at 9841094333 or the school at 28340202