1 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m .

i n








Deepam Half-yearly Newsletter
(Jan-Jun14)




2 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n

Contents
Half-yearly update (Jan-Jun14) .................................................................................................................... 3
Events ............................................................................................................................................................ 3
Annual Day Celebrations ........................................................................................................................... 3
WM Field trip ............................................................................................................................................ 5
Republic Day Celebrations @ WM Center ................................................................................................ 6
Sports day @ Olcott Center ...................................................................................................................... 7
Republic day @ VRS Center ...................................................................................................................... 8
STARS Program celebration @ VRS Center ............................................................................................... 8
Deepam Outstanding Volunteer Award ................................................................................................. 10
Deepam Name Board @ WM Center .......................................................................................................... 11
Deepam donates funds to SVN School ....................................................................................................... 12













For any queries or clarifications, please reach out to janavi@deepam.in

3 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n


Half-yearly update (Jan-Jun14)
By Janavi Shyam
The first half of the year 2014 was certainly one for the diaries. The six months saw Deepam concluding
yet another academic year and beginning the new one with great aplomb. The year that went by was
witness to many events as one more batch of young kids got enriched with English and Computer skills.
The year ended on a high with the sixth annual day at BVM School Auditorium. The event was a grand
success with all the centers participating with great enthusiasm. With growing popularity, the event is
an occasion that brings together kids and volunteers from all the Centers. Cultural programs were
studded with roaring performances by Deepam kids. A couple of our senior volunteers were also
honoured with Deepam Outstanding Volunteer of the Year award.
The year also saw centers take their kids on education and fun-filled field trips. Kids celebrated key days
such as the Republic day with fervent enthusiasm.
The new academic year saw the 5 centers of Deepam being appointed with new heads. The old center
heads had done an exemplary job of building the Deepam vision with their respective volunteers and
kids. The new heads have begun the year in right earnest.
Deepam is all set to open its latest center in Coimbatore. This will be a landmark achievement, being the
first Center to be located outside Chennai. More on this will follow in the next edition of our Newsletter.
Events
Annual Day Celebrations
By Janavi Shyam
Deepams sixth annual day was held on 16
th
March @ BVM School Auditorium in Adyar. The event
started at around 9am with all students being ferried from their respective schools to the event venue.
Volunteers were present to welcome the kids and the teachers who accompanied them.
The program as always began with a prayer sung by students. Mr.Balaji Sampath, Founder, Aid-India,
was the Chief Guest for the function and he made a passionate speech that kick started the proceedings.
Karthikeyan, co-founder of Deepam made a presentation to showcase Deepams achievements over the
years.

4 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n

This was followed by real fun! Children from all centers took to the stage, and one after another, the
performances kept bettering the earlier. It was indeed a treat to watch kids perform to some of the
popular dance numbers and other theme based programs.





5 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n


WM Field trip
By V Praveen
12 kids from SVN School were taken on an excursion to Periyar Science and Technology Center on 25th
Jan, 2014. Starting quietly from the school, the kids amid their school teachers were on their best
behavior.
Our first stop - the science center. Different dolls, hobby electronics, oceans and marine species all came
to life in front of the children. Very inquisitive, we had thousands of questions flying from all directions -
time and our knowledge were the only limitations. The optical illusion filled mirror room was a lot of fun
both for kids and volunteers alike.
We had the privilege of visiting the ISRO space center even before it has been open to the public.
Needless to say, it is the best part of the center. Modern and well built it was full of information on
space, satellites and shuttles -- well laid out on illuminated information panels and reduced-to-scale
models of rockets and satellites. Our trip ended with the best part all kids loved -- the 3D show. Some
were scared, others thrilled, a couple making the most noise in the theatre.

25th Jan 2014 will probably be a red letter day for the 5th std kids, but let's not forget the kids at the
center. They would have had just as much fun, if not more with a number of volunteers rushing in to
spend time with them. All this would have only been a dream if not for the teachers of SVN school.



6 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n


Republic Day Celebrations @ WM Center
By V Praveen
'All great things come in small packages' - an apt adage to summarize our Republic Day Celebrations at
West Mambalam center. For the kids, the small packages refer to the cream biscuits they get at the end
of the day and for us volunteers, it is the little creations that the children so vividly bring out.

Having had a fun-filled-last-week, we were all hesitant to go with the celebrations at first, as it wastes
another precious day in teaching. But a compromise was reached in having our curriculum session
followed by our Republic Day celebrations cramped into the last hour.

Anand brought in wonderful short clips on Republic Day, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. Making
best use of an ISB-given opportunity we sought to identify the best in drawing talents, something we
could work with later. In this spirit, a simple Greeting Card drawing contest seemed appropriate.
Meticulously prepared greeting card sheets and sharpened pencils, our contest got off quickly.







7 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n

Sports day @ Olcott Center
By Sukumaran
It was an amazing Sports day celebration at Olcott. We were very happy in conducting the 2nd year
sports event for Republic day celebration at our center. On a bright Saturday after noon, 26 boys and 12
girls participated in the events.
Events conducted included Kabadi, Cricket & Frizbee for boys and Kabadi, Kho Kho and Throw ball for
girls. Two teams were formed in each gender as 13+6 and each team was appointed with a Coach
Girls team named 'Gusty Girls' washed out the opponent and won the overall championship. Kudos to
the Coach - Arun Nehru!! Boys Team named 'Face-to-Face' won the Championship by 2-1 Victory and
the Coach is Ayyappan. Kudos!!
The credit should go to our kind volunteers especially Kannan Sir, Gopal, Sathis, Arun Nehru, Abirami,
Jai, Vivakar & Ayyappan. Also, it was great on the part of the school management to approve conducting
the games





8 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n


Republic day @ VRS Center
By Janavi Shyam
VRS center celebrated our Republic day by holding an arts and craft work contest for their kids. The
event was anchored by a noble bunch of guest volunteers from the alumnus of ISB.



STARS Program celebration @ VRS Center
By Anuradha Murali
As is customary every year, Deepam VRS center in Alwarpet ended the Academic year 2013-14 by giving
away 'scholarships' to six students from class 5, in recognition of their potential, their involvement and
consistent performance in Deepam classes over the year.
On Saturday, 12th April, the six 'star' kids were each given a certificate and scholarship of Rs. 3000 in a
simple event anchored by the school Principal, and witnessed by their parents, other children and the
center volunteers. Thava Kumaran, Vignesh, Sridhar, Kavya, Preethi, Jayashree were recipients of this
years scholarship.

9 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n

The proud parents, touched by the gesture, expressed their deep gratitude to Deepam volunteers for
the weekend classes, and acknowledged the positive impact it had on their kids. These students will be
moving on to other neighborhood schools from class 6 onwards. We know that this recognition from
Deepam, and our words of encouragement, will remain with them through their years in high school,
and motivate them to succeed.






10 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n

Deepam Outstanding Volunteer Award
By Abhishek & R.Rajagopalan

Deepam Outstanding Volunteer 2014: Deepams Outstanding Volunteer Award is given to volunteers
whose performance in the year has made a difference, made people take notice and follow their
examples.

Rohit Narasimhan


Ever since hes been introduced to Deepam, Rohit has been an extremely committed volunteer at VRS
center. True to his nature, Rohit usually avoids the limelight, but is easily amongst the most reliable
volunteers. He is a regular at VRS Centre, actively teaching children for the past 2 years.

For all kinds of events / outings / activities etc, Rohit's leading participation can be taken for granted. He
is invariably unfazed about any responsibility he is given or the tasks he takes up. His involvement with
the kids and volunteers is extremely cordial.

In addition to his regular contribution as a teaching volunteer at VRS centre, Rohit has gone out of the
way to ensure the STARS program at VRS centre gets a yearly funding. He also took a big initiative in
helping Deepam pitch and win the funding from World Bank in 2013.

From the most routine tasks such as putting the laptops for charge every week to pitching for complex
funding projects, Rohit's dedication has been outstanding. An award well deserved and we look forward
to him doing many more interesting work!




11 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n

Praveen Venkatachari


Praveen is a fantastic example of someone who is highly passionate about education & teaching.

As a volunteer, he laid the foundations of a good computer program at Deepam . He identified books for
teaching computer basics, which was used by all Deepam children this year. He made 'Computer class' at
WM center a reality by dedicating 30 minutes exclusively for teaching computers to 5th standard
children. He constantly thinks of ways to reach English and Computers to children and is a major
contributor to curriculum on Deepam Dropbox with valuable information / files. He made a ton of other
contributions, such as devising a common Assessment Test sheet for all Centers, building the new
website for Deepam, designing a better volunteer on-boarding forms and many more.

As a leader, he listens to his team and is open to suggestions. He strives to make it easy for volunteers to
execute ideas. Has a great sense of responsibility, adapts to changing situations, and willingly takes on
any role as situation demands. He has also maintained a good rapport with WM school Principal to
ensure weekly Deepam classes go on smoothly.

As an individual, he is someone high in integrity. He is always on time and in a totally volunteer setting,
has a 100% attendance at Deepam classes in West Mambalam.
Deepam Name Board @ WM Center
By R Rajagopalan
Not any more for only the elite, the volunteers, members, associates, donors, visitors to stalls or people
visiting our website. Now, the man-on-the-road -- the parents, the vendors, the boys, the girls, men &
women, people who visit the ration shop, the neighbors, everyone -- can stop by, look up in curiosity

12 | P a g e w w w . d e e p a m . i n

attracted by the colorful new addition to the Thambiah Road landscape and know about Deepam, what
it does and where to get more details on it.
Yes! A long-felt desire, a concept-come-true, the DEEPAM NAMEBOARD, complete with logo and all, has
been put up at West Mambalam Center. From idea to erection, the 'project' involved many minds,
hands, fingers, legs, ears -- but as a body Deepam and WM had worked on it and have made it happen.

Deepam donates funds to SVN School
By V Praveen

Anand, through incessant effort, obtained Rs. 10000 for SVN school from Sneham (Infosys CSR wing)
towards purchase of school uniform for the children.
On top of the 10K, an additional 5k amount was added from Deepam funds to bring the grand total to
Rs.15000. A cheque for the same was handed over to the HM of the school on June 14.
The HM conveyed her heartfelt thanks to Anand and Deepam for making this possible.



Those who are interested in Deepam with respect to volunteering/ Donations/ Events for kids/ other
information, please reach out to janavi@deepam.in
For more information, checkwww.deepam.in or visit us at www.facebook.com/deepam.chennai