IMMACULATA - When Boys Became Men - Part 2

June 2012

School starts.  In 4 weeks it will be D-Day.  14 schools have confirmed participation.  1,400 students are expected over two days.  Contingent leaders (teachers and students) of each school are invited.  They are briefed about the format, events and the rules.  Section heads are introduced.  Questions answered.  They are informed that St. Mary’s will not participate.  The contingent leaders wonder if the suited boys on stage will be able to pull off this endeavour.

Parents were the last group to join the effort – more out of shame of not having put in any effort while the boys were working their guts out.  They joined the school in providing necessary support in fundraising, support logistics, PR and infrastructure.

Two weeks prior to Immaculata the OC is eating, talking, breathing and sleeping (if at all) Immaculata.  The creative team’s juices are flowing.  The coordinators hold daily meetings with OC.  PTA and teachers are assigned duties and run around to ensure the necessary infrastructure is in place.

In the last week classes are conducted only in name.  External tuitions are cancelled.  OC and several volunteers work well past midnight.  They are high on adrenaline - excited but anxious.  Coordinators stay till the last boy leaves. 

T-1

The school is a beehive of activity.  Two weeks ago, boys from 6^th standard onwards volunteered in droves.  Over 300 of them volunteered.  They wanted to contribute towards Immaculata in someway.  There is something called the Marian spirit.  These were the days that one saw it in action.  Boys woke up early without any parent prodding despite having slept very late.  They were fresh and eager to rush to school.  At home they don’t bother about the house decoration – in school they are decking up the classrooms, hallways, passages and assembly halls.  At home they won’t climb up to the loft – in school they got onto to the ladders to hang the banners.  At home they would throw things around – in school they were picking up all the litter.  At home they would not dust and clean – in school they were sweeping the courts, assembly hall and dusting the classrooms.  At home they refuse to eat some food – in school they ate whatever the school served them.   At home they would not help – in school they were looking at any opportunity to help.  Why?  They wanted to belong.  They wanted to be part of something big.  They wanted to ensure Immaculata was a success.  But most important of all they wanted their school to be the talk of the town. 

Learnings:

●     Professional approach to daily briefing.

●     Anxiety is channelled creatively and positively.

●     Human Resource departments spend crores of Rupees trying build loyalty and motivate their employees.  They would give an arm and a leg for the dedication the volunteers displayed. 

30^th June and 1^st July 2012 (D-Days)

6:45am  - 40 boys are in school eager to get the show off the ground.

They clear the litter.  Move over 20 tables from the senior assembly hall to another part of the school. Sweep the basketball courts and the two assembly halls.

7:30am  - 300+ boys are nervous, fidgety and anxious but eager to flag off Immaculata.

7:45am  - first school arrives.  Like in a big game the nerves of the OC show through.  Lack of coordination, boys are not in the right place and chaos in getting the schools processed.  Walkie talkies are buzzing.  Relevant section heads are running helter skelter trying to get personnel in place. 

9:30am  - Opening Ceremony.  Participants are still trickling in.  This was unexpected which caused coordination problems. 

10:30am  - Half an hour behind schedule, first events start.  OC’s nerves settle down.  Months of preparation and attention to detail pays off.  Events move like clockwork.

6:30pm  - First day’s events finish 1 ½ hours ahead of schedule.

Next day with higher confidence and applying the learnings of first day things move a lot smoother.  There is better coordination.  Events run well.  Surprise events are a hit.  The Grand Finale of dance is a stupendous success.  Between the dance acts, students danced in the auditorium.  The compere gets the audience to participate in glowing mobile phone dance.  He orchestrates a dance off between arch rivals Campion and St. Mary’s.  The roar reverberates through the auditorium.  After the ramp walk and awards ceremony the tired boys lingered on having an after glow of a woman who has just delivered her first baby – the young men have successfully organised their first major event for the school. 

As one went around the school during the two days one could not fail to notice the enthusiasm.  The logistics team, having a grandstand view of the grounds from the lab on the first floor, was hunting for work.  They wanted to be involved, they wanted to do things.  Boys queued up to be despatched to some part of the school.

Initially professional security and parents are assigned primary security duties in the auditorium.  But seeing excellent entry and crowd control by the security boys and volunteers under the guidance of couple of teachers, adult support was withdrawn. 

At the Gym and three event floors there were no parents or teachers.  The event supervision was controlled by event and section heads ably assisted by volunteers – be it registration, providing materials, time management or interpreting rules.  Floor management and hallways was by volunteers and student security.  Whenever one entered these rooms there would be pin drop silence – even for “fun” events like t-shirt painting.  The boys had admirably repaid the faith and confidence placed in them by the school.

At the end of first day, after first couple of hours of nerves, things had gone fairly smoothly.    There was lot of positive feedback and intuition about the progress of Immaculata.  The Principal, teacher coordinators and student chairperson gave a pep talk to all the volunteers.  The student chairperson spoke the language of the boys before pepping them up, he pointed out that the St. Mary’s boys in the auditorium had rumbled and foot stomped during Campion’s performance – to distract them.  He informed them that if they wanted the participants to listen to the directions of event heads, security or volunteers they must first behave properly – practise what you preach.  He echoed the sentiment that was heard from a security boy looking after the entry into the Indian Village (Gym).

After the volunteers departed the Principal met with the teacher coordinators and later the OC.  They had an honest review of the first day.   But what transpired next was an eye opener.   For the next 1 ½ hours the OC along with the teacher coordinator were brutally honest, scathing, open and self critical about their first day’s efforts.  Section heads took responsibility for the failures – no excuses.  Volunteers who did not perform were identified and relieved of their duties – irrespective of the popularity or closeness.  All concerned took the criticisms in the right spirit.  Maybe it is their childhood innocence, maybe it is their loyalty to school or maybe it is their commitment to Immaculata but one would never see this candor in the corporate world where egos, politics and seniority are order of the day.

Sure there were shirkers, sure there was initial chaos, sure there was some mismanagement, sure some events could have been better executed but 20 odd OC heads and assistants with walkie talkies would rush in to resolve the issues as best as they could. 

Learnings:

●     Volunteers were the backbone of the success on the day.  Possibly the best decision the GC took was not participating.  Had they participated volunteer numbers would have been barely 10% - 15% of 325 as the rest would have busy participating. 

●     The sense of belonging to the school that has been generated is immeasurable.

●     The boys demonstrated great responsibility and ownership in the tasks assigned to them. 

●     Childhood innocence is not lost to these “men”.  Practising what they preach would ensure people listen to you.

●     Brutal self critical post mortem showed their maturity.

●     Ethics are not compromised.

●     Walkie talkie strutting suited boys were more professional than their jean clad parents.

Accolades

●     An event for the kids, of the kids, by the boys of St. Mary’s.  

●     “I have been involved in organising Malhar.  I am really impressed with your organisation – especially when you consider this is your first year.”

(A participating school teacher (Malhar is one of Mumbai’s prestigious inter-college cultural competition organised by the students of St. Xaviers College, Dhobi Talao)

●     “I heard that your event was a grand success and it was all organised and managed by your boys.  Many congratulations.”

(Head of a suburban school alumni which organises a similar event in their school)

Postscript

Today’s “modern” educationists TALK about learning by doing, hands on, creative, freedom to express and research based.  For decades Jesuits have been delivering just that in their endeavour to prepare confident well rounded human beings who can stand on their own as adults.  Immaculata provided that platform and demonstrated just that.

The management schools, consultancies and team builders put adults through “case studies” on motivation, team building, leadership, experiential learning, organisation, planning, control, to anticipate and manage risk, control, take decisions and solve problems.   Immaculata has exposed these adolescents to all this and more as they went through the whole lifecycle from concept to delivery of a product - Immaculata.

Boys (sorry young men) at this tender age you achieved, done, experienced, learnt, been part of, have been exposed to and pulled off something that many of us parents have still not done so in our lifetime.  You started the journey as boys but in ten months you have matured into young men.  We are confident that you will not rest on your laurels but use the learnings to improve next year.

Parents we underestimated the ability, maturity and preparedness of our boys – they have pulled off an event on the scale bigger than a big fat Indian wedding and that too far better than we adults can.  Parents you can walk around with heads held high that your boys will do you proud and will be a success in whatever field they choose. 

Our decision to enrol our children in St. Mary’s School (ICSE), Mazgaon – Priceless.

- By Janak Sheth (Parent of Marians & 150 Year Celebrations Committee Member)