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 6th 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.
30th June and 1st 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)
