This week’s blog title is us in six words.
As Sanjiva always keeps reminding us – who is this all about anyway?
The students, of course!
This week has been all about the students. It’s been a personal highlight and I’m sure for many in the team as well. On Tuesday, we headed down to Sarvodaya Institute of Higher Learning to conduct interviews for the first group of shortlisted candidates. The whole team was buzzing with excitement and clearly so were our potential students as they arrived way ahead of time with enthusiasm, keen interest and hope!
We had an incredibly fulfilling time for lack of a better word speaking to these potential students, finding out more about them, what interests them and why they hoped to follow a vocational education pathway after their O Levels. It was so touching to see the hope in their eyes and the potential for change that we could make in not only their lives but their families and communities.
It was wonderful to meet the parents of these students who had decided to come find out more about this new Academy which talks about vision, hope and changing lives. We hope they went away with a taste of what is to come. We certainly went away with firm reinforcement of our vision and the clear revelation that this is a project that is going to make a real difference and have such a positive impact on the next generation of those we would normally leave behind!
This brings me to my quote of the week:
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank
How wonderful it is indeed!
This is just what the whole team realised as we journeyed back – our hearts full of what we could accomplish and how much we can uplift these students to help them have a real chance to make their future a reality.
As we walked back to our van to take us back to Colombo we heard the sounds of steady construction in the background and peeped over to see our beautiful, one of a kind Avinya Academy being constructed. As we roamed around the site we were amazed at the speed in which everything was coming along and envisioned ourselves with our students in January 2023, giving hope, creating vision and changing lives!
If you know any students and parents who would like to talk to us face to face, we will be in Bandaragama next Tuesday (6 Dec) as well.
Software
Of the students we interviewed many were interested in a future in IT. They weren’t really sure what area but all they knew was that this was an industry that held their interest. Avinya is definitely geared to boost their IT futures.
Speaking of IT, our IT gurus Samisa, Rukmal and Zaeema have been hard at work setting up the academic management systems. As we race against time this is no easy feat. We will have more support and a full team face to face this week, I am told in ‘bootcamp style’ to get ahead of the many tasks ahead.
We know we are in good hands with all the amazing expertise in the team and can’t wait for the systems to be unveiled.
Outreach
Lakshman has been busy speaking to people in the community to share our Avinya story and recruit the first 120 students. The clock ticks away as we head towards our ambitious milestones and targets.
After all…
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
Operations
Nihara has been busy as a bee with quotations and coordinating all the logistics for our January 2023 launch. On the menu this week we’ve had a bit of a fruit salad 🙂 Lockers, chairs, tables, connectivity, meal plans and much more!
We’ve narrowed in on our uniforms too for our Empower Program and will share these with our discussion community as well for thoughts and feedback.
Remember we are all about sharing and caring!
Contributions
Speaking of sharing and caring…we have been blown away by the incredible offers of support we have received. We will be sharing all these wonderful contributions to acknowledge all the amazing companies and individuals who have helped us come together to change the world!
Finally, I’ll leave you with this great quote that sums up this week very well….
“Unity is strength. . . when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” – Mattie Stepanek
– Anju