Hello dear readers,
Welcome back to another chapter of the Avinya Scoop! This week we have our resident social media guru, Vihan to take you through our week.
Regardless of how short a day or week is, it’s always been an adventurous one at Avinya, with never a dull moment. Picking up from where we left off last week, My Company (Pvt) Ltd – our entrepreneurial project, has been kicked into overdrive with our kids now fully “invested” in their work(get it….?).
It’s always interesting to watch our kids brainstorm ideas, most often than not beginning with the most outrageous ones until they eventually reach a somewhat sane yet brilliant plan. Brainstorming with the kids has been nothing but exciting – their ideas, nothing but ambitious. From innovative electronic components and out-of-this-world cafés to mobile applications which could help you order medication or have a repairman come over and fix your refrigerator(these are two separate apps, of course), the kids have put their imagination and wit to good use in coming up with their business idea.
In the past week, we saw the kids dive into the likes of the ideation, research and costing behind building a business and the ever-elusive “Elevator Pitch” which might sound like a very basic part of entrepreneurship but is quite a tricky subject to excel at. After much discussion, market research (which also meant running to our biz wiz Nalaka for advice) and fine tuning, the kids moved into forming their business plans and more importantly, their costing. It was an interesting ride, but they eventually solidified their workings. As I write this, the kids are busy fine tuning their business pitch to present to their potential “investors”, otherwise known as our talented team of Educators.
On the extra-curricular side of things we had yet another house competition and this time, it was in the form of using coconut shells as shoes in a relay! If you kept an eye on our socials you’d know how whacky it was and the kids definitely had fun doing it. This time around, House Fire came in first place.
As this project comes to a conclusion and we move on to the next, we draw nearer to the end of this batch and I find myself thinking about how far these kids have come and the journey they have left, not only at Avinya but their life as a whole.
– Vihan
Thank you Vihan, for the AD update!
As the sun dawned on Tuesday, Avinya buzzed with renewed energy following a rejuvenating long weekend. The Academic Services team was back on the grind with student recruitment by advertising in a local newspaper and distributing our brochures to newspaper outlets. We’ve also conducted some social media promo with the help of our resident celebrity Isuru. Amid our student recruitment efforts, a mishap occurred involving paper cutters and some leaflets. Our dear Sanduni was rushed to the hospital yesterday and three stitches later, we can’t help but humorously note that our AI team has now officially contributed blood, sweat and tears to this student recruitment cycle! We wish Sanduni and her pointer finger a speedy recovery!
Our bi-weekly assemblies had come to an end with the last mesmerizing performance by the Elephants. However, this didn’t dampen our Friday spirits. Instead, we replaced the assembly with something even more fun – a student talent show! From some amazing singing numbers to foot-tapping dance numbers, this week’s assembly reminded me a little of the High School Musical movies 😀 The highlight, undoubtedly, was the breathtaking “Gara Yaka” performance by one of our Leopards. It was a culturally rich (and at times, hilarious) performance that wrapped up the assembly on a high note.
The week culminated with our students presenting their final products for My Company Pvt Ltd. As Vihan mentioned, for the final product of this project they were tasked with creating an elevator pitch for a new business idea. I had the pleasure of witnessing a few of these elevator pitches and I must say that the students had come up with some excellent ideas. Inversely, we had some idealistic pitches as well but it was a learning curve for many of our students. Nevertheless, I think I can confidently say (and I’m sure all the other Educators would agree) that some of our students have a real knack for entrepreneurship and I see some self-made businessmen and businesswomen in the future.
We’d also like to extend a big thank you to Anitha Munasinghe (Country Manager, Solidaridad Sri Lanka) for taking the time to visit our Academy and meet our team on Friday. The work they do is simply amazing and it is always great to connect with wonderful people working in the same space to share experiences and learn from each other!
As we finish off the third week of the first month of 2024 (truly, where does the time go?!), we wish our dear readers goodbye! Tune in next week for another update with the Avinya Scoop!
– Sinalie