We kicked off our Student Interaction

Program in Krishnagiri, Cuddalore & Pondicherry; all

towns nearly 200kms from Chennai on the 28th of

September & 2nd of October. These programs, for

students of Classes X, XI and XII and their parents,

were aimed at igniting their minds and shaping

them for a better tomorrow.

An enthusiastic set of trustees, team members,

volunteer facilitators and other volunteers got

off to an early morning start on both days...In all

we had 37 students in Krishnagiri, 55 students in

Cuddalore and 45 students in Pondicherry along

with their parents taking part in the program. It

was indeed a wonderful opportunity to interact

with 137 students and their parents and

understanding their needs.

…because education has the power to change a family’s destiny

An Altius Foundation Initiative

Young Talent …………. Shaping minds for a better future

Seeing them turning out in full strength and ahead

of time gave our facilitators an extra impetus to

take the program to the next level. The bonding

between the students, parents & facilitators was

amazing which was the key to the effectiveness of

the program at all 3 centers.

What was the program all about?

The session started with a

round of introductions where

the parent had to introduce

the child and say two things

that he/she liked and vice

versa. Significantly, most

parents were very supportive

of their child’s aspirations

and did not impose their

opinions and ambitions on

them.

Then followed the most interesting part. Each team

of child and parent was given materials like a chart,

old magazines, new s-paper, glue, scissors and pens.

They were asked to create a collage that would

represent their dreams and aspirations and then

individually present it to the entire group.

Gift a future status update

Associated with 125 schools

Changing the destiny of 486 students

Plans to reach out to 175 schools by this quarter and

change the destiny of 900 students by this quarter.

“All we could see were children with closed eyes and a big smile.”

“All we could see were children with closed eyes and a big smile.”

‘Dreams in confirmatory tone’?

The facilitators, through

a process known as

‘dream visualisation’

helped the students

present their dreams as

an ‘affirmation’. If a

child’s dream was to be

a teacher, he /she was

asked to declare “I am a

Teacher !!”

There were engineers, doctors, aeronautical engineers, physicists, animators, automobile

racers, beauticians, lecturers, IPS officers and soldiers in the group. They had confidently

suffixed their names with IAS, IPS, BDS etc in the chart. They also dreamt of buying big

houses, cars, growing trees, learning martial arts, yoga, music and building schools for kids

to give free education. Wow! The children exhibited such confidence, interest and clarity of

thought!

The session ended with the facilitators asking the kids to close their eyes and imagine, “It

is not 2010, it is 2016 and you have become what you wanted to be. It is your first day at

work, look at yourself in the mirror, how smartly you are dressed, how your colleagues

welcome you to the office. Now there is your cabin. Do you see what’s written on the

name board? Days go by and you get your first pay cheque. What’s the amount on it? You

go home with gifts for your family. Do you see the smile on their faces? You learn yoga,

dance and music and do all that you wished for once. “

“Dare to dream big, reinforce your dreams, live your dreams and realize your dreams” This was the message that the volunteers of Gift a Future drove home to the students and their parent(s) who had gathered for a student interaction program on October 2 at Blessed Mother Teresa School at Pondicherry. Sudha’s fluent and easy style and constant encouragement with “very nice” kept the group

motivated throughout the program.

I came with an open mind and was in little doubt (as always) about city bred teams delivering content to rural kids. As always i was wrong : ) What i saw amazed me. The team from chennai took over the moment they landed and had a perfect plan in place. They split the group into 2, children and parents. The hesitant children opened up so well in 3 hours, thanks to the team , that i could spot Doctors, Engineers , musicians , artists et al. It was all inside them and all they needed was a helping hand and what a helping hand Team "Gift a future" is. It was a sight to watch the parents opening up and standing by the commitment to take the children forward, come what may.

Mohan Krishnan, Donor

K.G Murali,Supporter/Wellwisher

We wish to THANK all those who chose Gift a

future to support education of students in spite

of the innumerable options available in front of

them.

We THANK the people who have volunteered

their time and effort. But for them we would

not have reached the stage we are in today.

We also THANK the donors, supporters and well

wishers who took time out for being a part of

our first interaction programme.

Team Gift a future

I was craving to do this on my own over the last 4 years by short listing children; but it just remained an idea. Thank you very much for introducing me to this movement. Pleasure & satisfaction I have derived from my participation are unlimited. Team of Altius Foundation has been ensuring to reach the wherewithal to these bright needy children and this is the need of the hour to broaden our country’s growth story.

All the very best!!

Best Regards,

Vijay Prasad, Donor

MESSAGE GALORE

Gift a future is based on the firm belief that EDUCATION can change a family’s destiny. For this to happen, two things

must happen:

1. The child should complete his/her education

2. The child should have complete education

Every year, lakhs of children drop out of schools due to economic impediments so much so that it is an established UN statistic that for every 100 children in India who join Class 1, less than half go on to finish schooling. This is a fact the Nation has recently woken up to and the Government has announced steps through an Education policy that is focused on remedying this situation.

It is with this motive in mind that we at Altius Foundation are presenting to you 'Gift a future - a web based social initiative.

That is exactly what was achieved in the first session: opening up the minds of the children and giving them the power

to dream. I, along with the entire GAF team, am extremely thrilled at what our ‘catalysts’ Vikas and Sudha achieved

with the children and their parents in the very first interaction and eagerly look forward to building on the great

beginning in our future programs.

Please do send in your views to giftafuture@gmail.com .

C. Srikanth, Managing Trustee