By Br Solomon Morris
Here’s where our lives are made,
Here’s where foundations laid,
Here is where we strive to plan our lives for God and country.
SES for St Edmund’s, leaders in every field!”
Against the quiet and despairing background of the COVID-19 pandemic, after the endless period of waiting and restless uncertainty, and the disappointing cancellation of the ICSE examinations, our students of ICSE finally had some exhilarating news to celebrate. All 144 students of St Edmund’s School cleared the hurdle — 129 students secured more than 60 per cent and 52 scored over 80 per cent.
The results were very good. Congratulations to all our boys, teachers and parents who worked very hard. The boy who topped the ICSE this year was Imad Farouque with 98.8 per cent, followed by Shantanu Agarwal with 98 per cent and Aibannehok Sohliya with 97 per cent.
While these boys get special mention, we are equally proud of all our boys who worked hard to get these incredible results. There are boys who improved dramatically. Some were elated; some broke down out of sheer joy; some ‘doubting Thomases’ couldn’t believe their eyes! But then St Edmund’s boys always have the happy knack of rising to the occasion.
Some parents of these same boys approached me at the start of their Year 10 and implored that their sons be spared from participating in concerts, sports, and other extra-curricular activities. Ironically, most of these boys thought otherwise. They wanted to thoroughly enjoy their last year in school with all of the activities and fun time. And did they have fun?
The old adage, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, the origin of which goes back to the 17th century, is so true. Here, in St Edmund’s, our academic year is packed with numerous activities. We conduct various events like concerts, sports, carnival, creation week where competitions like quiz, spelling bee, elocution, debates, JAM (Just A Minute), singing, art and craft, cooking, rangoli, power point expressions, movie production, advertisements, wealth out of waste, fashion show, salad show, flower show, origami, one-act plays, sand art, extempore, use of props, miming……etc. are held.
In addition to these, we have class picnics, overnight camping (thanks to Campfire Trails Organizers), Domestic Excursions, and International Tours. St. Edmund’s also organizes the EDMUNDIAN FEST which is a three day-fest involving Inter-School competitions. For the last two years, St. Edmund’s has conducted the MUN (Model United Nations).
Then we have the Christian Brothers’ Inter-School tourneys held in Asansol (West Bengal) and Kurseong (West Bengal). Some of our boys do play for the Junior State team in Cricket (Arush Rahman and Gavaneal) and Badminton. One of our finest golfers is Lakshya Bajaj who won the Statesman Cup in Shillong, the Civies Cup in Guwahati and played the National Junior Golf Tournament in Kolkata. We have some extraordinary talents in singing (Reuben Hadem), music (Borme Jordan with his violin, AddanStoneWarjri, an accomplished pianist; John Lamare, a versatile guitar player; Carl Brennan, another guitarist, just to name a few) and dancing. Last year, we staged the Wizard of Oz. Our boys know that it requires the brain of the Scarecrow, the heart of a Tinman, the nerve of a Lion and a homely atmosphere to develop into a rounded personality.
Our boys have participated and won prizes in various Inter-School Science Exhibitions, Debate and Quiz Competitions. School is not just about academics.
Our boys are also put in charge of various activities which are conducted with competence and consummate ease. It is in School that they learn the basics of event management, efficient organization, creative leadership and learning to work with each other. Our Class 9 & 10 boys are presently busy organizing the Online Creation Week amid this pandemic situation. And all our boys from Classes 1 to 10 are involved in some events or the other. It is worth mentioning that the entire Creation Week is managed and run by the 11 Captains and Vice Captains.
At St. Edmund’s we provide our children opportunities to lead from the front. We do admit that we have been slow to take up social causes. We need to be more involved in social advocacy issues and environmental projects. We are certainly working on this. We do have social outreach programs undertaken by our boys of Classes 8, 9 and 10. But we feel we could do more. Our Social Justice Cell has been set up and there are about 50 students who are meeting regularly to take up some new projects in the near future. At present the training is going on.
Our teachers have been patient and truly hardworking. They work closely with the boisterous boys and genuinely take interest in them. They strive to maintain the high standards and expect the same from their students. We congratulate and thank all our wonderful teachers who were instrumental in shaping the lives of our children.
We are grateful to God for steering our ship, St Edmund’s, with all its people in it — all the past and present Christian Brothers, Sisters who worked in the infirmaries during the boarding school days, the teaching Staff, the Administrative and Support Staff who were great souls, our students and parents – to a voyage of discovery, where together we move “one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield to the pressures of conformity and mediocrity. God bless all.
(The author is the principal of St Edmund’s School)