Extra Curricular Activities

Besides classroom teachings as per curriculum, other activities and programs are adopted with a holistic approach to induce seva & shraddha in the young students as well as in parents. Parents are encouraged to join weekly satsangs and to undertake any volunteer activity of their choice at the temple. While Satsang educates the parents enabling them to provide an environment of faith, positive thinking, and pride in Vedic heritage at home, volunteering sets forth an ideal example for children to give back to the society. It is relevant to know that all teachers at DAVSS are volunteers. Many other programs such as following support our mission.

Arya Yuva Mandal, a youth group of DAVSS, meets once a month to discuss current topics and matters relating to youth. AYM organizes food drives for the local charity groups, Annual Car Wash at Arya Samaj and other service projects such as Cleaning and Planting. Fund collection for Jeevan Prabhat (an organization for the under-privileged children) is organized during winter holidays with the help of Read a thon process- a win- win for JP Children, for DAVSS students and parents. Besides collecting sponsored funds, it encourages all students to read more, thereby helping the students at the same time. Other 'seva' projects involve DAVSS graduate students' fraternity. Founded in 2009 the members of DAV Fraternity regularly guide and mentor current students regarding careers, and teach Naitik-Shiksha classes.

Several competitions are held year around to excel the students in Debate, Speech & Essay writings. Since last four years our students have won maximum awards in the city- -wide competitions held under auspices of Mahatma Gandhi Library. The Shloka & Essay Competition, a part of the DAVSS curriculum, is held every year to inspire the students to learn Shlokas and to realize the excellence of Vedic Heritage. The essay and the shlokas are selected carefully, keeping the objectives of DAVSS in mind. For example the theme of the essay this year was 'Dharma (the duties) of a student’ and the selected Bhagvad Gita shlokas concerned with the students' life. Every Sunday one or two students speak at the podium in front of the assemblage on any topic of their choice from topics pre-selected by DAVSS Acharya. The pre-selected topics this year for example are- 'DAV Sanskriti School's contribution to my life', What I like about Indian culture' and 'Arya Samaj's contribution to the society' etc.

Other activities such as sports, music, dance and picnics are never ignored either. Tennis camps have been organized and coached by our own graduates in the past. Music and dance classes present their programs at the stage time to time. Annual picnic and lock-in keep the children enthusiastic, but nevertheless ever engaged in learning their culture with games such as 'Vedic Treasure Hunt'.

Today, DAV Sanskriti School stands foremost as an exemplary guide to other leading institutions and boasts of several graduated batches, still connected with their alma mater as a group, fondly known as DAVSS Frat (Fraternity).

Readathon

"Readathon enriches the mind and warms the heart"

A very noble way to experience charity and giving Students set goals to read books

  • They take pledges for reading books
  • Donors commit lump sum or based on
    • Number of books
    • Number of pages read
  • They read books and keep a reading log
  • Collect funds and submit log with the funds

A record number of children at DAV Sanskriti School Houston have year after year shown their compassion with Readathon and matching fund donors raised the bar of their spirits

  • 2007: Donated $9000 including matching of $4500 by Ashutosh / Minu Garg ji
  • 2008: Donated $12,000 including matching $4000 each by Vinod / Vinita Arora ji and Ashutosh / Minu Garg ji
  • 2009: Donated $10,909 including matching by Milind / Bharati Patil ji and ASGH management committee
  • 2010: Donated $12700 including matching of $3100 each by Renu / Sanjay Jain and Vibha / Dinesh Agrawal

Objective, Purpose & Introduction :

  • Read - a - thon is an Annual Event at DAV Sanskriti School of Arya Samaj Greater Houston.
  • A channel for raising funds for social causes, it creates not only empathy amongst children’s impressionable minds and tender hearts but also builds a lasting social compass in these young children.
  • Currently, DAVSS student collect funds for Jeevan Prabhat.
  • Jeevan Prabhat is a permanent shelter for the underprivileged, and orphan children who became orphans during the devastating earthquake of 26 - 1 - 2001 in Gujarat (India) and the Tsunami of 26th December 2004.
  • The name - Jeevan Prabhat signifies a new dawn in the lives of the earthquake - affected children and widows.
  • Jeevan Prabhat’s objective is to provide care for underprivileged children – a care that is just like how you would care for your own children. This includes housing, nutritious food and best of education for these children. Jeevan Prabhat currently has 2 locations – Gandhidham and Pondicherry. Gandidham location was founded in 2001 after a major earthquake hit the Indian state of Gujarat. The Pondicherry location was founded after "Boxer day Tsunami" – a catastrophic event of global proportions that hit Indian Ocean in 2005. DAVSS donations support Pondicherry where a child care facility was constructed last year at a cost of $400,000 - all raised through donations.

Process:

  • Read - a - thon event is kicked off in early December to last during winter vacation until Rishi - Bodhotsav / Maha Shiv - Ratri in February / March.
  • Students & Parents are acquainted with cause of Jeevan Prabhat for "giving & sharing" with children of Jeevan Prabhat.
  • Parents are involved in the process to inspire a zest for reading in their children and to support their collection.
  • Students get commitment from family, friends and neighbors to pledge money for reading.
  • The pledges are in the form of dollar contributions for number of books or number of pages read by the children, etc.
  • In support of the Read - a - thon, DAVSS lends out precious collection books through its library – books about the great men and women and stories from the Indian history.
  • Students decide to read the books of their choice.
  • The children have about 3 months to read books and collect pledges against the same from families and friends.
  • More books they read, more they collect.
  • More people they ask for commitment, the same page / book fetches more money to their fund collection.
  • Pledge commitments can be simple - From pennies a page or Number of dollars a book.
  • Traditionally, DAVSS Parent - Sponsors match funds that are collected by students.
  • Since 2009 Hindi Book Reading has been initiated and Hindi Book readers receive additional personal sponsorship from DAVSS’s Acharya Praveen ji.
  • For their efforts and additional reading, children receive trophies and are recognized on Rishi Bodhotsav / Maha Shiv - Ratri Day at ASGH Main Hall.
  • Six Trophies are awarded in two categories to:
    1. Highest readers (Maximum pages)
    2. Maximum Fund collectors
  • A whopping sum of about $50,000 has been collected so far by DAVSS students in last 4 years.
  • Last year was a record breaking year with a maximum collection of $13,000+.

Download Readathon Form