International Stimulation Part I
Oct 1, 2009 Education, Life Bytes, Non-Profit, Outreach, Youth
Watch Part I of the Awards Program held in Osterburken, Germany. To read the full story and view stills click here.
Camera work by Matti Metso.
Tags: Germany, Oserburken, Youth
Blogging and Social Media of Today
Sep 17, 2009 Discussion, Education, Outreach, Seminar, Social Hour
Event: Blogging and Social Media of Today
Venue: Children’s Museum, Houston, Texas
Date: September 16, 2009
Report By: Ruchi Mukherjee
First Lady Andrea White and OPMOM hosted an informative presentation on Blogging and Social Media Today here at the Children’s Museum in Houston, Texas on Wednesday September 16, 2009.
The event was part of the “We’re All Neighbors”, a unique community outreach program.
The event highlighted social media today including Facebook, My Space, Twitter and others. The first speaker for the evening Katie Laird, who heads SCHIPUL, a web marketing company, explained to the women centric audience about the perks, benifits, and responsiblity of social media. “It is about building a relationship with your audience, and as women are good tellers the job gets easy,” says Katie. She also expressed that Facebook is one of her favorite means of communication “and how can we ignore the fact that it has reached over 300 million participants, so lets connect online,” she added.
The next speaker informed about OPMOM an initiaive for mothers to meet and interact with other moms to compare notes and swap stories. OPMOM is about bringing moms together for social networking and more. Social Media is about individual voices and people. It is not just about selling or buying. It is more than that, it is about connecting and opening the doors to raise your voice. “The can-do spirit in Houston opens the doors for social media so no matter what field we are from, social media awareness is on the rise,” explained Andrea.
This was the first event of “We’re All Neighbors” for Monica Danna, a social scientist who is proud to coach Andrea White through twitter, facebook and other modes of social media. “I think “We’re All Neighbors” the concept of hosting different events is really an awesome idea and I really enjoyed the session today. A great way to meet other women from different walks of life,” says Monica.
Also present Tammie Kahn, Executive Director for The Children’s Museum of Houston. The speakers felt the venue was very appropriate for the topic that evening as The Children’s Museum was about story telling and pursuing a passion, which is what social media is all about.
“We’re All Neigbhors” took shape right after Mayor Bill White joined office in 2003. “During Bill’s campaign, I had accompanied him to many events, political and otherwise, and was struck by how many surprising and amazing places there were in the city of my youth that I’d somehow never managed to see or experience. I wondered how many other “native” Houstonians would feel the same. Upon reflection, I realized that what I wanted was to get to know this international city better, bring together different groups and forge a stronger sense of community. Sharing this thought with my friends, we conceived of We’re All Neighbors, this unique community outreach program,” said Andrea White.
“I wouldn’t have had the energy to keep We’re All Neighbors going for over seventy programs for six years without my dear friend, Franci Crane. Franci devoted her time and creativity to developing original ideas for each month’s program and planning them in meticulous detail. Franci’s high standards and unique sensibility have made these many events truly worth attending,” she added.
Tags: Andrea White
International Stimulation
Sep 14, 2009 Education, Life Bytes, Non-Profit, Outreach, Youth
With dedicated classroom sessions, expeditions and cultural mixing and mingling the International Award Summer Program 2009 turned out to be the perfect recipe for an all rounded individual. Reports Ruchi Mukherjee from Osterburken, Germany.
In a small town of Germany called Osterburken with a population of less than seven thousand, it was quite amazing to garner so much knowledge in just a matter of a week. Thirty participants from seven different countries arrived in the picturesque little German town, to attend the Fourth International Award Summer School Program from August 24 to August 30, 2009.
The doors for this program were open to all, irrespective of age or race. There were individuals from sixteen to sixty traveling from from Asia to Finland . “It is for young adults planning to become award leaders, as well as experienced leaders wanting to deepen and share their knowledge,” says Klaus Vogel, National Award Coordinator. “One is invited to participate in an Awards’ Leaders course and different workshops are held in the English language,” added Klaus.
Osterburken is a town in the Neckar-Odenwald district, in Baden-Württemberg , Germany . It is situated 90 kilometers east of Heidelberg , The S1 S-Bahn line of the VRN public transport service operates between Homburg (Saarland) and Osterburken, hence the train station here is used frequently to transfer to and from other trains.
Since its very beginnings the German Award has been very closely related to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in the United Kingdom .
Now the German Award School is growing bigger after its 2006 50th Year Anniversary in Edinburgh . “It was founded in 1956 in the UK but has its roots in Germany,” informed Klaus. He said that he believes in a school not just for the brain but for all-round enhancement of skills. This is a non-competitive awards program with three separate awards – bronze, silver and gold with the key mission to inspire, guide and support young people in their self-development and to recognize their achievements.
Among the attendees were participants from Israel , Cyprus , Finland , Romania , United Kingdom , Pakistan , Germany , and for the first time India .
Ratuli Chakraborty and Tapti Dasgupta, both teachers by profession, were attending the program from Kolkata, India as they represented their renowned school La Martiniere for Girls, Kolkata.
La Martiniere College was founded by Frenchman Claude Martin of Lyon, France in the 1800’s, it offers an all-round education up to the Higher Secondary level and is one of the finest English speaking schools in India. The school was ranked 2nd “most respected day school” in India in 2008.
Klaus was thrilled with India’s participation and enthusiasm to send exchange students, and was thinking about a future expedition to the Black Forest with students from La Martieniere, India .
While ‘tasting’ some delicious German chocolate cake, I found Klaus expressing his anxiousness to make the program work. “There are so many problems in the world, we want to give these young people a chance to make it better,” he said, “We care, in these programs, for youngsters and it is a part of these meetings to learn from different situations and difficulties,” says Vogel.
Participant Danielle Almog was from Israel , and is a student of Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Faisal Yousuf, a pharmacist representing Pakistan , says “During the event it was fun to see the involvement. I think these kinds of events should continue.”
While Diana Iabrasu, a student of journalism from Romania , learnt the art of henna painting on palms and Indian tongue twisters like ‘Kacha Papita Pakka Papita’, Ratuli Chakraborty from India was thoroughly impressed with the stimulation programs. “As a teacher I can vouch for how confident and well rounded I feel after participating in the International summer program. Alongside brain development, our schools need to also focus on enhancing these kinds of programs that help us learn about different cultures and other countries,” expressed Ratuli.
Jassin Rezai from Finland said that the Program made him a mature individual who was ready to grow. “I feel revolutionary changes in me. There is a big difference in the Jassin of 2001 and today. I can speak fluent Hindi and many other languages. All the credit for this goes to the Awards’ Program,” says Jassin with a grin.
The Program was filled with exciting self-development exercises but was tough at the same time. A typical day at the Awards House in Osterburken started at 7am with breakfast duties from cooking to cleaning followed by some classroom sessions along with physical recreation and expeditions. The Program’s appeal was that it centered on individual growth and challenge, not about reaching specific standards set forth by someone else. “The only person these participants compete against is themselves, by challenging their own beliefs about what they can achieve,” says Klaus.
The Program’s motto “There is more in you than you think!” (Kurt Hahn) rang true as all thirty participants departed the program feeling more learned, tolerant, and confident.
With input from Diana Iabrasu
Pastries Against Poverty
Apr 1, 2009 Business, Education, Fund Raiser, Youth
Event: Pastries Against Poverty
Venue: Rice University, Houston
Date: March 17, 2009
Jalebees, chocolate cake and cheesecake were catered at a Rice University banquet hall as the Owl Microfinance group hosted an event called Pastries Against Poverty, a dessert and silent auction event. The main agenda of the event was to help entrepreneurs worldwide lift themselves from poverty.
The speakers for the evening were Janie Barrera of ACCION and Cristal Montanez-Baylor of the Hashoo Foundation. The event was well organized by the students who were also quite thrilled by the presence of Mayor Bill White.
Tags: Rice University
The Investiture of Renu Khator
Nov 16, 2008 Celebration, Education
Event: The Investiture of Renu Khator
Venue: Cullen Hall, University of Houston
Indian Americans called November 7, 2008 a historic day as Renu Khator became the thirteenth president of the University Of Houston. Khator oversees a system with an annual operating budget that exceeds $1 billion, serves more than 57,000 students, and has an annual economic impact of $3 billion.
Investiture: “Formal ceremony of conferring the authority and symbols of high office.”
In higher education, an investiture -- traditionally held with the president’s first year in office. It is an ancient academic ceremony that has symbolized the pursuit of knowledge since the Middle Ages. Today, universities view investitures as an opportunity to welcome a new era and celebrate as a community.
The entire Indian community was very proud of her. In her speech Khator did not shy away from embracing her motherland India and her roots. “I was thrilled the way her speech concluded with Tagore’s poetry,” says Houston community leader Vijay Pallod.
[altpwa user=rmrvideo album=RenuKhator]
Tags: Renu Khator, University of Houston
