Students should maintain a balance between academics and sports

When asked, I tell people that the reasons behind my success are the motto of St Mark’s Sr Sec Public School, Meera Bagh: loyalty, truth and honour.

This motto became my mantra when I joined the school 12 years ago. It inspired me to consider hardships as challenges.

St Mark’s provides ample opportunities to children of all classes to showcase their talents. It organises academic activities and competitions such as inter-house quizzes, informative workshops, interactive learning sessions, gaming and computing competitions, Model United Nations, Olympiads, exhibitions, oratory competitions, inter- school poetry competitions, inter-class English and Hindi play competitions, character dramatisations and street plays. They enable children to excel in different spheres. St Mark’s believes in maintaining a balance between academics and sports. Students get the liberty to pursue the sport they are passionate about such as badminton, volleyball, football, tennis, skating, basketball or cricket. The activities make students good at multi-tasking and ensure overall development of their personality.

The school encourages a curriculum with international collaborative projects in which students interact with their peers across the world through cultural exchanges, Skype sessions, video conferences and ambassador interaction programmes. Through the expansion of international ties with countries such as Sri Lanka, Denmark, Singapore, Germany and Slovakia, doors of the global world are opened to students to admire the contrasting ideologies and cultures and understand that the world is interconnected. Students have access to smart boards installed in all the classes for better delivery of lectures by teachers through audio-visual modules. Inclusion of such advanced technology makes learning full of fun and inculcates deep knowledge in students. We have fully air-conditioned classrooms to provide comfortable environment for more focused and better learning for students. At St Mark’s, we also conduct orientation programmes for parents, considering the fact that the sync between parents and school is significant for the holistic development of children.

Principal Anjali Aggarwal believes that apart from the conventional classroom/textbook teaching, the teaching-learning process must be interesting and something that students look forward to. Therefore, the school follows many innovative practices. For example, students interested in print media careers can work on school newspaper, SMSXPress. The students create the content, design the newspaper and even raise funds for printing through advertisers. We also support underprivileged sections of society. This is done through projects such as Umang for underprivileged children and Nirmaan Enterprise for women empowerment. Everyone works for themselves, but the person who works to impart happiness to others is great. St Mark’s believes in creating never-ending bonds between teachers and students. The Old Students’ Association, Atoot Bandhan, organises events such as talent -cum-fashion shows, and sports matches.

St Mark’s helps in the cognitive, physical, emotional, social and moral development of students like me and many others. Success stories begin here. The years at St. Mark’s have been the brightest in my life.

Divyanshi Arora, Class 12B, St Mark’s Sr Sec Public School, Meera Bagh