HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAST FEW MONTHS
The first three and a bit months of 2021 has been slow but sure with life going on, along our work with the students. As all things Covid are picking up again, we adjust to the stop-start activities of the schools and colleges yet we are just thankful for the manifold blessings we have received across this period.
SCHOOL PROGRAMME
The schools were on with online classes via Zoom, Google classroom and YouTube platforms. The Anita Methodist school and St. Thomas school conducted half yearly exams at the end of January and most of our children have performed well.
Reopening our Eternus Centres after a LONG break
Since the government announced the reopening of schools (physically) for classes 9th to 12th, we opened up our Eternus Centres to meet and work with the students.
To say that the children were glad to get out of their homes and into school is an understatement. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long since the Govt instructed schools to go back online, a few weeks later.
So, we reverted to our online Zoom classes. For our 11th std children we had a volunteer join us to help them with Accounts, Commerce, and Economics for an hour every day. The academic year ended on March 29th for Anita Methodist School and March 31st for St. Thomas School.
DISCOVERY classes – our moral values session for the school children – were being held in two batches; on Thursday for the smaller children and on Saturdays for higher class students. In the last few weeks, we had spoken on prayer, honesty and integrity and stories from the Bible about handling everyday life issues. We also did a session with our older children on the topic of pornography.
Special career counselling sessions for 10th, 11th and 12th Stds.
As we do every year, we invited Head master of MCC School, Dr. Manohar, to address our students on the twin topics of Board exam preparation and Career counselling.
As part of our efforts to help our 10th & 12th std students choose career options, we also had our Eternus college students do a Q&A for the school children. We even had a young lawyer speak to one of our children who seemed interested to pursue a degree in Law.
Internship
Ms. Gracelin Maris, a 3rd year Bachelor of Social Work student of the Madras Christian College volunteered with us during this period. She was assigned teaching duties for the school children. She also did some mini-research work on both our Eternus children and their families to help us understand their present situations better.
COLLEGE PROGRAMME
We have been conducting Zoom sessions every Sunday afternoon for our college students on professional and personal development. One such session was about Relationships that we organized for Valentine’s Day, conducted by a couple – James and Eunice Ebenezer – who work with youth across churches in Chennai.
Also, we have begun sessions where one set of students make presentations to the rest. This gives them a comfortable creative space in which to exercise their research, content creation and presentation skills and gain confidence to speak publicly.
Placements
JENEFER has been with Eternus for 12 years and had completed her Masters in Social Work. She secured a short term assignment with the World Bank in Human Resources.
PRIYADARSHINI had completed her B.Sc (Operation Theatre and Anesthesia Technology) earlier this year and has now been placed at Maya Medical Centre in Chennai
DIVYA has completed B.Sc (Nursing) and has also secured first rank in the University for the 3rd time in a row. She is now placed in the same hospital at which she did her course, as a staff nurse.
SHARMILA who had completed her Masters in Social Work is now working in Nippon Paints as an HR trainee.
ANITHA, who completed her Physician Assistant course this year has got a job at the Mehta Hospital Chetpet as a physician assistant (Paediatric ICU).
- Our final year Engineering students - BALAJI and SIVAKAVI – have been placed, via campus interviews, in reputed IT Companies as software developers. They start work after their final exams in June.
Story of Santosh
Santosh, who passed his 10th standard from St. Thomas School, had been struggling with his school work for a couple of years.
When we had him assessed by an educational psychologist, we were advised that he would be better off doing a vocational course.
He is now enrolled at a Government Industrial Training Institute doing a course in Mechanic - Auto body Painting. We were delighted to hear from his family that he is doing very well at his course and has got much greater confidence now.
Welcome to Evelyn!
We are happy to announce that our senior Eternus staff, Mrs. Wincy Paul, welcomed a gorgeous, little baby girl – Evelyn Akalya George - into the world on January 22nd.
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