May 2009 Newsletter

Newsletter - May 2009

Message From The Director by Visvambhara das As we approach the end of this school year I am heartened by the amount of cooperation and support we have received from our parents and devotee community throughout. The finest example of this was our recent Gitanjali fund-raising concert: Gitanjali Recap The response we received on the evening of the event exceeded our wildest expectations. It was enthusing to to see an auditorium packed full of people so excited to support the continued growth and development of the Bhaktivedanta Academy. Due to everyone's help we raised over $21,000 toward the Audarya Bhavan classroom expansion project! I truly feel that the response we received is a direct manifestation of Krishna's pleasure with all the hard work that so many have put into developing our school over the years. Thank you to everyone who came forward to make this event a huge success. We could not have done it without you. Tight quarters in Audarya Bhavan. Bhaktivedanta Academy Supporters Program For those of you that did not get an opportunity to participate, we are still in need of the additional funds necessary to purchase and setup the classroom space necessary to serve the new students coming into the Audarya Bhavan (1st - 3rd grade) class next year. We will be adding 7 new students to a class that is already cramped for those that currently occupy it. $13,000 is all that is needed to bridge the gap between what we have raised to date and what we need to setup this new classroom. At the Gitanjali event we unveiled our Bhaktivedanta Academy supporters program: $500 Madhurya Rasa The inspired enthusiast in love with helping the youth of our community. $250 Vatsalya Rasa The devoted benefactor of Krishna’s children. $100 Sakhya Rasa The caring friend of ISKCON’s next generation. $50 Dasya Rasa The faithful servant of Srila Prabhupada’s mission. $30 Shanta Rasa The peaceful well-wisher of devotional education. Just as we did at the event, every contributor will receive a quality gift item as a token of our appreciation for their support. If only 26 recipients of this email commit at the $500 level, we will meet our fund-raising goal! If you have not done so already, I humbly request that you consider making a donation toward the on-going development of Krishna-centered education. Checks can be sent, payable to Bhaktivedanta Academy, to: PO Box 937, Alachua, FL 32616. Summer Camp Registration forms went out a few weeks ago for this year's summer camp program. It will consist of themed 2-week sessions (starting 6/15/09) open to children ages 4-10 with daily spiritual activities (9 am – 3 pm). All participants receive a camp T-shirt plus daily prasadam snack and lunch. If you are interested in having your child participate we need to receive the registration form and payment by Monday, June 1st. Please call 386-462-2886 or email office@bhaktivedantaacademy.org for additional details. Bhakti Bhavan Success During a recent evaluation by the Early Learning Coalition, we learned that our Bhakti Bhavan had received the highest rating of any pre-school in Alachua County! We are continually hearing from the various agencies that inspect/evaluate child care centers in our area, how impressed they are with our program. We are very grateful to receive this recognition. It is hard to belive that the school year is about over. It has been exciting to be a part of it and am looking forward to the next. Your servant, Visvambhara das Director Bhakti Bhavan - Pre-K/Kindergarten by Nataka-candrika dasi In the month of April, the students of Bhakti Bhavan explored the large continent of Africa with its many countries. Classroom shelves were filled with attractive works like the African artifact tray, a replica of an African elephant that made a trumpeting sound, African cut-out dolls in native attire and book making materials on African animals. During circle time, a favorite activity was to pound rhythm sticks to the beat of an African “talking drum” song. They also enjoyed watching a Zulu storyteller narrating stories with morals and lessons from the African culture. Older students who practiced map-making were amazed to see how one continent could contain so many countries with interesting sounding names! Ramananda and his dad, Sri Thakura. We celebrated Father’s Day early by inviting the fathers to spend the morning in our classroom. After the students sung a song honoring their fathers, everyone played a “guess the father” game. Smiles and laughter filled the room as fathers tried to guess their identities based on answers given by the children to questions such as “What do you love most about your father?” Next, students took their dads around the classroom demonstrating their favorite works and letting dads try it, too. Before each dad left, he was presented with a beautiful hand-drawn picture magnet made by his child. Dads were also treated to homemade cookies. Everyone had a great time! As Earth Day always falls in April, students in all three classes had a chance to learn about paper making and were taught the importance of the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse and recycle). Along with the older students, each Bhakti Bhavan student had a chance to make a sheet of paper using recycled materials. Even at this young age, our students are conscious of the importance of not wasting resources. In celebration of Lord Ramachandra’s Appearance Day, Bhakti Bhavan students heard and sung about this pastime with great delight. It came as no surprise when they chose the story of Lord Rama for the topic of their Student Treasures Class Book. Parents, students and teachers couldn’t be happier with the results and almost everyone ordered their own personal copy to take home and read together. April was filled with opportunities for singing in Bhakti Bhavan. In preparation for the Spring fundraiser, the students learned a song about Krsna from the introduction to Krsna Book. Under the guidance of devotee musician, Sri Thakur Prabhu, students practiced several times a week. The end results were well worth the many hours of practice! Students also learned a new song from the translation to the Nrsimhadeva prayers which they sung at the temple on Lord Nrsimhadeva’s Appearance Day. Following their unit study on the 10 incarnations, students learned a song which included mudras (hand gestures). Circle time in Bhakti Bhavan. For our upcoming spiritual curriculum, we will be hearing about many well known stories from the Srimad-bhagavatam such as Dhruva Maharaja, Ambarisha Maharaja, Gajendra the elephant, Jada Bharat and King Citraketu. We will also learn about the Appearance of Lord Jagannatha, as many of our students will be participating in various Rathayatra festivals throughout the summer. Besides our regular Montessori activities, new work included learning about the parts of a fish, how to juice oranges, and brass polishing. Finally, in May, we will be learning about the continent of Antarctica, the oceans, landforms, insects, the life cycle of a butterfly and parts of a fruit. In practical life, we will learn how to make lemonade. Sounds like a busy month ahead for the students of Bhakti Bhavan! Audarya Bhavan - Grade 1-3 by Satyaki dasi April was a wonderful month in Audarya Bhavan: Vraja, Varshana, and the rest of Audarya Bhavan prepare for a bike ride. Bike Week We had some crashes and scraped knees but Bike Week turned out to be a lot of fun. One goal of Bike Week was to talk about bike safety and how to ride together in a group. Abhaya, Node, and Ross make paper. Earth Day To help us understand how we can take better care of Mother Earth, Gayle from Alachua County Public Works, gave the children an opportunity to make paper from recycled material. The children had a lot of fun while at the same time reinforcing important conservation principles. Vishnu shares classroom activities with his father, Hanuman. Father's Day We had a big turn out for Father’s Day. The children were very happy to spend the morning sharing their classroom with their dads. Madhurya Bhavan - Grade 4-6 by Krishna Priya dasi Ram Bol between Audarya Bhavan and Madhurya Bhavan Lord Rama’s Appearance Day In honor of Lord Ramachandra's appearance day, Nataka-candrika facilitated a Ram Bol (a trancendental trivia contest) that tested the students of Audarya and Madhurya Bhavan on their knowledge of Rama lila. The dual class competition was very spirited and touched on many aspects of Lord Rama's pastimes. All participants were rewarded with maha sweets. Writing and Reading Before spring break, I announced to the students that they would all be writting and illustrating books as part of our annual treasure book activity. I was so impressed to learn that some students already had stories they had been working on. Many were so excited, they finished their stories over spring break. After three weeks of hard work, the students completed their stories. We are all eagerly anticipating the arrival of their bound hard cover novels! Father's Day Thank you to all the dads who came to visit our classroom for our Father's Day event. The students played their Bhagavad-Gita songs, shared their essays and presented video taped performances of themselves dressed up as a character from a novel. The fathers shared their experiences meeting Srila Prabhupada. Thanks dads! A special thank you to Kripa Sindhu. He made fresh ice cream, cookies, and samosas for our class.  While listening to his stories about Srila Prabhupada, the students feasted under a tree at the old KCF. Thank you Kripa Sindhu! A Scholar and a Gentleman by Navina-Shyama das That’s what Mrs. Andropolos would always call me, as I left her office after completing yet another small errand. I loved when she said that. Sure, I was just an hourly employee of the university drama department, but her way of saying thank you was so poetic, I couldn’t help but feel distinguished. The phrase has a nice ring to it, to be sure, but it also a deep meaning. Shouldn’t every scholar be a gentleman? Traditionally, education has meant more than just rote memorization of academic subject matter; to be educated was to be refined, in behavior and character. Srila Prabhupada was also in favor of his gurukulas imparting virtues and values to the youth of our movement. He lamented that modern parents had lost interest in this more profound sense of education: “Now people are not at all interested. If you advertise that 'We are opening one gurukula where brahminical culture will be instructed. Send your boys,' nobody will send. They are not concerned anymore that 'My son should be truthful, self-controlled, mind-controlled.'” (Lecture in Vrindavana, 1976) When Bhaktivedanta Academy was holding the first phase of its strategic planning over winter break last year, the staff felt that it was important to make the training of character an explicit part of our spiritual curriculum. But what traits should we aim to instill? For that, we pored over several books, including Bhagavad Gita, Nectar of Instruction and The Twenty-Six Qualities of a Devotee. Cross-referencing the lists we found and adjusting the terminology to be both clear, broad and simultaneously true to our tradition and relevant to the contemporary world, we ended up with a core list of twelve qualities. The list is still a work in progress, but even what we’ve done with it to date has proven its potential. Each month, we have been selecting one quality to focus on, in the classroom, at morning assembly, and at home. An inspirational picture is chosen to help get students and parents alike thinking, including some ideas for practical engagement. I know I enjoy having the opportunity to bring up illustrative pastimes from out tradition based on a focused theme. One parent also shared how having to think of ways to engage her children in the selected virtue was forcing her to meditate on it and try to embody it herself. Not that this year is the first time our students are building character. Thanks to the efforts of our teachers over the years, and especially the wholesome home environments provided by so many of our parents, our young charges already impress visitors. One of the presenters at a recent Earth Day activity remarked on how much she likes coming to our school to do presentations on behalf of Alachua County: “It has such a great energy...and the kids are so nice!” At a time when basic politeness is on the decline and children’s desire for constant stimulation and distraction is on the rise, focusing on developing some basic character traits is a formula for success, not only to those of us striving to please Srila Prabhupada, but for any parent or teacher of the future citizens of the world. As we at Bhaktivedanta Academy seek to improve the educational experience we offer, our staff has made it a priority to take Srila Prabhupada’s advice in a 1976 lecture in Mumbai literally: “First of all character...that is education.” With the help and modeling of our committed parents, we are sure that graduates of Bhaktivedanta Academy will be known for their gracious manners and deep integrity. In this way, our society will produce genuine leaders for the greater benefit of humanity at large.

Dedicated to the the service of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Important Dates Mon., May 25: School Holiday - Memorial Day Wed., May 27: Camp Kulaqua Day Trip Mon., Jun. 1: Summer Camp Registrations Due Fri., Jun. 5: Last Day of School (day ends at conclusion of end of year ceremony) Mon., Jun. 15: First Session of Summer Camp View Online Calendar Mahajan Corner Current Mahajans Thanks to the following "Mahajans" for volunteering their time, talent or treasure to the school: Bali: The Givers of Charity Anil and Vidya (Aravind’s parents) for sponsoring maha sweets for the student performers at the Gitanjali event. Dharmatma, Dhruva Maharaja and Radha Jivan for devotional books. Hitakarina and Sabrina (Ross’s mother) for arranging eco-friendly serving ware for the Gitanjali event. The families of Isha, Karuna and Nadia for starter plants for the Bhakti Bhavan garden. The families of Isha, Karuna, Lali and Nataka-candrika for oranges for juice making. Ishvara Puri (Navina-Shyama’s father) for a new set of “Abhay Charan” DVDs. Jahnavi (Balarama’s mother) and Nirmala for donating some children’s classics. Krishna Bhava (Krishna Priya’s mother) for a copy of Radhanath Swami’s new book. Krpasindhu for a wonderful picnic of samosas, french fries, ice cream and cookies for Madhurya Bhavan, which he served while telling Srila Prabhupada pastimes. Laxmimoni for devotional books and a beautiful book on intelligence in nature. Laksmi Nrsimha and Pattarajni for sponsoring cupcakes to help boost Gitanjali ticket sales. Nataka-candrika for maha-sweets to give out to the mothers of Bhakti Bhavan on Mother’s Day. Rohini Kumar for valuable science, math and other curriculum books for Madhurya Bhavan. Vishnupriya from Jacksonville for a CD case and paper trays for Madhurya Bhavan. A big thank you to all our silent auction donors for their generous support of our school’s efforts at the Gitanjali event. Bhishma: The Dutiful Bhaktas Akuti (Kinnara’s grandmother), Krpasindhu, Lalita Sakhi (Karuna and Haridas’s mother), Mantrini (Karuna and Haridas’s grandmother), Pushpanjali (Navina-Shyama’s mother) and Radha Kunda Dainton (Nadia’s mother) for cooking and serving main dishes for the Gitanjali event. Babhru & Satyaki, Jonathan (Karuna and Haridas’s father), Pushpanjali and Visvambhara (Isha and Vishaka’s father) for cleaning up after the Gitanjali event. Dattatreya and Nila Khurana for serving as ushers at the Gitanjali event. Dhirodatta, Manu, Michael, Hari Bhakti, Rupa, and Ramananda Raya for their technical work behind the scenes at the Gitanali event. Ekadasi (Abhaya Charan and Vishnupriya’s mother), Gaura Purnima (Jalangi’s “Alachua mom”), Jahnavita, Jaya Radhe (Karuna and Haridas’s aunt), Nataka-candrika, Param and Yadurani (Anasuya’s parents) and Ratnesvari for serving out prasadam at the Gitanjali event. Jahnavi and Vaikuntha (Balarama’s parents) and Sudharma for taking tickets at the Gitanjali event. Jonathan and Tamohara (Karuna and Haridas’s grandfather) for serving at the donor table for the Gitanjali event.\ Rasikananda and Vrajabhumi for their help with graphic design on our promotional materials and programs. Yadurani for baking for and sitting at the ticket table for the Gitanjali event. All the parents who worked hard to sell tickets and make desserts for the Gitanjali event. Brahma: Getting Things Started Jahnava (Braja’s mother) for coordinating the entire Gitanjali event, including the silent auction, entertainment and promotion. Krishna Dhama (Krishangi’s mother) for coordinating the silent auction for the Gitanjali event and set-up. Lalita Sakhi for coordinating and serving out the prasadam at the Gitanjali event. Mahatama for serving as the MC for the Gitanjali event. Padmaksi (Naya’s mother) for coordinating the program sponsorship sales for the Gitanjali event. Radhika Rani (Vrindavani and Madhuri’s mother) for coordinating thank you gifts and assisting with ticket sales and the pledge drive for the Gitanjali event. Sabrina (Ross’s mother) for coordinating the ticket sales for the Gitanjali event. Janaka: Attracting the Goddess of Fortune Mrgaksi Dasi and Friends for an amazing debut performance of their original “Ballad of Gajendra” at the Gitanjali event. Gaura Vani and As Kindred Spirits for an inspiring set of fresh versions of our traditional bhajans at the Gitanjali event. Sri Thakura for creating the Bhaktivedanta Academy Children’s Choir and leading them in a charming performance at the Gitanjali event. Narada Muni: The Visiting Teachers Krishna Kripa for speaking on the evidence against evolution to Madhurya Bhavan. Siva: Keeping Ignorance Under Control Pani Bhusana for pressure-washing the school office. Future Mahajans We need the following services for the upcoming month: Bali: The Givers of Charity Programmable thermostats for all three classrooms would help us save a lot of energy...and money! Kapila: Parents and Children Helping Each Other Learn The quality for May is confidence, an important complement to humility. Some ideas for engaging children in this virtue include discussing the difference between pride and self-esteem, and looking at what Srila Prabhupada was able to accomplish through his confidence in guru, sadhu and sastra.

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