"BRIGHT RAY OF THE WEEK " PROGRAM
June 2017 - 2018
At Bright Rays, we wanted to create a program which would consistently support a remote and needy school in India. We also wanted the program to help motivate the students and help them excel. To do this, we first had to identify a school which was established and suitable for the program. Bright Rays volunteer, Mr. Sivathmajan helped us with this by touring numerous schools in and around Kadhanthethy, which is a village in Tamil Nadu, 90 miles from Tiruchirappalli, to help find one that was a good fit. After touring numerous schools in April, we ended up selecting a school we had already interacted with last year.
Back in December 2016, Bright Rays volunteers visited the remote village school to distribute school supplies. We were instantly drawn to the dedication of the staff and the motivation of the children. The school is also very compact with only about 35 students from grades 1 through 5 and we felt that we could give personalized attention to each child. All the kids in this school come from underprivileged families.
When Bright Rays expressed the desire to support the students of this school consistently, both the staff and students were very excited. Bright Rays came up with the idea of recognizing one hardworking student every week. Bright Rays featured this child as the "Bright Ray of the week". The title was given to the child who set a good example and Bright Rays also sponsored a prize for that child. This motivated their peers to do better and enable them to "earn" a prize. The kids unanimously voted for a T-shirt as the reward. This was understandable, as many students do not have enough clothing at home and go bare-chested to save their good clothes. The school uniforms are provided by the government, though.
The Bright Rays awards program has encouraged 33 students to do their best. We really enjoyed working with this school!
