By Daniel Lee- GAC2010 Student
During the last weekend of October 2009, students of the AlphaMax academy participated in the celebration of the great Mahatma Gandhi's 140th birth anniversary held at the Indian Cultural Center. They wrote essays and gave a PowerPoint presentation about Mahatma Gandhi and his influence on today's society. The evening was such a success that the His Excellency K.S Sodhi- the Ambassador from India invited the students to give an encore presentation. This was done before retired Ambassador of India and Managing Trustee of Sarvodaya International Trust, Pascal Alan Nazareth.
Pascal Alan Nazareth is dedicated to promoting, nationally and internationally the Gandhian values of Truth, non violence, communal harmony, humanitarian service and peace. Sarvodaya has ten regional chapters in India. Ambassador Nazareth is the author of the widely acclaimed book 'Gandhi's Outstanding Leadership'. He is also the recipient of the U Thant Peace Award for his 'Life Time Dedication and World Service by promoting the Gandhian Values of Truth, Non Violence, Communal Harmony and Humanitarian Service'.
On the 6th of November, a group of selected high school students of the AlphaMax Academy were invited to attend the presentation which was held at the Global Assessment Certificate facility. Two student presentations were done. Mahatma Gandhi and His Significance to Today's World was presented by Zikomo Mhango and Sabrina Vaseur, with the technical assistance of Daniel Lee and Khabir King. Marciano Proeve, Vijoya Taylor, and Peggy Dover then gave a video slideshow of the activities done on that weekend. Ambassador Nazareth praised the work of the students.
Ambassador Nazareth then gave a lecture on how Mahatma Gandhi had influenced many important social movements. He then showed us a movie describing how students in a particular Unites States University were trained in non violent techniques which they successfully to bring about social change in their city. Their success inspired many others to implement these techniques in the US in the 1960s.
