“Persistence guarantees that results are inevitable” – Paramahamsa Yogananda
Being part of a group with a primary goal of expressing gratitude to the community through service inspired us to consider ways in which we could leave our mark on society. VTSeva’s core beliefs lead us to seek for methods that could be implemented in our own community. We started to ask certain questions: How could we spread awareness about this organization’s goals? How could we implement our ideas? What can we do to build on this organization’s strengths and leave our own mark? This notion gave rise to our plan to establish an exclusive club at Troy High School to represent VTSeva and its core ideals.
Hearing about other high schools that started their own clubs inspired us to get things started. We initially began by gathering information about how school clubs worked. Through alumni within VTSeva, we asked questions and noted down all the important factors that went into successfully starting and running a club. We started communicating with our school’s directors to understand the process and requirements to start a club. Just as we started gaining momentum, we encountered our first problem. While VTSeva is unique in the opportunities that it provides and the diverse people that it attracts, it was already a known fact that there are existing clubs with similar roles at our school. Our first task was to explain why this club would be different from others. With some help from others within the school and the youth board director Priya Jaisankar, we were able to successfully convince the school that we are a beneficial group to the school and it’s values. Second was to find a teacher sponsor. However, finding a teacher is not easy, especially at Troy High. With the number of clubs available and running at Troy, the majority of teachers are too busy sponsoring other clubs to add another onto their list. But, after looking for some time, we were able to find a teacher interested in helping us with our cause. With these requirements fulfilled, we were able to be a part of the club fair which scouts students to joining different clubs and activities. And we are proud to say that we were able to add 50+ new students to the cause.
All this leads us to present day. We have finished our elections for the student board for the club and have added some amazing , hard-working students to the organization.
Anuraag Balaji- President
Srihari Ananthalwan- Vice President
Leo Schmidt- Secretary
Vishnu Athreya- Event Coordinator
Haresh Anand & Komal Yedla- Comm. Leads
Ajitesh Venkatesh- Tech Lead
We have had several events sent out to people within the club and have had a number of people participate in them. And we had our first VTSeva Club event exclusively for the Troy High VTS Club, Salvation Army Bell Ringing event successfully.
Once again, congratulations to our board, and we’re looking to create a great school year full of volunteering opportunities!
Article Written By: Srihari Ananthalwan
Article posted by Nandini (VTSeva Detroit Communications)