As an alumnus, have you ever thought about giving back to your high school? Maheshwari and Prathibha, both alumni of She’s the First partner school Shanti Bhavan in Bangalore, India, have found a great way to give back and inspire and empower the next generation of Shanti Bhavan STF Scholars.
Prathibha and Mahesh were honored at STF’s Annual Mentorship Breakfast last year for their initiative in starting the first alumni mentorship program. They developed the curriculum while at the Leadership Summit in New York, and have had a few sessions since then. Check out the video below to hear them talk about their ideas!
The mentorship group meets once a month and all She’s the First Scholars at Shanti Bhavan attend. Each session has a specific topic to discuss and explore. So far sessions have been conducted on Leadership, Teamwork, and Character Building. Some of the topics on the docket for the rest of the year are Adaptability, Global Citizenship, State of Girls’ Education Around the World, Safety, Financial Literacy, Networking and Maintaining Relationships.
The events are planned and coordinated by STF Scholar alumni, so not only is this mentorship program great for the current STF Scholars at Shanti Bhavan, but it’s a great way for the alumni to keep in touch as they’re building their lives in the real world. “We enjoy preparing and brainstorming for the sessions, ” says Prathibha. “The alumni get together while planning activities so we take this as an advantage to catch up on things happening in each other’s lives. We love it.”
When I reached out to Prathibha, she shared some photos from the recently held session on Leadership organized by Vinceya and Catherine. Some of the activities included making a human web, using teamwork to accomplish a task when presented with obstacles, and sharing stories about their own experiences.
Here are some photos from the event:
Prathibha setting up the leadership lesson
Mahesh and Prathibha lead a discussion during a mentoring session.
A rapt audience listens during the presentation.
And the scholars seem to be loving it! Overall, Prathibha and Mahesh have created a program that not only allows them to give back to their school, but also allows them to tighten the STF alumni network. A win-win situation if there ever was one, don’t you think?