Following the assembly, kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders participated in coloring projects, and students from grades 3rd through 12th expressed their thoughts and ideas through essay writing competitions. A wide variety of essay topics were selected based on Swami Vivekananda’s life and teachings.  Students were given one hour to write their essays.  For that one hour students in all the classes of the Vidyapith were engrossed in deep thoughts, expressing them on paper.

            The following weekend after the Christmas break, on Saturday, January 5, and Sunday, January 6, 2008, speech competitions were held for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.  Both  days, the Prayer Hall was filled to its maximum capacity.  After the Morning Prayer, a small platform was placed on the left hand corner and microphones were set.  As usual, Vidyapith’s alumni took charge of moderating the competition.  Three volunteers (one Vidyapith alumnus, one parent, and one guest) judged each competition based on content, language, general presentation, preparedness, and adherence to the given time limit.  The 3rd graders were participating in speech competitions for the first time.  Their parents were more nervous than them!  All the students were very well prepared and showed courage and self-confidence in their presentations.  After a short snack break, all students, parents, alumni, and volunteers gathered again for the announcement of the winners and the trophy distribution.  As always, a chief guest was randomly selected by a young student who picked up a name from a basket filled with the parents’ names.  The chief guest for Saturday, January 5th was Mrs. Alpa Sangoi, and for Sunday, January 6th, was Mr. Alkesh Patel.  Both congratulated the students and distributed trophies to all the participants and the winners.

                The 5th and 6th days’ Youth Day Celebration took place in the auditorium of Clifton High School, Clifton, New Jersey on Saturday, January 12th, and on Sunday, January 13th, 2008.  Both the days, after the Shanti Mantras recitation, Mahendra Uncle shared his thoughts on Swami Vivekananda’s teachings on strength.  He said that we are very fortunate that we are celebrating Swami Vivekananda’s 145th birthday on his actual birth date, January 12.  Swami Vivekananda was ever young.  He lived only for 39 years, but his exemplary life and his teachings of Oneness, Unselfishness, Strength, and Service will guide humanity for years to come.  After his speech, the speech competitions for grades 6 through 11 were held.  Vidyapith alumni, with the help of the Vidyapith teachers, moderated all the competitions.  Both the days, the 11th graders speech competitions were extempore.  They received their topics only an hour earlier.  They sat in a room to prepare their individual speeches, with a teacher monitoring them.  Afterwards, as names were randomly selected, each student was called one by one to give his/her speech.  There was great excitement in the auditorium to listen to these speeches, prepared in a short time.  Then, the 12th graders presented their symposium using power point slides to enhance their subject matter.  The topic of the symposium on Saturday was, “Vivekananda World Teacher – His Teachings on the Spiritual Unity of Humankind.”  This is the title of a recently published book by Revered Swami Adiswaranandaji,  and the symposium was an offering to him.  The topic of the Sunday’s symposium was, “The Power of Thought.”  The students presented how a thought starts as a spark, and then it catches fire and bring a positive revolution in the society for the good of humanity.  They selected revolutions in social, political, economical and spiritual fields.  Both days were filled with thought provoking and uplifting ideas eloquently presented by the students.  At the end of the 6th day students, teachers, parents and helpers were physically exhausted but mentally invigorated by the character building activities of the Youth Day Celebration. The randomly selected chief guest for Saturday, January 12, 2008, was Mrs. Tejal Pathak and for Sunday, January 13, 2008, was Mrs. Kiranmayi Yagnamurthy.  They spoke briefly about the activities and distributed trophies to the participants and the winners.  Here is a list of topics and winners by the grades:

Saturday Students:  Grade 3A: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Imagine that you have a pet. You wake up one morning, and to your amazement, you find out that your pet can talk! Now think about the things that your pet likes or dislikes about its life, and the things that are important to your pet. Write a story about the day you spent with your talking pet.”; 1st: Rima Shah, 2nd: Simran Bhatt, 3rd: Yash Patel; Honorable Mention: Anish Vaidya, Pratha Patel, Ashi Patel, Vineet Parikh. (Speech Competition): Topic: “If I were a kite in the sky…”; 1St: Vineet Parikh, 2nd: Pratha Patel, 3rd: Simran Bhatt; Honorable Mention:  Anish Vaidya, Tanuj Desai, Chintan Thakore, Janavi Patel.  Grade 4A1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “A day at the beach can be very exciting and enjoyable. Describe a fun day you had at the beach.”; 1st: Jahnavi Vyas, 2nd: Heley Patel, 3rd: Katha Patel; Honorable Mention: Jyotsna Ramaswamy, Riya Bhatt, Ashka Suvarnakar.  (Speech Competition): Topic:”I am most creative when I…”; 1St: Urja Sevak, 2nd: Aneri Rokad, 3rd: Ashka Suvarnakar; Honorable Mention: Heley Patel, Jahnavi Vyas, Advait Suvarnakar.  Grade 4A2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Once upon a time there was a dollar bill named Buck. He lived in a piggy bank with other bills and different kinds of coins. The piggy bank was very small, dark and uncomfortable, in Buck’s opinion. Besides, the coins drove him crazy because they constantly chattered and rolled about as he was trying to sleep. One day, he decided to leave the bank and find a new home…”; Write a story about his adventures. Remember to make your story lively and interesting!: 1st: Rucha Desai, 2nd: Manisha Ram, 3rd: Khush Patel; Honorable Mention: Rahi Desai, Avsar Rana, Payal Patel. (Speech Competition): Topic:”My favorite season”; 1St: Khush Patel, 2nd: Khushbu Patel, 3rd: Suraj Patel; Honorable Mention:  Suraj shah, Stuti Patel.  Grade 5A1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Pretend you are asked to spend one afternoon babysitting little Hanumanji. Before you begin to write, think about the fun and adventures you can have with Hanumanji. Now write a story about what happened the afternoon you babysat little Hanumanji.”; 1st: Amie Patel, 2nd: Adin Vashi, 3rd: Ashka Sevak; Honorable Mention: Mihir Sangoi. (Speech Competition): Topic: “The sign brings the customers”; 1St: Adin Vashi, 2nd: Ashka Sevak, 3rd: Mihir Sangoi; Honorable Mention:  Neha Gupta, Akshar Amin.  Grade 5A2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “I love snow days. But this snow day was somewhat unusual. When I woke up and looked out at my yard, I saw something strange. There were many tiny footprints in the snow coming out of the bushes, crossing my yard and disappearing into the backyard. “I have lots of time today,” I said to myself. So I decided to follow the footprints….”; 1st: Aakash Lad, 2nd: Nikita Tailor, 3rd: Ashwini Ramanathan; Honorable Mention: Jigar Surati, Sita Uyemura. (Speech Competition): Topic: “A lie never lives to be old”; 1St: Sahil Vaswani, 2nd: Nikita Tailor, 3rd: Jigar Surati; Honorable Mention:  Viren Lad, Ashwini Ramanathan. Grade 6A1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Write about a time when you did something really responsible. Describe it. What was the outcome? How did it make you feel about yourself? Describe a time you did something really irresponsible. What was the outcome? How did it make you feel about yourself?”; 1st: Divya Dasani, 2nd: Rashmi Ketha, 3rd: Heeruk Bhatt; Honorable Mention: Sakhi Patel.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “Narrate a parable of Sri Ramakrishna and explain what you learned from it.”; 1St: Divya Dasani, 2nd: Heeruk Bhatt, 3rd: Sakhi Patel; Honorable Mention:  Shainey Patel, Rashmi Ketha.  Grade 6A2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Imagine you had a report due in Social studies and you waited until the last day to do it. You got on the internet and found a homework site that had a report on the subject that you needed. You had to finish the report on time. Describe what you did and why. How did it make you feel about yourself?”; 1st: Sana Perti, 2nd: Sivasruthi Senthilkumar, 3rd: Sriram Vemparala; Honorable Mention: Shivani Shah.  (Speech competition): Topic: “Narrate one of Aesop’s fables and explain what you learned from it”; 1St: Sana Perti, 2nd: Parth Patel, 3rd:  Pratik Pathak; Honorable Mention: Shivani Shah.  Grade 7A: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Imagine this. You are contesting for class president and have to advertise yourself. Write an introduction about yourself and your qualities without being boastful.”; 1st: Chandani Vekharia, 2nd: Sajni Desai, 3rd: Sejal Mistry; Honorable Mention: Kalashree Gopal, Manali Naik. (Speech Competition): Topic:  “”I don’t have time!” – Is this a valid excuse?”; 1st: Aesha Vyas, 2nd: Chandani Vekaria, 3rd: Shruti Patel; Honorable Mention: Ansh Patel, Sajni Desai.  Grade 8A: (Writing Competition): Topic: “People succeed because they are lucky. Do you agree, or disagree? Explain.”; 1st: Shreya Chaturvedi, 2nd: Sachi Desai, 3rd: Alisha Parikh; Honorable Mention: Meera Varshneya, Mohnish Pardasani.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “The biggest room in the world is room for improvement.”; 1st: Chaitali Gandhi, 2nd : Mansi Patel, 3rd: Shreya Chaturvedi; Honorable Mention: Meera Varshneya.  Grade 9A: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Consider the following definitions of what courage means:  - Standing up for what is right, even if you stand alone; - Not caving in to negative peer pressure; - Not avoiding doing something for fear of making a mistake or failing; Not being afraid of expressing yourself just because some people might disapprove. Describe any situation in which you showed courage.”; 1st:  Kishan Patel, 2nd: Nikita Manavi, 3rd: Bhumi Kinariwala; Honorable Mention: Shivani Ram, Shiv Mistry.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “There is a ripple effect in all that we do. What you do touches me; what I do touches you.”; 1st: Bhumi Kinariwala, 2nd: Nikita Manavi, 3rd: Sanjay Vemparala; Honorable Mention: Dharini Adhvaryu, Kishan Patel, Dhwani Amin.  Grade 10A1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Agree, or disagree. Explain with examples.”; 1st : Dharti Patel, 2nd: Megha Dasani, 3rd: Dhara Dalal; Honorable Mention: Menaka Dhingra.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “When you throw dirt, you lose ground.”; 1st:  Dharti Patel, 2nd: Asthaa Chaturvedi, 3rd: Pooja Shah; Honorable Mention: Dhara Dalal.  Grade 10A2: (Writing Competition): Topic:  “Success that looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart is no success at all. Think about what being successful means to you. Explain why true success has to feel good in the heart.”; 1st: Samik Patel, 2nd: Shikha Patel, 3rd: Dhara Patel; Honorable Mention: Sanjana Sanghavi.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “The Human race has one effective weapon, and that is laughter.”; 1st: Dhara Patel, 2nd: Shika Patel, 3rd: Reva Dhingra; Honorable Mention: Brijesh Lad, Sanjana Sanghvi.  Grade 11A: (Writing Competition): Topic: “People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges. Explain the thought in terms of relationships.”; 1st: Vidhi Kacharia, 2nd: Shikha Surati, 3rd: Jay Ravalia; Honorable Mention: Sahil Patel.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “Extempore Speech: Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens”; 1st: Ankur Vashi, 2nd: Vidhi Kacharia, 3rd: Premal Kamdar; Honorable Mention: Bhavini Prajapati.  Grade 12A: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Discuss an incident in your life in which you made a right choice even though it was difficult.”; 1st: Apurva Gandhi, 2nd: Abhay Patel, 3rd: Kruti Patel; Honorable Mention: Rishi Shah.

Sunday Students: Grade 3B1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “You wake up one morning, and to your amazement, you find out that your toy can talk! Write a story about the fun day you spent with your talking toy.”; 1st: Anjali Agarwal, 2nd: Sri Sai Suhita Kadali, 3rd: Siri Panchananam; Honorable Mention: Neer Trivedi. (Speech Competition): Topic: “Bubbles, bubbles everywhere…”;1St: Siri Panchananam, 2nd: Radhika Patel, 3rd: Shiven Patel; Honorable Mention:  Neer Trivedi.  Grade 3B2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Imagine having the best birthday party ever - your own or your friend’s. Write a story about this party. Include who were all at the party and what happened that made it the BEST party ever!”; 1st: Asha Agarwal, 2nd: Nupur Oza, 3rd: Siddharth Kavuturu; Honorable Mention: Nina Mallalieu. (Speech Competition): Topic: “Whispering Snowflakes….”; 1St: Bhavik Desai, 2nd: Sima Parekh, 3rd: Nupur Oza; Honorable Mention:  Asha Agrawal.  Grade 4B1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Think about this for a moment. While digging in the dirt one day, you find an old dirty lamp. You start to rub the dirt off, when suddenly a genie appears and promises to grant you three wishes! Now write a story about what you would wish for.”; 1st: Komal Nerurkar, 2nd: Sonali Mehta, 3rd: Paras Mehta; Honorable Mention: Nicki Jariwala, Divyanka Bhatia.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “Come,” said the leaves to me today, “Come let us play.”; 1st: Nicki Jariwala, 2nd: Komal Nerurkar, 3rd: Sonali Mehta; Honorable Mention: Ramu Bikkina, Paras Mehta, Vishvesh Naik.  Grade 4B2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “We all know that a “school” of fish swim and travel together. What if fish actually had an underwater school that they attended to get “Fish Ed?” Think about all the subjects that a fish would need to learn. Now write a story about a day at fish school.”; 1st: Divya Yagnamurthy, 2nd: Malavika Rajagopal, 3rd: Neelav Patel; Honorable Mention: Rohan Patel, Mallika Venkatachalam.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “My favorite game” ; 1st: Divya Yagnamurthy, 2nd: Malavika Rajagopal, 3rd: Kunj Parmar. Honorable Mention:  Anjani Solanki, Chintal Shah, Neelav Patel.  Grade 5B1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Imagine this: You went on a magic carpet ride to Lanka with Hanuman. Were you scared or were you excited? Did you have fun? Now write a story about the adventures you and Hanuman shared.”; 1st: Simran Ohri, 2nd: Dipan Patel, 3rd: Esha Desai; Honorable Mention: Sheeba Karmaker, Aakash Parikh.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “Comparisons are offensive and smelly.”; 1st: Aditya Srivatsan, 2nd: Aakash Parikh, 3rd: Esha Desai; Honorable Mention:  Vishal Gulapalli, Simran Ohri. Grade 5B2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Imagine this: Your class teacher is absent. Superman comes to your class as the substitute teacher!  Think of all the things you would do in class with Superman as your teacher. Now write a story about the exciting day your class had with Superman.”;  1st: Herisha Shah, 2nd: Srujanee Pradhan, 3rd: Jyotsna Yadav; Honorable Mention: Sahil S. Patel, Seema Shah.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “The pains and penalties of idleness.”1st: Srujanee Pradhan, 2nd: Seema Shah, 3rd: Jyotsna Yadav; Honorable Mention:  Keshav Ravi, Herisha Shah. Grade 6B1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Explain what is meant by being “cool.”  Describe an incident when you earned the respect of others by being cool. How did you feel about it?”; 1st: Rohan Agarwal, 2nd: Aditya Dalal, 3rd: Bhakti Gundani; Honorable Mention: Bhargavi Nambi. (Speech Competition): Topic: “Many smalls make a great.”; 1st: Ruchi Desai, 2nd: Aditya Dalal, 3rd: Rohan Agrawal; Honorable Mention: Sri Sundesh Kodali.  Grade 6B2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “You have the power to make other people feel good through a simple act of kindness. Think of something you did for another person that made him/her happy. Describe in detail.  Was it worth doing? What would happen if you make a point of doing something like that every day? Explain.”; 1st: Soham Pawar, 2nd: Kanchan Railkar, 3rd: Pooja Patel; Honorable Mention: Arthi Nithi.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “There’s a way. All you have to do is find it”; 1St: Vivek Pacnhananam, 2nd: Soham Pawar, 3rd: Kanchan Railkar; Honorable Mention: Arthi Nithi.  Grade 7B1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “A group of kids in your neighborhood is pestering you to hang out with them. You don’t trust them. You are even a little afraid of them, and you certainly don’t want to be in their company. How would you handle this situation? What would be the wise thing to do, and why?”; 1st: Meghana Nerulkar, 2nd: Disha Jani, 3rd: Ishani Desai; Honorable Mention: Rishi Dhar, Samir Oza.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.”; 1St: Rishi Dhar, 2nd: Meghana Nerurkar, 3rd: Yash Parmar; Honorable Mention: Samir Oza.  Grade 7B2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Think of a time when you took unfair advantage of a person or a situation, or when someone took unfair advantage of you. Describe what happened. What was unfair about it? How did it make you feel? What did you learn from the experience?”; 1st: Naveen Yagnamurthy, 2nd: Natessa Mallalieu, 3rd: Tushar Gupta; Honorable Mention: Debanjna Saha, Sapan Patel.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “Do not turn back when you are just at the goal.”: 1St: Vishal Kamdar, 2nd: Debanjan Saha, 3rd: Naveen Yagnamurthy; Honorable Mention: Viraj Khetani, Ankit Khandelwal, Tushar Gupta.  Grade 8B1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Some things may not be easy for you to do, but they become even more difficult when you do them with reluctance. Explain with examples.”: 1st: Pallavi Tatapudy, 2nd: Nishank Mehta, 3rd: Shreya Patel; Honorable Mention: Apurva Parikh.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “What you get free costs too much.”; 1St: Pallavi Tatapudy, 2nd: Nishank Mehta, 3rd: Apurva Shah; Honorable Mention: Rohan Bhargava, Neil Mehta.  Grade 8B2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “What is popularity? How important is it to you? Should friendships be based on popularity? What do you think friendships should be based on?”; 1st: Richa Patel, 2nd: Zarna Patel, 3rd: Kavin Nithi; Honorable Mention: Jigar Shah, Chirag Desai.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “To fly, we have to have resistance.”; 1St: Seema Patel, 2nd: Alak Mehta, 3rd: Zarna Patel; Honorable Mention: Sailesh Doraiswamy.  Grade 9B: (Writing Competition): Topic: “You overheard two kids talking about plans to spray-paint graffiti on the school walls and around the neighborhood. They might know that you overheard them, but you are not sure that they do. If you tell on them, they might retaliate. If you do not tell, your school and neighborhood will be defaced. What will you do, and why?”; 1st: Suman Naringrekar, 2nd: Gaurav Ohri, 3rd: Tanya Gupta; Honorable Mention: Kunal Malkan.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind”; 1St: Bhargav Maheta, 2nd: Suman Naringrekar, 3rd: Devika Gadhavi; Honorable Mention: Kunal Malkan, Bindi Parikh, Neepam Shah.  Grade 10B: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Someone you know is always true to his/her beliefs. However, that person believes that it is perfectly all right to cheat, lie, backstab, and put himself/herself before everyone else to get ahead in life. Because this person always acts on his/her beliefs, would you say that he/she has integrity? What is your definition of integrity? What are the values associated with integrity?”; 1st: Kashyap Rajagopal, 2nd: Mahesh Jayaraman, 3rd: Romil Malkan; Honorable Mention:  Tania Maheshwari, Nayantara Joshi.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “Freedom exists in proportion to wholesome restraint.”; 1st: Kashyap Rajagopal, 2nd: Mahesh Jayaraman, 3rd: Rohini Ravi, Honorable Mention: Pratik Gandhi.  Grade 11B1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “You have a friend who does everything others ask and expect of her/him.  He/she follows this lead to the letter.  Is this good? If good, justify. If not good, explain why.”; 1st: Arvind Krishnamurthy, 2nd: Sneha Shah, 3rd: Naveen Ramachandran; Honorable Mention: Ritee Parikh, Sneha Tolia. (Speech Competition): Topic: “Extempore Speech: We Do What we have to do in order to do what we want to do”; 1st: Ritee Parikh, 2nd: Radha Shah, 3rd: Pooja Shenoy; Honorable Mention: Sneha Shah.  Grade 11B2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Discuss which is more important- knowledge or wisdom. Which comes first? Can you have one without the other? Are there times when one should take precedence over the other? When? How? Why? Give reasons.”; 1st: Giri Nathan, 2nd: Neha Jariwala, 3rd: Abhishek Senjalia; Honorable Mention: Ami Mehta.  (Speech Competition): Topic: “Extempore Speech:  We suffer because we are weak – Swami Vivekananda”; 1st: Abhishek Senjalia, 2nd: Neha Jariwala, 3rd: Giri Nathan; Honorable Mention: Priya Parikh.  Grade 12B1: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Unity in diversity”; 1st: Radha Dhar, 2nd: Kinjan Parikh, 3rd: Stuti Desai; Honorable Mention: Riddhi Gundani.  Grade 12B2: (Writing Competition): Topic: “Look beneath the surface.”; 1st: Sonali Tatapudy, 2nd: Sharmila Railkar, 3rd: Tanvi Devi; Honorable Mention: Shraddha Desai.