Incoming Presidents Speech

Good Evening to all
‘Rotaract’ is a club where different young minds meet to achieve a similar goal, to help others and in the bargain, develop and grow individually.
I Ritika Athwani President of the Rotaract Club Pune, Kalyani nagar, for the year 2010-2011 would like to address everyone present.
When I started out in rotaract I was young and inexperienced but over the last 3 years I have gained a lot of experience , which I would not have gained in any college or class.
Not only m I talking in a public forum now, but I have also learnt how to interact with people from various walks of life and how each individual contributes in his own way.
During our project we have experienced the immense joy and delight our visits bring to the kids, when we have interacted with them. This year we aim to interact with a new orphanage for a whole year helping them to develop in a more wholesome manner.
The club is now entering its sixth year and I am looking forward to a great year with all the members and a healthy team spirit. Every member is an individual but together we can make a difference.
I wish to express my personal thanks to all my fellow members with whose contribution Rotaract is what it is today,also to my President Aanchal, for contributing to the club in a beautiful way. To Rtn Kiran
Vani for always being there to guide us, and to our generous parent club Rotary Club of Pune Kalyani Nagar.

Thank You
Ritika Athwani
President 2010-2011

Outgoing President's Speech

Dear Friends,

We have come to an end of yet another Rotaract year and I am proud to announce that our club has successfully completed 5 years. Our club has come a very long way since then. We have not only increased in number but our projects have become bigger and better. We have not only increased in strength but at the very same time achieved our goals that we set forth during the beginning of my term.

As a President I have learnt a lot many things like leadership, responsibility etc But what I have more importantly learnt is giving each one an equal chance to come forward, take up projects and handle it thus bringing out the leader in each one. Now, I can proudly say that our club though may have one President but I see successful leaders in each and every member.

I am quite happy and content with all that we have achieved.

One of the things I wanted to establish was better relations among members and also increasing the number of projects. We have covered almost every Rotaract avenue. Be it the notebook project, joyfest, spellbee, talk on leadership and motivation by Rtn.Oza, establishing ties with clubs in Mumbai and Karnataka, blood donation camp, treasure hunt or the very recent trip to the zoo with orphans and painting a classroom for a school in katraj we have always completed our projects on time and with huge participation and enthusiasm. We are not only fellow rotaractors but before that we are first very close friends.

Along with our members a very big support has been given to us by our parent Rotary and especially by Rtn. Satish Kothari and our R.C.C Rtn.Kiran Vani.

When I joined this club I was very timid and shy especially afraid of public speaking. But shouldering the responsibility first as a secretary and then as the president has given me confidence to face the world and at the same time I have learnt to handle many tasks while tackling all different types of individuals. This is what Rotaract is all about, preparing young students to be future successful professionals.

After this incredibly memorable year I am more than happy to hand over this responsibility of the club to our incoming president Rtr. Ritika Athwani. I see her in a unique quality to bring people together and accomplish tasks which is very important as a president. I am sure she will take this club to greater heights. I wish her all the best.

Thank You!

Spelling Bee

When the idea of Spell Bee was put forth by Rtr Amruta we all members were very delighted and started working for the project. The list of activities that were to be done was put up. First a data base of words was made with inputs from Rtr Ali, Rtr Raahat, Rtr Aanchal, Rtr Minshu, Rtr Rithika, Rtr Aditi, Rtr Vaibhav, Rtr Amruta, Rtr Vijay and Rtn Kiran.
Finally Spell bee was organised at ‘City International School’ Aundh, in the Month of January 2010. On the fine crisp winter morning, Rtr Radhika and I went to City International School to conduct the preliminary round. We had conducted the preliminary rounds for Class V and Class VI, where a chance was given to every student to take part in this event. We had prepared a separate word list for both classes with words from their syllabus. Fifteen words were given to the students and on the basis of these words the student’s performance was evaluated. Top five students from both standards were selected.
In the month of March the finals were conducted for the students. This time along with Rtr Radhika, Rtr Amruta also was present for the final event. Before the finals we had some fun games with the students to ease them up as they just had appeared for their final school exams in the morning. In the finals there were five rounds where every student was given a word to spell. The students who qualified for the finals were called upon and the rounds were conducted in the class room. Rtr Amruta was the host for the Final event, Rtr Radhika kept a check on the spellings and I had the score card. It was a tense moment for the students as the difficulty level of spellings increased with every passing round. But the students were smart and full with confidence while answering. They also received overwhelming support and from their class friends who were cheering them with every correct answer given by them. There was also a tie between two students where we had to introduce a rapid round. All in all it was a great experience for the students who seemed delighted after the competition. And it was a good memory for us as well.
On April 22nd we had a prize distribution ceremony for the students. First three students were given a certificate along with gifts, and two consolation prizes were given to the participants of final round. A vote of thanks was given to the Students co-ordinator Mrs Gujar along with a trophy of our Rotaract club.
Rtr Amruta Joshi
Rtr Radhika Oza
Rtr Vaibhav Tyagi
Rtr Aditya Awathare

The Orphanage Visit

Avenue: Club Services.
Date: 13th June, 2010.
Venue: Orphanage run by Omkar Trust, Katraj.
Attendance: Nine members and nine friends.

We visited an orphanage , run by Omkar Trust, which caters to the needs of nine children; seven girls and two boys. This visit was organised through our new but vibrant member, Rtr. Monica Banerjee. An elderly lady, popularly called 'Aaji', and two other members, run this noble organisation. They provide a warm homely environment for these children to grow up and ensure their overall development.

Nine Rotaractors accompanied by nine guests started off from the city at 11.a.m , to reach the orphanage by 12.30 p.m. The Rotaract Club Of Pune Kalyaninagar presented the children with their basic needs as students. We also gifted the Trust a black board for their academical needs. We involved the children in our main aim of painting their Activity room. We painted Cartoons, Butterflies, The ever smiling sun and a tree, which symbolised a strong support to the toddlers.
Rtr. Monica, Rtr. Imran, Rtr.Dhvani and Rtr.Aditya, the artists of our club created a wonderful atmosphere for the children using the power of colours. All the children, members and guests helped out with the painting and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. We interacted with the children, played with colour and had a lot of fun. We were offered a cup of tea and some snacks after the activities , not forgetting the warmth from the Aaji, which made the whole project a memorable one.
Rtr. Radhika.

Spelling Bee

Connections... First International Services activity

On 29th of august, members from three Rotaract clubs met up in Mumbai. The clubs being those of ours, R.C Deonar (Mumbai) and R.C Kundapura South (Karnataka). This was our first meeting in this avenue, given that it included districts 3131,3140 and 3180 respectively. The interaction was very good and new ideas were exchanged too.
From our club, we gave them a paper bag (one of our earlier projects), club pamphlet and lapel pin. We exchanged our letter head and bulletin with both the clubs. We received a letter head and flag from R.C Deonar and letter head and bulletin from R.C. Kundapura. Also with the Ganpati festival going on, we gifted them modaks and bakarwadis, our specialities from Pune. With this initial activity we are soon going to release a joint bulletin between the three clubs.
The representatives from the clubs were: Rtr. Vinay Acharya (R.C. Kundapura South), President Rtr. Shripad Kulkarni (R.C. Deonar) and PP. Rtr. Amruta Joshi from our club.
Rtr Amruta Joshi
Director of finance

Joy Fest….

"Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven."

After the success of the Ramzan project, our next item on the "to-do" list was the joy fest.
We visited an orphanage for construction worker’s kids where there were roughly about 30 kids between the ages of 3-12. We had an exquisite time, watching a little "Shah Rukh Khan" perform to the tune of "dard-e-disco"
the children there took to us in a fraction of a heart beat.
We also had arranged for a small diya painting activity and a tattoo artist was also called to add on to the fun.
biryani and gulab jamuns were arranged for their lunch.

This experience has been embossed in my memory for eternity. The smiles on the kids faces were extended from ear to ear.
We all clicked pictures with them where each one of the kids got their own 15 seconds of fame!!!
They say "The key to happiness is having dreams. The key to success is making dreams come true.” This is what we tried to accomplish at the joy fest. It couldn't get better than this!
Rtr. Saba Poonawala
Member .