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Showing posts from March, 2023

Exquisite Showcases, Friends United and Exclusive Interviews #32

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Good day to all our lovely readers! First of all, we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who signed up to be a guest speaker at Avinya. We had a lot of wonderful responses and we’re actually having a hard time reserving slots for all the wonderful speakers who have volunteered. We’re all grateful for your support! Counting down to the end of the first term, we have exciting things cooking up at our Academy as always.  Project Showcase! Our final project for the term is a culmination of showcasing all the other projects the students were involved in so far. If you’ve followed our blog so far, you’ll know the strides our students have taken and for this project, we’re inviting the parents to be a part of it. Project showcase was all about critical thinking, designing and planning. Students made their own to-do lists and need-to-know charts to predict the issues they may face while organizing the exhibition and pre plan for them in advance. To be completely honest, students were

Mindfulness, Teenage diaries and Inspiring Speakers #31

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Hello everyone, It’s another Friday and another blog entry is born. This week we stepped into some still water and caused some ripples (no, no one took a dive into the Meththa pond in front of our premises). So far our projects have touched base on themes such as upcycling, fashion and digitization. This time however, we approached some topics that were closer to the heart and mind. Our fourth project for the first term is titled Face your Face and as you may have already guessed, we took a deep dive into reflection. The first time I ever properly processed the word reflection was when I was a wee little Sinalie, enthralled by Mulan singing at herself and stubbornly cutting off her hair. I suppose there was some level of reflection involved in the angsty diary entries I’d written as a teenager but that’s for a different day to decipher. As I grew up it only meant looking at myself in the mirror before I dashed out the door, making sure I wasn’t wearing only one earring on my way out. I

Flambeau, 50:30:20 and a Passport to Cyberspace #30

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Hello! It’s Isuru again. Another awesome week has passed since our last blog update and we are so excited to share our thoughts and experiences with you people. Personally, last week was so special for me because it was my birthday. I still can’t stop smiling when I think about all the love and surprises I got. I feel grateful to all the amazing people around me, not only in my personal life - but also at Avinya! Life feels good when we surround ourselves with positivity and good vibes. After the fantastic fashion show last week, our students continued to demonstrate their skills and talents with the project My Digital Passport. Well, it’s a different type of a passport. This passport allows you to access not only one country but a whole world. With this project, our students marked their presence in the world of Internet and CyberSpace. While the new generation is more advanced than ours in terms of technology and its use, there is still a considerable number of students among them wh

Avinya Avant-garde, Dr. Phil and UNO! #29

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Hi and welcome back! I have recovered (mostly) from my untimely meeting with a staircase and am back to take the reins for our weekly update while our beloved resident blogger is out somewhere counting taps, hunting down accountants and trying to minimize a file to 100KB. Truly an adventurous week. In the meantime, Isuru and I will be taking over to give an update on everything Avinya. Project Runway Our fashionistas are finally ready for the culmination of the project and as I’m writing this I can hear the hustle and bustle of the excitement going around while everyone is getting ready to put on the show of their lives. The lead up to the show has been an amazing effort in creativity and production. There were hours and hours of sewing and putting clothes together, making jewelry from scratch and coaching on how to walk the runway throughout the week. The dress rehearsals were a major success with students bringing their best to the table with modeling, presenting and managing the ent

Special Bouquets, Avinya Style and Developing Shilpa #28

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We’ve got yet another special edition blog this week which I’m thrilled to share with you. We have a guest feature by none other than Dr. Tara de Mel who visited us this week and who is also a Member of the Avinya Foundation. The students were very happy to share their project work with her and were delighted when she adorned some of the project Runway work in progress outfits and they pulled out their final upcycled products from our first project Golden Rubbish :)  Dr. Tara’s note On Wednesday March 1st, 2023 at about 10.15 I began my journey to the Avinya Academy, which was located in Bandaragama. The journey was pleasant, and even though Google maps let us down at the end, Dee was able to swiftly reroute me, so that I arrived at the Academy within 60 minutes of leaving Colombo. At first glance the campus was breathtaking. The creative structure of the classrooms as ‘Pods’ , placed alongside the calming waters of the still pond, was soothing in every sense. It was a treat for the ey