Summer Camp 2019 Summer camp, a signature activity of the Jagriti Interact Club entered its 12th year. Like every year, Jagriti Interact Club planned and implemented this event successfully. This summer camp was holistic, a learning experience and fun at the same time for all our participants. We are thankful to The Rotary Club of Pune Central Pune, The Innerwheel club of Pune Central Pune and Fundtech India Pvt Ltd for collaborating with us as sponsors of this project. In this report our efforts are to capture a few highlights of this 7-days summer carnival. Summer Camp 2019 was inaugurated on Monday, April 15, 2019, at the hands of Mr. Upinder Razdan, MD, Danfoss Power Solutions. It was an honour to have such an inspirational personality with us. This function was also graced by Rtn Ravi Kapoor, President Rotary Club of Pune Central Pune, Rtn Anil Bora, Dr. Asha Naik, President Innerwheel Club of Pune Central. Mrs. Priya Kulkarni from Tech Mahindra Foundation was our other guest of honor. Shri DyneshwarTapkir, President Emeritus NFBM, and Mrs. Mangala Wankhede, Principal Jagriti School for Blind Girls were present on this occasion. IIT Delhi and Saksham Team were also present for the inaugural ceremony. Lamp lightening ceremony was carried out by the guests present and the summer camp 2019 commenced. Laxmi Jadhav, a class 10 student, welcomed the guests, which was followed by a beautiful welcome song by Jagriti girls. The entire inaugural programme was compared by Sarika Wathore and Pratibha Mhaske. Mr. D. N. Tapkir, President, NFBM Emeritus introduced NFBM and the areas it is working on. Need and importance of Summer Camp was emphasized by school principal, Mrs. MangalaKhunte. All the guests present gave valuable guidance and motivated Jagriti students to keep up the good work. Our honourable Chief Guest, Mr. Upinder Razdan shared his inspiring life story with us during his speech. It was with the good wishes of all our honourable guest that the summer camp 2019 commenced on a positive and inspiring note. Following 7 days unfolded to be equally exciting, thrilling, full of knowledge and so did the valedictory function. Day 1 Following a great start, Team IIT Delhi and Saksham took charge with demonstration and training of their new assistive devices, Braille Display as a reading device and Braille Display as a writing device. With these devices, students will be able to use computers without having to use screen-reading software. Also these devices are very handy for students to carry to their colleges. Students were trained in reading and writing digital Braille ie Braille in a soft format with support of Dot Book a Braille refreshable e display designed by IIT Delhi with collaboration with the Saksham trust. They were excited to learn this new technology. Day 2 The day 2 training program was very exciting for our students. As it was on this day that thery were trained in use of Braille tactile graphics. The girls had fun learning the outlines and shapes of various objects like geometrical shapes, maps of India, g Maths and Science diagrams in tactile Braille. They were also introduced to various ways of creating tactile diagrams. Day 3 In the first half of Day 3 of summer camp, the girls were introduced to the stimulating and intriguing world of Mathema tics. Mathematician Vilas Potnis taught the girls simple tricks on solving complex mathematical operations. He also explained students how to create large number tables quickly, which will be helpful while writing exams. He used relevant examples while explaining this concept. He inspired our students to respect and love maths and follow it like a religion, A special Aarti on mathematics were composed by him was also taught to our participants by him. Second half of Day 3 was one of the highest points of this year’s summer camp – Science with Fun by Dinesh Nisang, Director, Kutuhal Scientific Activities Pvt Ltd. Science is one of the most difficult subject for the visually impaired. This is due to the fact that they get a limited exposure to scientific experiments which help in the clarity of scientific concepts. This workshop was ve ry helpful in understanding the fundamentals of science by using simple toys. Mr Nisang was able to envied the fear of science from our participants. After the workshop, girls were overjoyed to learn that science could be so much fun. Day 4 We continued with Maths workshop on Day 4. Some tricky maths questions were taught to be tackled with. The students were also taught to solve very large and complex mathematical calculation without actually doing the calculations. Few math-based questions asked in interview were also discussed. Day 5 Day 5 was another fun-filled day of Summer Camp 2019 – a visit to Adventure Plus Resort. The place was full of adventurous activities like rope bridge walking, spider net climbing, crossing relay hurdles, tyre swing, crawling, hanging logs. Students learned working of shooting rifle and archery; they also got to shoot with rifle and did archery practical. The entertaining day ended with fun in rain dance and swimming pool. This day was significant from mobility and orientation approach. These activities were a big boost in the confidence of the students. They will surely help in mobility, postures and gait. Day 6 Day 6 of the camp was packed with events that only enriched girls with immense learning. The day started with an inspiration speech and guidance session with Mr. Yajurvendra Mahajan, founder of Deepsthambh Foundatiion, an organization that helps disabled and underprivileged students appear for UPSC and MPSC exams. Mahajan sir gave a detailed idea about the prospects in Indian Administrative Services. With various examples of successful visually and phsicaly challenged students who appear and cleared MPSC/UPSC exams he engraved the message of positivity in the minds of our young participants. This session has opened doors of opportunity to the students who aspire to clear UPSC/MPSC exams. All their doubts and apprehensions about competitive exams have been cleared with the help of Mahajan sir’s session. Next activity on Day 6 was “A talk on my journey to North and South poles” by Dr. Bhalerao. Bhalerao couple shared their experiences on Arctic sea and Atlantic sea, the challenges they faced and how they overcame the challenges. Next half of the day was Study in “Swalekhan a mobile app for learning typing skills By team Niwant. Purpose behind developing Swalekhan is reducing dependency on writers during exams. Team Niwant gave a demo followed by practical by every girl on a special Marathi keyboard they have developed. Day 7 On Day 7 in a full-day workshop the students learned using smart phones. They were introduced to smart phone and explained the use and importance of Android phone in navigation, education, entertainment, tools, etc. The session was conducted by Tejas Bendre, a computer teacher at Pune School and Home for the Blind, Koregaon Park, Pune, with the help of some volunteers. Students learned how to use talkback/vision assistant on Android phone. They were able to navigate through screens and applications. They could download apps and use them, locate a nearby place and read latest news. The session was particularly useful for class 10 students who are soon going to start using smart phones. Day 8 April 22, 2019 - Final day of the camp was as exhilarating and inspiring as the entire camp. The Valedictory program starte d with a welcome speech by Chanchal Pawar, a class 10 student, followed by a soulful welcome song by Jagriti singing squad. The event that followed was very memorable for all our students and staff. We had on this occasion 2 very special guests Kumari Sujata Kolekar An Assistant Sales Tax Officer and Kumari Anuradha Bansode Accessibility tester who are successful in their respective careers and ex-students of our institution. Kumari Tejaswini Dahatonde students of Jagriti school conducted an interview with both our ex-alumina This interview engraved the journey of this 2 students and a key to their success in front of the entire audience. Their life stories have proved to be a major source of inspiration and pride for our participants and staff alike. Following this interview, the students of Jagriti school demonstrated to the audience their Braille reading, writing and mathematical skills. Monika Bhalerao, a class 7 student, explained how Braille is written using a Braille slate. Devka Rathod, a class 10 student, explained the working of Math slate and types. Sakshi Rajguru, Pradnya Gavare and Gouri Ingale sang beautiful Marathi songs and presented their aptitude for classical music to our honourable Chief Guest. Our chief guest for the day was a well-known actor from Hindi Serial Crime Patrol, Mr. Milind Sangawar. The valedictory function of the summer camp began with an introduction to the activities of NFBM By Mrs. Sakina Bedi this was followed by a speech by Mrs. Sangeeta Ghule which highlighted the impact of the summer camp on the overall development of our participant. Kumari Sarika Wathore one of the participant of this camp shared her views about the summer camp 2019 and thanked the school management and all the sponsors for organizing this grant event. After Sarika’s speech Mrs. Pratibha Ahire introduced our chief guest and invited him to speak to our students. In his enthralling and motivational speech Mr. Sangawar shared his life story with our students and gave a message of positivity, determination, hard work and focus to our participants. He entertained our participants with several melodious songs. He also distributed gifts to all the participants of this summer camp. The valedictory ceremony ended with a vote of thanks by kumara Poonam Vaze. This brings us to the end of this exciting, motivating and knowledge-packed summer camp 2019.