The year 2021 is a very special year, as this is the year that we celebrate 500 years of St Ignatius. In order to commemorate this celebration, our school conducted various events based on this Saint.
We had a splendid celebration of the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola by initiating week long activities, novenas and competitions which was not side lined this year, instead it aimed at enriching and imbibing Ignatian values in each and every Josephite in a different way. A plethora of competitions were organized for students like, Colouring, Bits of paper, Fancy dress, Elocution, Puppets, Collage Making, PPT Presentations on the Life of St Ignatius as well video Presentation on Cannon Ball Moment of a student and Paper Mache which had been presented virtually and in turn it had also encouraged the parents and teachers to participate in the quiz competition.
Morning assembly through virtual platform helped to experience a positive vibe in today's scenario to recollect offline school assembly and school days. We St Joseph's School CBSE create such a wonderful platform through Microsoft teams to involve our Students and Staff to participate in Morning assembly.A virtual assembly on occasion of 500th year of conversion of St Ignatius of Loyola was conducted on July 29th, Thursday on Teams platform from 8.15am to 9am.The assembly commenced with the 'School Anthem' which was followed by St Ignatian prayer song video sung by our school choir. The prayer of generosity was read by Rachel Ann Rebello from Class 5B which is believed to provide peace and serenity to our minds and souls. An enthusiastic video presentation of NOBLE KNIGHT related to St Ignatius of Loyola by Anand sir and team was played which brought peace to the heart of the attendees. The students had put up mesmerizing Fancy dress presentations and Puppetry to make the feast occasion more blessed. The energy of the performance was contagious which made all the viewers to enjoy the assembly. Joseph Barnabas from Class 9B enacted as St Ignatius and presented the Life of St Ignatius very confidently. A reading from Spiritual exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola was read by Amber Dass from Class 10B. Different qualities of St Ignatius of Loyola was presented with its quote through placards by Neeha from Class 7C, Rachit from Class 3C, Ruth from Class 6A and Angel Maria from Class 4D. Fr Rohan D'Almeida, Principal of St Joseph's School CBSE addressed the gathering and spoke briefly about St Ignatius. Father Principal thanked the organisers of the assembly and the students who participated in the assembly. Our guest speaker, Rev. Fr John Pradeep, threw light on the life of St Ignatius of Loyola and reminded students to follow Ignatian values and qualities in our life. The winners of Ignatian week competition were announced by Mr Martin and congratulated all the winners. The assembly culminated with the rendition of the National Anthem.
The whole institution attended the Holy Eucharist Mass which was conducted in SJIHS auditorium. Father Jossie Lobo was the main celebrant. Our CBSE unit rendered our voices to the melodies choir which was led by Mr Elton, an external choir leader. The mass was truly a blessing to us all.We also had a virtual celebration through YouTube, where we started with a prayer dance by Ms Leema and Annie, there was a short video played on the life of St Ignatius, after which we had our own Jesuits speaking about their Cannon ball moment, the heads from different units and other brothers shared their life experiences. Next, videos of the students who performed in the competitions were played. Ms Maria Reena spoke on interesting facts on the life of St Ignatius and also about the Jesuits. The vote of thanks was given by Ms Caroline and was then taken over by Mr Anand and choir who sang a song dedicated to St Ignatius. The MC was done by Ms Leema and Ms Juanita. The editing of the whole video was done by Mr Praveen.
Over all the feast was a grand celebration and we carried forward the legacy of St Ignatius.