The Young Leading The Blindfolded

Every year when the grade 12 class is off doing some serious meditation, the rest of the school has some fun playing games! For this friendly competition, the grade 10 and 11 students are blindfolded and have to rely on the younger students for guidance. This year there were four games: dhobi bag races, a water relay, tug of war, and a race involving balloons. The games are simple and everyone can get involved. It’s a fun way to work together.

 

The Results Are In!

Each year the students put a tremendous amount of effort into the art competition. Throughout the year they experiment with different techniques, practicing different styles and concepts until they decide on their pieces. When parents and friends come for our annual Open House, the art they’ve created is displayed all throughout the academic building. There are numerous paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures and pottery.  I heard one parent lovingly comment, ‘Is this an art school?!’

Those parents and friends that come to the school walk around and try to pick their favourites in each category for each age group. Here are the results!

Intermediate (GRADE 5-8)

1st 2nd 3rd
Drawing Siri Aadi Kaur Abnashi Couture
Painting Jerry Henry Amrit Bani Kaur
Photography Amrit Bani Kaur
Pottery Ruben Jerry Akashpreet Kaur
Sculpture Harkeerat Emilia Jerry

Senior (Grade 9-12)

1st 2nd 3rd
Drawing Vega Anita Amber
Painting Gala Siri Amrit Kaur Lilith
Photography Harsimran Kaur Prabhu Jot Singh Darshan Akal Singh
Pottery Mandip Singh Gala Ana Sofia
Sculpture Mandip Singh Ana Sofia Gala

Other Submission

Fiesta MPA

In February, MPA hosted a gathering in Mexico City to meet with alumni, current parents, friends and future students. Held just before the annual Reman meditation course, this was an excellent opportunity to meet up with new and old friends. It was a simple gathering with some lovely food, a short talk by Jugat Guru Singh and a video featuring our current Mexican students. This was the first time we’ve hosted an event like this in Mexico and we’re looking forward to repeating it next year. Thank you to Chanandev and her friends at Tattwas for helping us to get it organized.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QgRsaLyRmU&feature=emb_title

Hola Mahalla

We just wrapped up great Holi and Hola Mahalla celebrations. The grade 5-9 students celebrated Holi at the school while the grade 10-12s travelled to Anandpur Sahib to participate in Hola Mahalla with the sangat. In Anandpur Sahib, millions of Sikhs descend upon the birthplace of the Khalsa to parade in the streets and show their martial prowess. This festival dates back to the time of Guru Gobind Singh and occurs the day after the Hindu festival Holi.

This is always an exciting event as the usually sleepy Anandpur Sahib is filled with people, horses, elephants, camels, motorcycles and jeeps. Miri Piri Academy usually participates in the parade alongside Baba Nihal Singh and his devotees. Baba Nihal Singh was a dear friend of the Siri Singh Sahib’s and a leader of Nihangs and we’re blessed to keep up this relationship. The students who went to Anandpur were able to meet him the day before Hola and also walk behind and alongside him throughout the day.

HOLI

Anandpur Sahib

Hola Mahalla

Open House

This year’s open house was a success! Out of nowhere the weather warmed-up to its usual red hot for this special day.

MPA’s Open House is an opportunity for Miri Piri Academy to open it’s doors and share who we are and what we’ve been working on all year. While our guests enjoyed some tea and snacks they browsed the students’ art work including paintings, drawings, photography, pottery and sculptures. After some time, the teachers and students performed two new bhangra routines which always raise the energy and bring joy to all those watching. Next, Executive Principal Jugat Guru Singh welcomed the guests in the yoga room where Board Chair Simran Kaur honoured Amrit Singh and his family for their twenty years of service at MPA.

Senior student Tashi, who’s been with MPA for 10 years, then led everyone in a challenging nine minute kriya. Next, the students demonstrated what they’ve been learning in kirtan, sitar and tabla classes. Moving outside, Gold House performed their marching routine and the gatka squad brought a lot of energy to their gatka demonstration. We finished the day with a beautiful lunch prepared by Ajooni Singh and the kitchen staff. Altogether it was a great day.

If you weren’t able to make it this year, please consider coming next year. We host the Open House every March.

Bhangra

Teachers Performance

Student Performance

Pictures by Saraswati Kaur

Kirtan

Gatka

Students, Teachers, Staff and Guests

La Belle Notte

Blue House put together a beautiful Italian dinner for all of the students and staff. The atmosphere was elegant yet relaxed, just like a good Italian restaurant. The service was great and there was plenty of both food and drinks for everyone to enjoy.During the evening, Hardev Kaur, Jivan Jot Kaur and Siri Atma Kaur performed an Italian folk dance and Prabhu Jot Singh as the maître d’ pretended to serenade us. There were some other nice touches like a sheet with common Italian words and facts about Italy.The dinner consisted of bruschetta, caprese salad, spaghetti aglio e olio, penne con crema di funghi with tiramisu for dessert and Italian soda to drink. The standout here was the bruschetta as the homemade ciabatta was amazingly fluffy and soft with a crisp exterior. Blue house also thought of all the things we would need to enjoy the meal, including salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil and extra parmesan cheese.