SNAPSHOT-July '20 (Covid-19 edition)

This year has been a strange one for us too, in terms of how our operations were running smooth and got interrupted by the virus.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PAST FEW MONTHS

Eternus Graduates

We’re delighted that to announce that four of our children have graduated from college and are gainfully employed;

• Janani (B.Com, 2019) – Assurance Associate, Ernst & Young, Chennai

• Sonia (B.Com, 2019) – Associate, Accenture, Chennai

• Manikandan (B.C.A, 2019) – Document Specialist, RR Donnelly, Chennai

• Hossain (B.Com, 2019) - Jaffer Shams Technical Services, Dubai

Graduation ceremonies

Manikandan graduated from Mar Gregorios with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Applications in 2019.

Janani and Sonia graduated from Women’s Christian College with Bachelor degrees in Commerce in 2019.

Special Awards

A few of our children have received awards for academic proficiency.

• Mohan (II yr Economics, D.G. Vaishnav College) – photo above

• Sharmila (II yr MSW, D.G Vaishnav College) - photo above

• Divya (III yr, B.Sc Nursing, Madras Medical Mission ) – 1st rank in college

• Anita (III yr, B.Sc Physician Assistant, Madras Medical Mission) – 1st in her class

• Priyadharshini (II yr, B.Sc Opn.theatre & Anesthesia tech, MIOT Hospitals) – 2nd in her class

• Ashok (12th 2019, Sathya Matriculation School) – First in school

• Deepa (12th 2019, Sathya Matriculation School) – Second in school

Parents Meeting

Parents meetings was held for parents at both our schools in January and February this year and, as is the practice, the topic “Differences in parenting styles in a family” was taken up for discussion. The points highlighted in the session were about working together as parents to create rules, determine the consequences and not disagreeing in front of the children.

Meeting with Students of X, XI and XII stds.

We met with the students of class 10, 11 and 12, along with their parents to assess the marks of the students, make them aware of the college courses available to them based on their marks and interests.

May 2020

Family Assessment – virtual sessions

Our annual House visits are normally scheduled for the month of May. We conduct these visits to get an overall picture of what the families have experienced over the last year and the progress that they have made. Due to the pandemic, we conducted the visits virtually. Many families have seen an upturn in their financial savings, improved relationships between spouses and the larger family. They also made suggestions about matters that we will be taking into consideration across the next academic year.

June - July 2020

School - online classes

Schools in Chennai have tackled teaching online using different means. The two schools we deal with teach daily lessons through Google Classroom and have a weekly Zoom meeting with the students. There are weekly tests conducted on Saturdays; the tests are assessed and the results are given them on Mondays. We guided the children, initially, on the how-to’s of online classes and now connect with them regularly and monitor their daily lessons.

College Programme

Across the last few months, the sessions for the College students continue to be held across the week at different timings to account for their individual college schedules. We focused on writing skills, time management, group discussions and also held a session on Getting Prepared for Marriage.

Help extended to Covid-19 affected families – April to June 2020

Due to the pandemic and several versions of lockdown in Chennai, many parents of our Eternus children have been laid off, either temporarily or otherwise. To help them tide this situation, we extended monetary help to those most in need based on their specific situations.