Chennai (India), September 3rd 2016: Ullas Trust conducted its 19th Annual Workshop & awarded scholarships to over 1236 students from 218 schools at The Music Academy in Chennai today. Mr Sunil Paliwal, IAS , Managing Director, Aavin Co-operative Milk Producers Federation, Tamil Nadu and Dr. Shankar R, MBBS, D Ortho, FRCSI, FRCS (Paediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon) were the guests of honour at the event.
Ullas Trust was started in 1997 to recognize academic excellence in students (Grade 9-12) from the economically challenged sections of our society and encourage the ‘Can do’ spirit towards chasing their dreams. Its focus was on High School students during the most vulnerable phase in their lives - adolescence. To shape these young, fertile minds, Ullas conducts two integrated and holistic programs - the weekend ‘SUMMIT’ program for urban children and ‘Touch the Soil’ workshops for rural children that help trigger their aspirations in their adolescent years.
Ullas’s core tenet is to engage and mentor children in their adolescent stage (translating to students in grade 9 to 12), from Corporation, Government and Government-Aided schools, by not just providing merit scholarship but also inspiring them to dream with the strong belief that “If they can Dream It, they Can Do It”.
The journey of Ullas ‘Young Achiever’ begins through an initial selection process - Ullas Entrance Examination (5300+ students from over 200 schools wrote the Ullas Entrance Examination this year). These selected students then attend the ‘Diary of Dreams’ workshop which marks the start of the Young Achievers’ 4 year journey with Ullas. The workshop publicly recognizes their achievement / enrolment into Ullas, facilitates interaction with inspiring role models from public life, nurtures the “Can Do” spirit in them, and encourages them to put down their dreams on paper, helping commit the dream to their subconscious.
Mr Arun Jain, Chairman & Managing Director, Intellect Design Arena Ltd., conducted the unique and interactive ‘Diary of Dreams’ workshop inspiring students to dream big and with conviction and start translating these dreams into action. The students thoroughly enjoyed the interactive workshop and the process of penning down their dreams and making a commitment to achieve the same in the ‘Diary of Dreams’ book autographed by Former President of India, (Late) Dr. APJ. Abdul Kalam.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Arun Jain said, “Ullas has been playing a major role in creating positive impact in the children and in kindling the Can Do spirit in them. Ullas provides a great platform for employees of Intellect and Polaris – their friends and families to reach students from both the urban and rural canvas – igniting young minds, to believe in the power of their dreams and raising their aspirations. It is a humbling and inspiring experience for all of us, to be able to reach more than 2 lakh young minds across the country through our flagship programs – SUMMIT and Touch The Soil. In working with like-minded partners and the youth (college students) we have been able to further scale our reach and impact. Work is also underway to take "Design Thinking" to college students as a skill and way of life, adding strength to our SUMMIT program in schools.”
Through the ‘SUMMIT’ program, Ullas reached 6000+ young achievers from over 350 schools in the urban canvas. Ullas’ “Touch the Soil” – our rural initiative has reached out to over 1.9 lakh students from 587 schools, of 86 districts across 5 states (Andhra Pradesh, Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana) in the year 2015-16.
About Ullas Trust
Ullas Trust, (A Polaris Foundation Social Initiative) was started in 1997 with an aim to integrate the employees with a larger community and nurture a “Can do” spirit among the students. The Trust recognizes and rewards academic excellence through annual scholarships. Ullas Trust has been organizing an annual workshop for the past 18 years, with the aim of exposing young minds to role models and achievers from the real world. Every year, the workshop culminates with the Trust awarding merit scholarships to students from Corporation and Government schools in the 5 cities (Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune) identified through a selection process. The SUMMIT comprises of 20 modules spanning across crucial life skills including communication skills, confidence building, memory skills, active team work, public speaking, and leadership skills. It is graded from Level 1 to Level 4, with Level 1 beginning for Class IX and finishing with Level 4 for Class XII.
The ‘Touch the Soil’ program reaches young minds in the districts through its ‘Diary of Dreams’ and ‘Planning’ workshop for Class IX and X students. The program spreads the power of believing in dreams to high school students across the rural areas of the country