Each year the grade 10 students complete a Personal Project on a subject of their own choice. This is a compulsory part of the MYP 5 programme and gives students a chance to show all the skills they have learnt throughout the MYP as well as prepare them for the independent work in the IB Diploma. The Indian Embassy gives the Tagore Award to deserving students.

As the Indian Ambassador graciously explained, the Tagore award is about celebrating and highlighting the individualism and creativity of students’ personal projects. The Tagore award is fittingly named after the Indian author Rabindranath Tagore, and we heard how his brilliant work is highly regarded and celebrated throughout India. It was an honour for the 10th grade students to be invited to the Indian Embassy to enjoy Indian food, entertainment, and of course the award ceremony.

This year’s Tagore award nominees were: Minjeung with her pop up picture book, Disha D with her video about education in developing countries, Albert  with his website about scuba diving, Ahmed with his film about HIV, Raman with his hand made solar and wind turbine, as well as Akke with her film about feminism.

At the ceremony, Mr Hume, the  Personal Project Coordinator, briefly explained what the personal project entailed and explained how every student in grade 10 has worked so hard and put so much effort into their projects. The winners of the awards were: Ahmed coming 3rd runner up, Raman coming second runner up, and finally Minjeung winning the Tagore award!

After the awards were presented there was entertainment in the form of singing and dancing to songs and poems by the author Tagore. The embassy also provided the students and faculty with lovely and delicious Indian treats and snacks! A truly fascinating and beautiful set of performances, and wonderful food, which allowed the members of SIS grade 10 to experience and take part in some of the Indian culture.

The celebrations of the Tagore award is a fun and exciting way to reward, not only the nominees of the award, but every single student who has completed the personal project this year on their efforts and outcomes.