Vidya Valley principal treks to Shia Goru

Pune: Nalini Sengupta, principal of Vidya Valley School and a veteran mountaineer, with an enthusiastic team of 16 members trekked to the base camp, Shia Goru, located at a height of 14,000 feet recently.
The trek was to acknowledge Himalyan peak christened in her honour last year. "It was an emotional and incredible journey, I feel very humbled at the honour," she said.Trekkers of Giripremi, a noted mountaineering institute in the city, conquered peak 5260 in the Hamta pass region and decided to name it as ‘Mount Nalini' to salute her persistent efforts to inculcate mountaineering in youngsters since 1970.
Sengupta, who belongs to a defence family, is passionate about mountaineering. In 1970, she participated in the first basic mountaineering course for women conducted at the National Institute of Mountaineering.
Sengupta was selected as the coach for the adventure training programme from among 30 cadets.
Since then, she has been spreading awareness about mountaineering.
She has also started a trekking club at Vidya Valley High School.
"It was my instinct to get attached with an adventure. I taught mountaineering to my kids as well as my school students. We have been climbing walls on our school premises. My son and daughter are also involved in mountaineering. Now, I want to see the young generation in mountaineering. They should know our environment and they should be more aware about their physical fitness," Sengupta said.
Prize distribution at Bishop's
The Bishop's School in Camp held its annual speech day and prize distribution ceremony recently. The junior school students were felicitated in categories of general proficiency, academic excellence, elocution, sports and dramatics among others. The chief guest was Sangeeta Kadam, principal of Epiphany High School.
The chief guests for the prize distribution ceremony for the senior school and junior college were Major General Prithi Singh, General Officer Commanding Dakshin Maharashtra sub area and Devyani Singh.
Headmaster Joel Edwin presented the annual report. Also present on the occasion was Frank Freese, principal, chief executive officer and secretary of the Bishop's Education Society.
A total of 80 ICSE and 75 ISC students were felicitated for securing 90% and above in the examination. Achievers in curricular and co-curricular activities were given special prizes. The prize for all round helpfulness in honour of school student late Manas Patel was awarded to Aditya Agarwal.
Students plant 2,500 saplings
Akshara International School undertook a plantation drive in collaboration with the state forest department in Jambhe village recently. The chairperson of the school, Jyoti Rathore and Jayesh Rathore, led the drive. The event was also attended by the sarpanch and the panchayat members of the village. Students of standard III to X with their teachers planted around 2,500 saplings. Students took out a rally holding placards and posters in order to create awareness.