Sunday School of Grayslake Hindu Temple receives “Community and Educational Impact Award by Illinois State Treasurer”

The Grayslake temple Sunday school concluded yet another successful school year on June 2nd under the leadership of Professor Sanjay Mehrotra. The highly qualified and committed volunteer teachers of this school were honored by Secretary Theresa Mah Illinois Sate Honorable Governor Pat Quinn for their dedication and selfless effort in transferring Indian culture and human values to our children. State of Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford gave the Community and Educational Impact award to this highly structured and one of a kind Sunday school in the greater Chicago area. The Sunday School has now graduated more than 300 children to the next level of Dharma and Hindi education. The school education places major emphasis on a non-denominational open learning environment, where children laugh and giggle while they absorb the Hindu culture and heritage. With more than 40 volunteers and teachers the Sunday school is a unique experiment where Hindu Dharma is taught based on human values, and Hindi is taught while promoting the Indian culture.

During the annual function the four to 15 years old children sang and gave stage performances.
They were lead by:
Manisha Patel, Rishika Mana: Mantras and Hum honge kamyaab
Ruchika Sharma, Thilaka Suresh: Humko man ki shakti dena
Parina Mehrotra, Dhaneshwari Mana: Incarnations of Lord Vinshu
Raj Pratinidhi: Hindu Gods Trinity
Manish Sharma: Our visit to Shrine and read his own composition (Poem)
Sunil Metkar: Bhagwad Geeta recitation and its message
Kajal Patel: Conversation in Hindi
Monika Jain: Indradhanush
Indira Chandra: Titli rani, Hathi aya and Nani teri morni
Sugandhi Iyer, Hetal Bhatt: Hindi ka exam
Avatans Kumar: Bawre Beej
Promila Kumar: Hawai ki yatra

Indeed the children created a blissful environment, thoroughly enjoyed by their parents and grandparents. Towards the end of the program Theresa was welcomed by the temple president Dr. Harsh Kumar and Parina Mehrotra, who also briefed her on the history and significance of Hindu traditions. Professor Sanjay Mehrotra introduced her as a great friend of the Indian community.

Theresa was so impressed with the excitement filled environment of the school event that she decided to stay well two hours past his originally scheduled plan. She encouraged children of the Sunday school by personally distributing them the graduation certificates and goodie bags. She was particularly impressed with the words of wisdom written all around the temple.

The Grayslake temple Sunday school meets from 10:00 – 12:00AM. It will start its next session from the second Sunday in September, 2013. For further information on Grayslake temple Sunday school contact Sanjay or Parina Mehrotra, geeta.mandir@yahoo.com or by Phone: 847 446 5272

Pictures Captions:
01 – “Community and Educational Impact Award” received by Parina Mehrotra on May 29th 13
02 – Theresa Mah with Sunday School Coordinator Prof Sanjay Mehrotra, Temple President Dr Harsh Kumar, Teachers and Volunteers.
03 – Parina Mehrotra helped Theresa Mah to offer arti to all the deities in the Shrine.
04 – Theresa Mah, Prof Sanjay Mehrotra and Parina Mehrotra gave a tour of the Grays lake Hindu temple. She enjoyed being in the temple and talked about her visit to India.
05 – “Incarnations of Lord Vishnu” performance by kids