PRASHANTI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (PIS) CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
2023 - WE ARE BUILDING UP!!
Construction has been completed on the First Floor of the PIS main classroom building. Watch us grow...
The development of PIS will accomplish several powerful objectives:
- Educate and help liberate more children from the trap of an unrelenting cycle of poverty and illiteracy.
- Give more impoverished children a happier childhood and a chance for a brighter future.
- Give these children a solid foundation in values, academics, service to the community, and strong English language skills so they can qualify for higher education and good jobs.
- Help many more children have a chance to reach their potential and give back to their families and communities.
- Offer more girls the gift of equal access to educational opportunities.
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This is a legacy project! For many years beyond our time, PIS will continue to help shape the bright minds of children who would otherwise be left behind - giving them the opportunity to learn and grow, and become the kind of young women and men with the strong values and dedication to service that will create India’s future. They will have a chance because of your vision and caring heart.
ARCHIVED UPDATES:
More Projects for 2021 We are also building a new Kindergarten classroom to serve the needs of a growing PIS enrollment, plus building a new principal's office and renovating the old office to become a staff office. And to round out the nursery area for Kindergarten through standard 3 will be a beautiful new playground, featuring climbing, sliding, and swings. The design will be carefully thought out to maximize physical exercise and fun, and be appropriate for the area with NO places for cobras to hide!!!
More Projects for 2021 We are also building a new Kindergarten classroom to serve the needs of a growing PIS enrollment, plus building a new principal's office and renovating the old office to become a staff office. And to round out the nursery area for Kindergarten through standard 3 will be a beautiful new playground, featuring climbing, sliding, and swings. The design will be carefully thought out to maximize physical exercise and fun, and be appropriate for the area with NO places for cobras to hide!!!
Thanks to the generous and loving contributions by WFF supporters and by the wonderful support from the Rotary Clubs of Ojai California and Srikshetra Puri, construction of the ground floor of the new Prashanti International School classroom building was completed in 2020! The classrooms are fully furnished, the access road and grading at the new building are complete and trees have been planted. A wonderful outdoor stage has been built for plays and school functions. A beautiful new Ganesh Mandir "Peace Pavilion" has been constructed at the front of the building. This will be a place for quiet reflection and reading for the students, as well as a focal point of welcome to all who come.
NOW WE ARE READY TO BUILD UP AND ADD THE FIRST FLOOR!!! This will add another 12,000 square feet of classrooms, science labs, library, etc. and will allow PIS to take the students all the way from Kindergarten through Standard 12, preparing them for college, vocational training, higher education and good jobs.
PLEASE HELP US RAISE $335,000 TO COMPLETE THE FIRST FLOOR.
NOW WE ARE READY TO BUILD UP AND ADD THE FIRST FLOOR!!! This will add another 12,000 square feet of classrooms, science labs, library, etc. and will allow PIS to take the students all the way from Kindergarten through Standard 12, preparing them for college, vocational training, higher education and good jobs.
PLEASE HELP US RAISE $335,000 TO COMPLETE THE FIRST FLOOR.
A formal Inauguration Ceremony took place on Saturday and Sunday, January 18 and 19, 2020 to inaugurate the new Prashanti International School classroom building. Saturday's program began in the morning with a judged PIS student Science and Art Exhibition. The evening program included a Yoga Demonstration, Tabla Recital, and Dance Program by PIS students, followed by Awards to Prashanti Alumni students. Sunday began with the formal Inauguration Ceremony and Ribbon Cutting in the morning, and a Drama and Singing Program by PIS students in the evening. It was a heartfelt and exciting weekend!
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August 2019: Construction of the new classroom building is now complete! The new building houses grades 6 through 8, with a computer lab, science lab, art room, seven fixed classrooms, a modular lecture hall, an indoor assembly hall and an outdoor auditorium for all PIS grades to use. We are now completing the property boundary walls, installing the security gates, and grading and landscaping the grounds. This will allow PIS to add grades 9 and 10, and get CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) affiliation as an English Medium high school. We will be able to take children from kindergarten all the way through high school graduation!
April 2019: Construction on the second half of the ground floor continues! We have now completed the foundation, roof, walls and plastering, and the windows, doors, and major electrical and plumbing. The finishing work is ongoing, and this includes tiling the floors, inside and outside painting, installing restroom fixtures and electrical fixtures and fittings. Construction of the boundary wall and grading the property to prevent flooding are under way. We are almost there!
The first phase of construction is now complete! It is 5750 square feet and houses grades 6 through 8, with a computer lab, science lab, lecture hall and an assembly hall for all PIS grades to use. The new section of the building will be 8,576 square feet, and contain six more classrooms, a craft room, science lab, teachers room, restrooms, and a courtyard/auditorium for cultural programs and assemblies.
It is because of your generous and loving donations that we are seeing the dream of adding classrooms at PIS come true. Once the whole building is complete, PIS will be able take students from Pre-Kindergarten through High School graduation (grade 10), and help many more village children from poor families to have a valuable education with strong values, good academics and the chance for brighter futures.
April 2019: Construction on the second half of the ground floor continues! We have now completed the foundation, roof, walls and plastering, and the windows, doors, and major electrical and plumbing. The finishing work is ongoing, and this includes tiling the floors, inside and outside painting, installing restroom fixtures and electrical fixtures and fittings. Construction of the boundary wall and grading the property to prevent flooding are under way. We are almost there!
The first phase of construction is now complete! It is 5750 square feet and houses grades 6 through 8, with a computer lab, science lab, lecture hall and an assembly hall for all PIS grades to use. The new section of the building will be 8,576 square feet, and contain six more classrooms, a craft room, science lab, teachers room, restrooms, and a courtyard/auditorium for cultural programs and assemblies.
It is because of your generous and loving donations that we are seeing the dream of adding classrooms at PIS come true. Once the whole building is complete, PIS will be able take students from Pre-Kindergarten through High School graduation (grade 10), and help many more village children from poor families to have a valuable education with strong values, good academics and the chance for brighter futures.
THE CONSTRUCTION STORY:
In November 2015, when the first big piece of machinery arrived, (just for a visit!) the children of PIS performed a puja (ceremony) to bless the machinery!
The kids decorated the big shovel with kumkum and sandal paste, anointed it with flower petals and garlands.
They sang songs and said prayers, all to have an auspicious beginning for their new school building. It was a joyous celebration, and the kids loved climbing all over the backhoe. They decided it was like a big animal and they called it “Swami’s Elephant”. The construction company was so gracious to bring the equipment just for the little children to bless.
In November 2015, when the first big piece of machinery arrived, (just for a visit!) the children of PIS performed a puja (ceremony) to bless the machinery!
The kids decorated the big shovel with kumkum and sandal paste, anointed it with flower petals and garlands.
They sang songs and said prayers, all to have an auspicious beginning for their new school building. It was a joyous celebration, and the kids loved climbing all over the backhoe. They decided it was like a big animal and they called it “Swami’s Elephant”. The construction company was so gracious to bring the equipment just for the little children to bless.
The excavation work started in earnest mid April, 2016. Although it was extremely hot, the heat wave brought a benefit of saving money by not having to de-water the property before pouring the concrete! The land was graded and trenches for the foundation were dug.
By May 7, the concrete footings were poured, and the next step was to purchase the steel rebar material. On May 14 the delivery of steel was made and now the race was on to have the foundation completed before the monsoon rains came in full force to Puri in June. You can see by the large amount of steel reinforcing that is being used in the construction, that this indeed will also serve as a much-needed storm shelter for the whole village area. |
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Everyone held their breath, praying for the rains to hold off long enough for the concrete foundation to be poured. In between sporadic thunderstorms and showers, wooden forms were constructed, and the set was prepared. The workers, men and women, came from a village in a faroff area of Odisha - they worked very hard, day and night, to be ready, because they knew they were working for a school for fatherless and poor children, not a commercial venture. Then, at 9am on June 11, the pouring of the cement foundations began. The workers worked all day and straight through the night to 5 am to finish. Fourteen cement trucks later, the cement work was completed, the workers laid down to sleep on the veranda, and everyone could breathe again! Let the rains come!
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After the foundation cement was poured, the wood forms were removed, the cement was left to cure for a couple of weeks, and then the entire foundation was filled with sand. By mid July, the construction of the cement and steel bar pillars to support the walls and roof was completed, and the foundation was ready for the next phase. In January, the support pillars were raised, and the concrete roof was poured. It really looks like a building now! Over the next months, the exterior and interior walls will be added, and the floors surfaced. Then the finish work will begin with the electrical, doors, windows, and plumbing, in readiness for the new 2017-2018 school year!
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This will definitely be the strongest and safest building in the area, designed and built to serve as a storm shelter for this community in the face of the ever-present threat of major cyclones. This is much needed, as the cyclones that hit the coast of Odisha seem to be becoming more frequent and more violent every year.
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The History of PIS: We had a dream of developing and expanding the services offered by Prashanti Preschool, our residential children’s home that was begun in 2000, to include an English immersion day school. This came to fruition in 2009 when we purchased the 2 acre campus that had on it 4 small buildings, and opened Prashanti International School. We renovated the buildings and in 2010, started offering lower and upper Kindergarten classes. These classes were open for enrollment to both our fatherless Prashanti residential children and to the children of local families in the surrounding villages. We now have classes through Grade 6, and have had to utilize all the rooms at the Residential children’s home as well as on the PIS campus to house the classes! The current enrollment (2017-2018 school year) is over 200 students, with many more children on the waiting list.
As we were completely out of classroom space, and with the need to offer classes for our students through 10th grade, we embarked on the PIS new construction expansion described above. We have completed 1/2 of the ground floor, and construction is beginning on the 2nd half. With your support, we hope to be able to complete the ground floor in 2019.
As we were completely out of classroom space, and with the need to offer classes for our students through 10th grade, we embarked on the PIS new construction expansion described above. We have completed 1/2 of the ground floor, and construction is beginning on the 2nd half. With your support, we hope to be able to complete the ground floor in 2019.