Glimpse of Annual Sports Meet 2022-23 at SMD School.
Celebrating Annual Sports Meet
We celebrated our annual Sports Day on January 13. Students and staff had been preparing for weeks – the excitement inside the school was electric! Three emcees made announcements in the languages we use: Tibetan, English, and Nepali.
Special thanks to all our guests for their presence and time, and our event managers (Tsering Dhondup B340a and Lhakpa Tsewang B299) for making the event so successful. Thanks also to our hardworking staff and students for their dedication, support, and participation. It was an exciting and often thrilling day.
Watch videos of some of the events during the celebration.
March Past by Students | Aerobic Dance by Students | Karate Performance by SMD Karate Group
Kids getting new winter jackets from Sowers’ Action, Hong Kong.
Warm Winter Jackets Distributed by Sowers’ Action Nepal
All SMD students including our nuns and monks received warm winter jackets donated by Sowers Action of Hong Kong. We would like to express our deep gratitude to the entire team and members of Sowers’ Action Nepal for their support and generosity. All our kids are grateful and delighted to receive warm jackets.
Water Project | New Mattresses and Plywood for Beds
Water Project
During the two weeks of our winter holiday, we did maintenance of the school’s water system, which was old and had been installed piecemeal. We were losing 50% of our water and had been facing shortages quite often. Nepal is highly vulnerable to climate instability, and most cities are struggling with water scarcity, but at SMD, we are doing our best to manage the water supply without waste.
Our nyerpa (manager) Lopen Palden Tashi identified the problem, proposed the solution and handled most of the coordination during the project.
New Mattresses and Plywood for Beds
During winter holiday, we also replaced some of the old mattresses and the plywood that goes underneath with fresh materials. Thanks to our SMD Alumni group for the funding and support.
School Vice Principal, Tsewang Topgyal.
Tsewang Topgyal, our new Vice Principal
Tsewang Topgyal joined Thrangu Monastery in 2001 and spent his first year at the monastery, learning Tibetan reading and writing. When he joined Shree Mangal Dvip in 2002, he was placed in Grade 6. He finished the government board exam SLC (school leaving certificate) in 2007 and went to SMD Branch School for young monks to serve as a teacher for the next two years.
Later, Tsewang continued Buddhist Studies at Thrangu Rinpoche’s shedra (Tibetan College of Advanced Buddhist Philosophy) at Vajra Vidya Institute in Sarnath, India. He completed his Acharya degree (Sanskrit = Master’s) in 2017 and was assigned as a teacher at SMD. Tsewang Topgyal assumed the role of Vice Principal midway through this school year.
UWCSEA Singapore group with our Principal (center), teachers and studnets.
UWCSEA Singapore Group Visited Us
Teacher Ms. Beth Mullin, Jeewon, Will, Ben, and other teachers and students from UWCSEA visited our school. We had been looking forward to their visit and were delighted to meet them all. UWCSEA has been sponsoring five boarders for a very long time and we are really grateful and fortunate for all these years of their support.
We also want to thank the technology department at UWCSEA and the entire UWC team for donating MacBookook laptops and iPads. They will be helpful for our students and staff and especially for our Principal, whose laptop was on its last legs. They also brought us books and UWC t-shirts!
Group photo after the programme.
EduLift
16 SMDers joined the winter EduLift programme which focussed on mosaic-making. “EduLift is a non-profit educa
Tibetan Welcome Group Song
tional initiative dedicated to transforming and empowering the lives of young people and children from marginalized Himalayan ethnic groups.”
Read more about EduLift here: https://www.eduliftacademy.org/
In Case You Missed It…
Losar (Tibetan New Year) is Near: Major Muckout – It is a tradition to do a thorough cleanup before Losar (Tibetan New Year). Everyone pitches in.
Watch Video: Tibetan Welcome Song – Annual Sports Day.