Our new school year is off to a great start and we’ve been busy—we’ve had many visitors, club and sports activities, a fire puja, an election, Environment Day, Hostel Night, and more. One of the key highlights was the visit and presentation by American engineer and former NASA astronaut, Sandra Hall Magnus. The kids were riveted by her talk. She …
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SMD School Spring Update
This time of year is always bustling with energy at SMD School, and it has been eventful over the past couple of months, to say the least! Here are a few highlights of our activities: We held our final exams for the year from March 22 to 30, followed by results day on April 5 and a short two-week holiday …
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Tsering Namgyal reflects on SMD
“I recently attended a conference on sustainability in Nepal. Once the conference had ended, the networking activities had come to a grinding halt, and reports on Nepalese economics were filed, I decided to visit a school for Himalayan children. Shree Mangal Dvip (SMD) boarding school lies just a stone’s throw from Boudhanath Stupa, a revered Tibetan Buddhist spiritual site in Nepal’s …
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SMD Health Assistants Save Lives
Pran Maya Khadki comes from a small village called Namo Buddha, where our founder, Thrangu Rinpoche established Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery. This is also where SMD Branch School for monks is. After she finished Class 10, Pran Maya took the three-year Health Assistants (paramedic) training. When the earthquakes hit in 2015, Lama Sangay, one of our monks in Malaysia raised …
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SMD Sports Day Celebrations
Our annual SMD Sports Day is always a much anticipated and exciting event for all the students, faculty and staff at SMD. This year’s event was held on January 31 and organized by Tenzin Loden with assistance from SMD senior students and teachers. The event opened with a marching parade by the school houses and the school band. It also …
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30 years of free education
On November 20th, SMD School held a grand celebration to commemorate 30 years of free education for Himalayan Children in the presence of the founder, the Very Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, the Khenpos and Lamas of Thrangu Monastery, and many SMD alumni. Some of them shared their life journey and expressed with gratitude the important role that the free education provided …
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SMD Graduation Day
SMD alumna, Sangita Tamang, her friends and the SMD administrative team, organized a ‘SMD Graduation Day’ on July 15th for the grade ten graduating class (SMD school is unfortunately too crowded to offer grades 11 and 12). The program opened at ten o’ clock with Thrangu Rinpoche’s long live prayer. Among the honorary guests were representatives from Rinpoche’s monasteries and …
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Celebrating 30 Years!
Can you believe it? SMD is turning 30 this year! Thrangu Rinpoche founded our school in 1987, and it is thanks to you, the friends and supporters around the world, that we are well and thriving. We had a couple rough years since the M7.8 earthquake on April 25, 2015, followed by over one hundred aftershocks and the fuel crisis. Kids …
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Introducing Wangchuk Tenzin
Our new Principal at SMD School, Acharya Wangchuk Tenzin, started with us in April 2016, taking over for interim Principal, Lama Nyima Dorje. A former student of SMD, Wangchuk went on to higher Buddhist studies in ‘Shedra’ (monastic university) after he gained some management skills working in different parts of Thrangu Rinpoche’s organization. With his kind heart and his understanding …
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School life in Nepal: A Day at SMD
School life in Nepal varies across the country but at SMD School, we follow the Nepali government curriculum complemented by the teachings of the Buddha. A typical day starts early for everyone: our kids wake up at 5 a.m. (6 a.m. in the winter), wash their faces, brush their teeth and dress in play clothes. Breakfast is at 7 a.m., …
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From the High Himalayan Villages
Our kids come from some of the most remote and highest Himalayan villages of northern Nepal, from villages that have no electricity, no toilets, no sanitation, no hospitals, no telecommunications and no schools. They come from northern districts with romantic names like Mustang, Dolpo, Humla, Mugu, Manang, Gorkha, and Solu Khumbu. Some of the villages are four to 14 days …