World Heart Day is celebrated every 29th of September. This year our school celebrated globally with other nations across the globe. We spent the day participating in different activities for the entire school, from Kindergarten to Grade 12. The events involved students, teachers, parents, and staff. Different areas of the school were utilized from morning until afternoon.
World Heart Day is a global campaign to spread awareness about heart disease and stroke prevention. The World Heart Federation has found that these two health conditions are the world’s leading causes of death, killing 17.3 million people per year – more victims than that of cancer, HIV and AIDS, and malaria.
As a kick-off, PAIS had Zumba dancing for the whole school. The event was opened by our Academic Head, Mr. Mustafa Balci. It was a very lovely day to start sweating as we powered our hearts. After dancing we participated in more activities such as our Skipping Rope Challenge and Hula Hoop Competition.
The highlight of the day was our keynote speaker from the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Renu Madanlal Garg. Her talk, “Be Heart Healthy”, was indeed very informative, concise and simplified, appealing to the level of our middle- to high school students and teachers.
Setting the mood for our speaker was a lovely and heart pounding performance from our solo violinist, Abel Obed Brown, and a group performance from “The Treble Makers.” This year marked the wonderful participation of our KG department with activities such as Heart Face Painting, Heart Arts and Crafts, Heart Photo Booth, and Puzzle My Heart, all through the initiative and creativity of Teacher Julia.
The day ended with awarding the winners of different events from essay writing, poster making, skipping rope, to hula hoop. Fun, joy, learning, camaraderie, togetherness, and appreciation were some of the values we took from the day.
In all, this day was valuable as everyone had the same theme in mind – Share the Power. As we have reached our goal for this very special day, we hope we will keep the same momentum and strength of understanding that the heart powers our whole body. This event is highly recommended and will be upheld in the years to come.
