As we celebrate 25 magical years of Little Twinkle Academy, we are thrilled to take our journey a step further with the launch of Little-big Twinkle Changemakers. This special program opens the door for children with big hearts and bright dreams to join us, giving them the joy of making a difference and being a part of something larger than themselves. Together, we continue to nurture not just young minds, but the spirit of kindness, creativity, and hope in every child. We just need to be kind whenever possible and it’s always possible.
- Meet the Little-big Twinkle Changemaker’s:
Ilesh is our first Little-big Twinkle Changemaker (Senior), who lives in the US and has been supporting Little Twinkle Academy since his elementary school days. Even back then, his passion for saving the planet was evident. During one of his early visits to the school in the village, he was saddened to see candy wrappers and plastic bags scattered around the school. Determined to make a change, he bought a garbage and recycle can for each classroom and spoke to the students about the benefits of recycling every year thereafter.
As he grew older and entered high school, Ilesh excelled in Speech and Debate at the State and National level. One day, he approached us with an idea: to start a Public Speaking class for middle and high school students. He had understood by then that English played a critical role in making our school children in India successful as they graduated from high school and some went to colleges. Colleges in India taught in English only. To grow their confidence, he thought “why don't I share the skills I have picked up in Speech and Debate. That will benefit them as well.” We entrusted him with the logistics—but little did he know, he would first need to tackle network issues, internet connectivity, and limited data plans before he could even begin teaching in a village school.
After some teething problems the Public Speaking Program was launched - we called it the “Sanjukta Sahu Spoken English Program” to honor our head teacher Mrs. Sanjukta Sahu who had passed after a courageous battle with cancer.
Ilesh visits the school twice a year to share his expertise and continues to conduct Zoom classes every Friday night for grades 8th-10th, inspiring students with the intricacies of effective public speaking.
