Senior Akshar Parmar on Spirituality, Service, and Academics
By Janvi Rao, Staff Writer
October 10th, 2023
How can spirituality, selfless service, and schoolwork be managed together? A senior shares his experiences and knowledge about what he learned through service and how he applies it to his life.
Photo By: Akshar Parmar
Akshar Parmar is a senior at School Lane High School, he is a full-DP Student and a dedicated volunteer at BAPS Temple. BAPS is a non-profit organization that spreads knowledge of Hindu values within the Swaminarayan Sampradaya Community. Akshar talks about the values he learned through BAPS and how he applied them to his life and school work.
“One thing I learned from BAPS is TIme-Management and Presentation Skills; every week at the temple, we have to present to children- we present different topics on selfless service and behavior to children to teach them about human values and beliefs,” Akshar said.
For the past several months, there have been volunteering services going on at BAPS Akshardham (The biggest Hindu Temple in NJ) for the “Festival of Inspirations.” There are many people taking part in volunteering services, and there was a lot of help needed in the volunteering services in many areas. Akshar was also one of the volunteers, who participated in the service. He talked about managing his schoolwork with the volunteering service, and some challenges he faced while doing that.
Time management is an essential skill to have in order to work effectively and efficiently towards your goals. Akshar shares his experiences on how he manages his spiritual life with the workload of school effectively by managing his time properly to achieve his goals. Akshar explained, “There are many challenges while balancing different things in life; in this case, managing volunteer work and schoolwork is kind of difficult because there is a lot of time you need to put in both volunteering and schoolwork. Managing your time is a very important skill you need to work things out.”
Akshar talks about the values he learned at BAPS and how he applied them to the DP Program. He stated some similarities and differences between the values at BAPS and the IB Diploma Program. He connected the IB attributes of being balanced and a risk-taker by managing his volunteering service, taking the risk of missing school work, and balancing school and service together. He applied those attributes in his life and connected them to time management to create a balance between both service and school.
“In terms of BAPS, there are few values that relate to the DP program which is serving society, and in the DP Program, there are a lot of things you have to do such as CAS project, Extended Essays, and you also Student Government Association at the school, which gives you opportunities to take part in the service programs,” Akshar said.
Another integral trait he learned was unity. With all the issues in our world today, it’s clear that we need unity more than ever. Not only can teamwork and unity help you develop as a person, but it may also be something that our society can benefit from and grow. “Another value is Unity, which is not only applicable in the DP program or at the school but also at the BAPS and all around the world.”
In conclusion, time management is an essential skill that he has learned from BAPS, and he uses this skill effectively and efficiently toward his goals. Based on my conversation with Akshar, I can say that Akshar is a very organized and balanced person, who is an effective communicator. It is clear that with his service and academics, he will go on to do great things in the future.
