The SSE School year for Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre of Cooksville ended on Saturday, May 30th with a very unique Graduation Ceremony that took place virtually on the Zoom platform between 11:00 am – 12 noon.

For the past three months, the SSE classes were conducted virtually due to the pandemic lock-down. Gurus of older SSE groups continued their classes via zoom while the younger groups stayed in touch via emails, phone calls, and online submission. The invitation for the Graduation ceremony was extended to the parents of all SSE children. Students were requested to attend the ceremony inappropriate dress code. This suggestion was made to enact the real graduation ceremony on the Zoom platform. It was such a beautiful feeling to see the smiling faces of all the children along with their parents and siblings after a long time! By 10:50 AM students with their families were ready.

The Ceremony began with opening prayers and a few melodious bhajans by the SSE children. The Educational coordinator welcomed and congratulated all participants with a warm and loving welcome; highlighting the importance of putting into practice the five human values in our daily lives.  All the children graduating from one SSE group to another were called out by their Gurus wishing them well and were asked to take a pada-namaskar at the feet of their parents.  It was an emotional experience for the Gurus, who had showered their love and kind words of encouragement to the graduating students. The Group 4 graduating students were presented with a certificate by their parents who then performed pada-namaskar from their parents. Prior to the event, the Group 4 graduates were emailed a copy of the certificate; while a signed copy would be given to them at a later date once normalcy was restored and the pandemic restrictions were lifted.

The five graduating SSE Group 4 children shared their SSE experiences and showed gratitude to all the Gurus who had taught them.  It was a very emotional feeling for both the parents and their Gurus to hear these children speak so confidently, lovingly, and humbly.  The Educational coordinator once again thanked all the graduates, congratulated them, and introduced an alumni student who was going to share a few words with the new graduates. The alumni shared her thoughts on the life application of SSE experience and motivated the new graduates to be the torchbearers of Swami’s teachings.

The ceremony came to an end with the President’s message and a vote of thanks. The President reminded all students that the ultimate goal of SSE was to bring transformation at the individual and personal level by thorough practice of Swami’s teachings and the five human values that are the core essence of Sai Spiritual Education – a character-building program. She thanked all Gurus and the parents of SSE children for their unconditional love, commitment, and dedication. The ceremony concluded with closing prayers and Aarathi for Swami.

Approximately 78 families participated in the 2020 (virtual) graduation ceremony. The ceremony, the first of its kind, could not have been possible without the love, devotion, dedication, and commitment of the Gurus, children, and parents. A graduation ceremony like this was yet again an opportunity to ask Swami to continue to bless one and all with His abundant love and light!