Outside the Classroom

Student/dorm life

Social Life: Social Life: A variety of activities are offered each weekend. Students are encouraged to join in and contribute to these activities, which include dances, music concerts, theatre performances, movie nights, talent shows, barbecues, board game nights, residence open houses, roller skating, gym nights, bazaar outings, Saturday hikes, Class Nights, and visits to neighboring schools' events.

Residence Halls:
On the SAGE Program, students have a fun and active residential life apart from classes. Typical rooms are shared by 2-3 students, with bedding, study desks, and cupboard space provided. Most residences are well-equipped with a kitchenette and indoor and outdoor recreational areas. There are TV’s and computer rooms in the common areas of each residence hall.

A hall parent resides in an apartment within each residence hall and interacts with students, ensuring a safe, caring, and nurturing environment. Friendships form easily in the residences, as students live and learn together in a close-knit environment.

“On the SAGE Program, I had the opportunity to share the warmth and security of a caring community.”            -Anjuli Wagner, Newton, MA

Computer Centers:
SAGE schools have excellent computing facilities, with computer centers in a variety of locations around campus, and at the residence level. All students are given a personal email account as soon as they arrive on campus.

Student Health Center:
Full time nurses staff the student health center 24 hours a day. Regular visits by medical doctors make sure that students receive all the medical attention they need. Fully equipped modern hospitals are located close to each school.

Counseling services:
Qualified personal counselors are available for confidential conferences with students. The counselors are aided by a team of student peer counselors.

Cafeterias:
School meals are provided in the cafeteria, and serve a healthy and nutritious variety of foods from around the world.

Laundry:
Laundry is done by the local “dhobi” or laundry service, so students don’t have to worry about doing it themselves.

 

“The world is at once both smaller and larger because of this experience: smaller because I now have so many friends inhabiting it; larger because of the vast differences it encompasses.”            -Matthew Anderson, Minneapolis, MN

Extra-curricular Activities

SAGE schools offer a wide variety of extra-curricular activities intended to promote social awareness, global citizenship, and personal growth.

These activities include:

• Leadership activities
• Visual and Performing Arts (Art, Music, Drama, Dance)
• Sports
• Community Service programs
• Outdoor and environmental education (Hiking & Camping programs)
• Special Events
• Spiritual activities

Students are encouraged to create, experiment, question, test, understand and develop themselves against the backdrop of opportunity provided by the schools’ unique locations in North and South India.

Leadership activities:
SAGE schools offer leadership activities focusing on student leadership development. These include: Model United Nations; Global Youth Conference; National Honor Society (NHS); Student Council; and National Association of Student Councils (NASC).

Visual and Performing Arts:
SAGE schools have a very creative staff and student body who are actively involved in producing student art and photo exhibits, student theatre and musical productions, band, jazz band, orchestra, choir, recitals, concerts, Indian music recitals, Indian dance performances, and more.

Sports:
The sports which are played at either intramural or intervarsity levels include: badminton; basketball; cricket; cross country; field hockey; gymnastics; racquetball; rugby; soccer; squash; swimming; table tennis; tennis; track and field; volleyball; and Ultimate Frisbee.

Community Service:
Service learning is a method for enhancing academic experiences and developing a student’s sense of social responsibility and awareness. Global citizens that their schools encourage them to be, most SAGE students volunteer in some aspect of community service.

SAGE students are offered volunteer opportunities in orphanages, local schools, health clinics, a school for the blind, and Tibetan refugee camps; they may participate in sustainable development projects in local hill villages and assist with environmental restoration projects.

Outdoor and Environmental Education:
Both schools have active hiking programs where students can get out into the surrounding hills and mountains on organized school-sponsored trips. Hikes range from the short – just a few hours – to several days over a long weekend. There are hikes for EVERY level of ability! The schools own a wide variety of outdoor gear, so students can borrow tents, packs, sleeping bags, stoves, and even ice-axes – all free of charge.

Both schools operate off-campus outdoor education centers where students can stay overnight, participate in environmental science classes and workshops, go on hikes into the surrounding hills, and become involved in the various activities these centers offer.

Special Events
Students take an active role in planning and organizing special school events such as:
High school formals and dances; Indian cultural events (Republic Day, Independence Day, Diwali, Holi); international events (Earth Day, United Nations Day); Spirit Week, Care Week, and more.

Religious Life
Both schools are founded on Christian values and principals, though they are not “religious” schools exclusively promoting or teaching Christianity. Acceptance of and appreciation for the diversity of cultural and religious values is what SAGE schools strive for. Spiritual development activities for all students include monthly chapel services and religious education classes. Optional activities include a variety of both Christian and multi-faith fellowship opportunities.

Experience India

If you are going to travel half-way around the world, why spend all your time in a classroom?!

The SAGE Program offers LOTS of opportunities to get out and see the amazing sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feel of INDIA, one of the main reasons we believe it’s the best choice study abroad program.

Adventure; group student tours travel abroad was never so thrilling and fulfilling! Through school-sponsored field trips, community service opportunities, hiking and outdoor education, Activity Week, and the month-long Winter Tour – or simply by walking into the local bazaar (market) on a weekend – SAGE students get to see and experience the real India.

Field trips:
Both schools sponsor a wide array of field trips throughout the year. Whether students are part of a Kodai theatre production performing a show in Chennai, playing saxophone with the Woodstock jazz band in New Delhi, or taking part in a cricket tournament against a neighboring school, SAGE students get plenty of opportunities to see how life is lived in the rest of India.

Activity Week:

Activity Week ensures that the school year includes a bit of adventure! Group student tours travel to thirteenth-century Jain cave frescos; to the Doon Valley for a cycling trip; to the white waters of the upper Ganges for rafting. Students rope up to cross a glacier; help village kids prepare for their school's first ever sports meet; play with blind children; teach in a slum school in Delhi; help the cook at a dhaba make chappati.

Activity Week is neither sitting in a classroom, taking notes, nor studying for tests, but it is one of the best learning experiences students have. Every fall, for one week, teachers and students head off-campus to explore India.

Activity Week is the stuff of which life is made - learning, discovery, friendship, challenge, service, responsibility, adventure. It is one of the aspects that makes the SAGE program the best choice: study abroad at its finest!