November 4, 2005

Evergreen Balvihar celebrates 5-year anniversary

Nov. 13 performance at Mexican Heritage Center

Evergreen Balvihar, a nonprofit educational organization, has been serving the Evergreen community through classes in Indian arts and languages for the past five years. To celebrate this anniversary, about 100 performers will sing, dance and stage plays at the Mexican Heritage Plaza, located at 1704 Alum Rock Ave., in San Jose, on Nov. 13.

Evergreen Balvihar school children participate in an event.

“The board and staff are constantly improving the programs that are offered to the community,” says board member Prabha Maskell.

Since 2003, for example, Evergreen Balvihar has been staging huge theatrical productions every year for its anniversary celebrations, with excellent performances by its students.

In 2004, the organization started offering summer camps to children in the community. “If the growth in enrollment from last year to this past summer is any indication, it has been a great success as well,” adds Maskell.

This year, Evergreen Balvihar opened its new facility at 3560 Kettmann Road, less than a mile from the Evergreen Branch Library. This enabled the organization to add a top-notch after-school program for children as an added benefit to the community.

Evergreen Balvihar school children pictured from left (standing) are Ankith Iyengar, Pranay Lolabattu, Prajay LolaBattu, Namrata Kasaranen, Shreya Ramesh, Divya Bade. From left to right (sitting) are Ayesha Soni, Manvitha Talasila, Anika Gupta and Rasika Raghavan.

The after-school program includes cultural enrichment classes and provides transportation for the students from local public schools as an option. This program not only helps students with their homework, but it also enriches them with arts and language classes.

Launched at the end of August with 15 students, the after-school program is greatly appreciated by the working parent community according to Maskell.

By 2007, the directors are planning to buy a facility with several classrooms. They will expand their services beyond arts and culture and introduce several proven ancient methods in areas such as mathematics, critical thinking and problem solving.

Evergreen Balvihar is located at 3560 Kettmann Road, San Jose, Calif., 95121. Office hours are 1:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. For more information, go to www.evergreenbalvihar.org or contact President Prathibha Lolabattu via e-mail at Lolabattu@yahoo.com or call (408) 398-7525 or (408) 223-2984.