crossing the world-ocean...
 
I spoke at a local hospital to about 50 doctors, nurses, and medical professionals. The talk was arranged by The Sikh Coalition.  Here's a direct quote from the director of human resources, Greg P:

I wanted to thank you on behalf of the Staff at Lankenau Medical Center for your presentations.  We received wonderful feedback about your presentations and specifically on your dynamic style of presenting.  We had great attendance and your presentation was both educational and entertaining.

Here are some direct quotes from the feedback forms:

very open, friendly, informal; easy to feel connected
I knew very little about Sikhism and found this immensely interesting. I have shared the info with a number of people since the talk, as it was so informative. I have an appreciation for this religion and the tenets of the faith.
Savraj is a very kind person and easy to relate to.
I had no idea about Sikhs prior to the presentation. I now appreciate and respect your traditions, customs and religion.
 
Thanks to the vision of Michelle Vella, Debbie Shriner, and Gigi Shupp, I was given the opportunity to do a Sikh awareness presentation to the entire eighth grade at the prestigious Orange Avenue School.  It was my honor and pleasure to present for about 50 minutes.  Here are some reviews from feedback forms:

"Excellent, engaging for all students"
"Well spoken, accessible for 8th grade students, very engaging"
"It was excellent!"
"Mr. Singh's public speaking skills as a presenter were excellent! He held the students' attention throughout the presentation and taught many important lessons!"
"I felt connected and loved how my students (class) listened to his every word!"
"Very amiable"
"I liked that he was open w/questions and provided ample opportunity for questioning. I felt connected."
"Considering I was unaware of this religion, it opened my eyes to it and allowed me to develop an opinion"
"I found this to be an enlightening presentation."
"He related well to the students"
 
 
Savraj did a standard presentation where he did an introduction to Sikhism for a world religions class at The Lawrenceville School
 
Savraj led a tour of about 8 visitors to the Sikh Sabha Gurdwara in Lawrenceville from the high school where he is the Sikh Religious Life Leader -- The Lawrenceville School.  It ran from 11am to about 2:30 pm, included an extensive tour of the facility, talks on Sikh History, and the wonderful langar at the end of the program. Thanks go to Lawrenceville's Chaplain, Sue Anne Morrow, for organizing.
 
Today I drove 20 minutes up to Skillman / Belle Meade, NJ to present for 35 minutes to the Orchard Hill Elementary School First Graders.  It was a great presentation and the first graders had surprisingly deep questions with many insights.
I was called to the school through a lead from the Sikh Coalition -- Ishmeet Singh's parents had contacted the Coalition and asked for a presentation, and I volunteered for it.  Wendy Senatra, the School Guidance Counselor, coordinated the whole thing.  We spent a few minutes at the beginning setting up the projector, but were generally OK with it.
Ishmeet turned out to really enjoy the presentation and did a live demonstration of how his patka was tied. It was pretty cool -- Ishmeet seemed to be enjoying it and having fun, which is what this is all about.

Here's a letter from Ishmeet's Dad, who was also present:
All,
Savraj did the presentation at my son(Ishmeet)’s school today. The kids really enjoyed the presentation and connected very well with Savraj.
The presentations was very well received by the school teachers and the staff.  The principal has even expressed interest in another session early next year.
I would like to thank everybody who helped make this happen.  Special thanks to Savraj for his time and dedication.
Regards,
Satvinder



 
I drove up to Montclair, NJ on Friday, January 31, 2014, to address 150 8th graders at Glen Ridge High School.  My host, social studies teacher Carol Svetik, had attended a talk I gave at the New Jersey Social Studies Conference over two years ago, and invited me to address her world religions students.  It was an honor to address the students and they had some great questions.  Here's a fun one a student asked: If everyone is equal in Sikhism, how do you make decisions? What a great question. I answered this by alluding to the Sarbat Khalsa, and saying that it's not a simple process.

Here are some excerpts from the feedback forms (filled out by three teachers):

  • What qualities of the speaker did you like / dislike / did you feel connected?
  1. "Very Easy Style"
  2. "Very funny, used current day references, always open to questions"
  3. "Very friendly, very welcoming smile, very patient."
  • Today's presentation could have been improved by:
  1. "Can't think of anything"
  2. "It was great as is"
  3. "No, loved it!"
  • Please list any remaining questions:
  1. "Great Presentation"
  2. "Thank you for your time, it was so interesting and fun!"
 
So I spent a full four days working the Boyscouts National Jamboree, in the Faith and Beliefs Exhibit, at the World Sikh Council booth.

We were tying turbans and explaining Sikhism to curious boyscouts for 3 straight days, with one full day spent in travel to and from West Virginia. It was amazing.  I was impressed by how knowledgeable and curious the scouts were.