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Weekly Newsletter September 15, 2019 The Royal Academy Weekly Newsletter Vol. 1, Issue XXIII Synergy In this Issue: Obstacle course with Wangsel Institute| ​Sonam Chogyal, Jimi Pfinso and Tenzin Tshering(Grade IX) Dasho Sonam Kinga|​Jimmy Pelbar(Grade X) Space Engineer Mrs Yeshey Choden| ​Nendra Wangchuk A different life| ​Ugyen Tshering(Grade IX) Interview| ​Ambassador Ruchira Khamboj (Sangay Choden Grade X) Interview|​Ms Tashi Chenzom(Jamyang Ugyen Tshomo Grade X) September 15, 2019 Obstacle course with Wangsel Institute ​Sonam Chogyal, Jimi Pfinso and Tenzin Tsheringl(Grade IX) On Sunday we had a great time with the students from Wangsel. It was a first for all the students of The Royal Academy as we interacted with our differently abled friends from Wangsel. As the buses from Wangsel arrived we were very excited. We wanted to learn new things and show off what all we have learnt during our Friday learning experiences. The Wangsel students which are in class pp- three also joined the events taking place at our school. The smile on their faces were as bright as sun flower and the way they did the obstacle was in many ways far better than most of us as they always gave their one hundred percent which is in line with our school philosophy “ Be the best you can be”. September 15, 2019 We thoroughly enjoyed our day with them and found many new teamwork skills within us. Communicating with them taught us new things and it also strengthened our sign language skills. They gave it their best. We were able to share thoughts and ideas with them with ease after a few hours with them. The exposure helped us improve our communication. On Sunday we created new bonds and made new friendships with our fellow students and learned a lot from them.. We hope for future interactions just like this. September 15, 2019 Dasho Sonam Kinga Jimmy Pelbar(Grade X) It never seems to end, there were so many people all puzzled about their own world. There were many things going on, some were chatting away about how their day went, others being myself, were wondering what might be our lunch as we were starving. Suddenly, there was silence and heads turned. There was a very friendly and engaging person on the podium. It was Dasho Sonam Kinga. Listening to a talk form a non-religious person, has made me able to relate to the talk even more, there were so many different practices that point to the same answer, the end of suffering.As Dasho was going around the stage, we forgot our hunger, we were hanging on to his words. He took us through his life story and his practices, on why he practices what he practices. He was able to make connection with many concepts in his life with the teaching that he had received through his spiritual teachers.When I looked around the room, it was a diverse group of students paying attention to the speaker, most of them were focused and were able to relate to it, some were scribblers they were either taking notes or drawing away their wildest dreams, some were so into the topic that they actually tried to relate to it through mediation. We suddenly realised we were being sent out to get some food. It was an apple. Somehow an apple tasted good. The direct effect of listening to a great practitioner. The next session was dedicated to our burning questions, the room went dead silent, we needed an ice breaker I thought and right when I was about to raise my hand Jamyang rose and broke the silence. Then one hand after another rose, critical and thought provoking questions were.. Each of us waited patiently as each question were answered, Dasho who was no expert in this field was able to handle the question well and he was able to take us around the wheel of life.. I was left there dumbstruck with all the answers September 15, 2019 Space Engineer Mrs Yeshey Choden | ​Nendra Wangchuk Misses Yeshey Choden was born on 2nd October in the year 1993. She is the eldest daughter in her family. She has two younger sisters, Pema Choden and Pema Yangchen Choden. She spent her early childhood in Paro, studying in Woochu Lower Secondary School. Then she went to Lungtenzampa Middle Secondary School in Thimphu. She said that in Grade Nine she saw an interview of a topper from Grade Ten and then she decided that she would also become a topper, whatever it takes. So she made a schedule that she would strictly follow and she would divide time for domains and move from one domain to the other even if she didn’t finish learning everything, she just stuck to the schedule. She said that she would study through the night till 1:00 a.m. in the morning and then she would wake up at 4:30 a.m. in the morning, all the while taking in a lot of black coffee which she does not recommend us to do! She was the National topper of 2008 grade 10 BCSE examinations. The toppers were granted an audience by His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on 21st February, 2009. She wore decent clothes and followed Driglam Namzha properly, when it was time to take photographs she immediately went beside His Majesty. When the photo was being taken, she requested His Majesty to say Ema Datsi and His Majesty agreed and everyone said Ema Datsi. She received a certificate signed by His Majesty the King. She completed high school and graduated from Yangchenphug Higher Secondary School and got a scholarship from His Majesty the King. She thought that it was because of the Ema Datshi incident that His Majesty gave her the scholarship. For her undergraduate she went to National University of Singapore. When she was building the satellite Bhutan-1, she said all of them planned the design for the satellite. The teams consisted of people from Bhutan, Malaysia, Phillipines and Japan. Three satellites were built, Bhutan-1 by Bhutan, Maya-1 by Philippines and UiTMSAT-1 by Malaysia. She expressed that she loved Dzongkha and since it September 15, 2019 was Bhutan’s satellite that there has to be some Dzongkha letters or words written on it, therefore, they wrote Druk on it and also their names. The telescope was built in JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) in one year and 2 months and was released from ISS (International Space Station)on 10th August 2018, launched by Falcon 9 Full Thrust, contractor as SpaceX and it is in low Earth orbit. She also thinks that whatever we know and are skilled in, we should also offer services for free, doing things voluntarily. She also talked about organisations like Space Generation Advisory Council and World Space Week and mentioned that from 4th to 10th October this year is the space week and is based on the theme “Moon”. She was featured in BBS (Bhutan Broadcasting Service), BBR (Bhutan Bio Democracy Resilience Conference ) and Yellow Bhutan’s page. One of the pictures had the Bhutanese group and she learned that she was the only female so she had to post it on her instagram accompanied by a quote, "Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to ​ the don'ts. Listen to the should nots, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be."-Shel Silverstein. Apart from her work with space and technology she also likes to do Skiing, Deep water diving and Rock-climbing and has certificates for the latter and Deep water diving. She also wants to give back to the nation so she takes part in the Trongsa Penlop Theatre Club, Desuung and Bhutan Animal Rescue and Care. For her internship she got a slot in the UNOOSA (United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs) at the office in Vienna, Austria. The talk was very interesting and inspiring. Considering that Mrs.Yeshey Choden accomplished so much at the young age of 25. It truly is a feat to admire, take inspiration from and to appreciate. We hope that Mrs.Yeshey will have a great journey ahead in life and we wish her many successes. *For anyone who would like to contact her, the email address is [email protected] * ​ ​ September 15, 2019 A different life ​Ugyen Tshering(Grade IX) Purpose The Royal Academy resides in the astounding village of Pangbisa. Therefore, being part of the community of Pangbisa, it is important for the students to be engaged with the community of Pangbisa. This project aims for the students of the Royal Academy to be involved in the everyday life of the villagers. What we did during our visit to the village After having tea, we left school carrying our rations for the whole day. As soon as we reached there, we helped the owner of the house to segregate vegetables to sell and also helped to make dinner for their herd of cattle. During that night, many of us for the first time experienced milking and during When it was Jigme Tenzin Nidup’s turn, one of the cows kicked the milk bucket and wasted almost two litres of milk. But we were relieved that uncle told us that it was okay in the process of learning. We made our own curry and tea(together) and it was quite sad for us to see aunty adding ‘zaetoe’ in our curry. But later, we ate at least two plates. The next morning, we did weeding and also took a bath in a small tub.
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