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Dr Ashley Deans presents the remarkable achievements of the students Maharishi School, Fairfield, Iowa, USA Dr Deans began by saying that the students graduating from the Maharishi School this year are really outstanding and are very fortunate. 'These students really exemplify what Maharishi has always said—that we should have two hundred per cent of life: a hundred per cent inner fulfilment and a hundred per cent outer success.' Students in this class won the state championship in the international creative problem solving competition, Destination Imagination, and went on to win the world championship. Dr Deans said it is difficult to win a world championship, 'particularly when you hardly put any effort into it—because our students don't strain when they're successful'. Dr Deans explained that Destination Imagination is not part of the curriculum at the school—it is something that the students do out of love, in their spare time. 'And yet when you go to the world finals, you'll see there are teams of DI competitors from Texas with a speech coach, a movement coach, a music coach, a drama coach, an engineering coach. Our kids just arrive in a coach, and they win the world championship!' Dr Deans praised and thanked Mark Hedley and Mark Wilkins, the school's former and current supervisors for Destination Imagination. This year, another of the Maharishi School students won the Critics' Choice for solo mime at the Iowa High School Large Group Speech Competition. Dr Deans said that this is an 'amazing event'. About 5,000 people are packed into the auditorium at Ames University, and about 300 schools compete from all over the state. Dr Deans said 'You sit there in the audience, thinking to yourself, "We can't possibly win this again,'' because Maharishi School has won more of these Critics' Choice Awards than any other school in the history of the state.' Maharishi School was competing against schools that have 3,000 students just in the high school. 'There are almost as many students there as there are in the whole of Fairfield. And yet again this year, we won another Critics Choice Award,' reported Dr Deans. The photography students from Maharishi School also won national and international recognition under the coaching of Mrs Carolyn Waksman. This has happened year after year and again this year—also at the Art and Science Fairs. 'All around the world Maharishi School is now recognized as having students who can win anything that they put their attention on,' said Dr Deans. In sports, one student set four School track records, empowering his team to a place at State. The boys doubles team came third at State in a fantastic effort and one of them only started playing tennis a couple of years ago. 'It's just amazing to see our students. Because the Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme develops mind/body coordination, whenever they decide to put their attention on something, immediately they find that they can be successful,' said Dr Deans. The Maharishi School golf team had unprecedented success this year. Dr Deans said, 'In basketball, we will never forget that triple overtime game where [three players] led the Pioneers to the State Championship for the first time in school history.' To put their achievements in perspective, Dr Deans explained that each year Maharishi School students take the Iowa Tests of Educational Development. This year's class scored in the 99th percentile both nationally and in Iowa on the composite score, and even when they were in grade 9, they had also scored in the 99th percentile. 'But there's a measure on this test called the national grade equivalent,' said Dr Deans. 'So when you're in grade 9, if you have a national grade equivalent of 9, then it means that you're equivalent to the average grade 9 class in the United States. If you had a national grade equivalent of 8, then you would be one year behind the average class in the United States. This class in grade 9 had a national grade equivalent of 13 plus, which is the highest possible score that you can get, and means they were performing at university level.' On his world tours presenting Consciousness-Based Education, Dr Deans said that he shows a video of interviews with students from Maharishi School, and just showing the educators the Maharishi School students speaking completely changes every conception that they have about Consciousness-Based Education. 'They see immediately that these students are something special,' said Dr Deans. © Copyright 2008 Global Good News®
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