Latest news with #Samara
Business Standard
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Standard
Twin Trailblazers Samaya and Samara Chauhan Walk The Ramp For Mental Health & Educational Equality At Delhi Times Fashion Week 2025
PRNewswire New Delhi [India], May 29: In a stirring moment that fused fashion with fierce purpose, 16-year-old changemakers Samaya and Samara Chauhan, students of Amity International School, took center stage at Delhi Times Fashion Week 2025 - not for glamour, but for a cause. Walking the runway in solidarity with thousands of young voices, the twin sisters used fashion as their platform to spotlight urgent issues: cyberbullying, mental health awareness, and educational inequality. The sisters are the co-founders of the Policy and Leadership Action Network for Youth (PLAN Y), a youth-led movement that empowers young people to shape policy, advocate for inclusive education, and destigmatize mental health through meaningful, action-oriented change. Dressed in black as a symbol of resilience and resistance, Samaya and Samara walked not just for themselves, but for the countless others silenced by stigma or circumstance. Their presence was a declaration - young people are not the leaders of tomorrow; they are the change-makers of today. Samaya Chauhan: Championing Mental Health & Anti-Bullying Under her initiative, "Project Pause", Samaya has taken a bold stance against bullying and mental health stigma. Her Anti-Bullying AmbassadorsProgram, now active in over 500 schools, empowers students to lead the charge by identifying, educating, and transforming bullying behaviour- while building peer-support networks that promote safety and empathy. Samaya has also pioneered Art Therapy Workshops, where young people use graffiti, painting, and other creative forms to process trauma, find their voice, and turn emotional pain into powerful expression. These sessions are now being conducted in both school and university campuses, transforming corridors into spaces of healing and hope. Samara Chauhan: Bridging the Education Divide Samara's focus lies in dismantling the barriers to equitable learning. Through her initiative, and webapp, the Learning with Equity and Access Program (LEAP), she is redefining accessibility by creating inclusive digital ecosystems that include learning games, discussion forums, community mentorship, and free study resources - reaching students across socio-economic lines. Partnering with ATL Sarthi, LEAP has already impacted more than 5,000 students and educators, becoming a scalable model for inclusive education in both urban and rural India. Beyond the Runway: Action That Resonates Walking beside children from NGO Pravan, whose lives echo the causes they champion, the sisters displayed a powerful act of solidarity - demonstrating that advocacy is most impactful when grounded in empathy and inclusion. Their digital movement is equally robust. Through online campaigns, youth forums, and a powerful pledge initiative that has garnered over 40,000 signatures, Samaya and Samara have touched more than 50,000 lives with their message of resilience, equity, and action. A Runway Reimagined What unfolded on the runway was far more than a fashion statement. It was a rallying cry - a declaration that youth voices must not only be heard but heeded. In Samaya and Samara Chauhan, India sees not just young leaders, but a vision of the future in motion - fearless, inclusive, and unstoppable. About Amity International School Amity International School, New Delhi, is one of the oldest schools in Delhi NCR, imparting value-based education with a global perspective. It's state-of-the-art facilities and experienced faculty create a nurturing ecosystem where students grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially, preparing them to meet the challenges of the future with confidence and resilience.
Business Upturn
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Business Upturn
TWIN TRAILBLAZERS SAMAYA AND SAMARA CHAUHAN WALK THE RAMP FOR MENTAL HEALTH & EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY AT DELHI TIMES FASHION WEEK 2025
NEW DELHI , 29 May 2025 /PRNewswire/ — In a stirring moment that fused fashion with fierce purpose, 16-year-old changemakers Samaya and Samara Chauhan , students of Amity International School, took center stage at Delhi Times Fashion Week 2025 – not for glamour, but for a cause. Walking the runway in solidarity with thousands of young voices, the twin sisters used fashion as their platform to spotlight urgent issues: cyberbullying, mental health awareness, and educational inequality. The sisters are the co-founders of the Policy and Leadership Action Network for Youth (PLAN Y), a youth-led movement that empowers young people to shape policy, advocate for inclusive education, and destigmatize mental health through meaningful, action-oriented change. Dressed in black as a symbol of resilience and resistance, Samaya and Samara walked not just for themselves, but for the countless others silenced by stigma or circumstance. Their presence was a declaration – young people are not the leaders of tomorrow; they are the change-makers of today. Samaya Chauhan : Championing Mental Health & Anti-Bullying Under her initiative, 'Project Pause', Samaya has taken a bold stance against bullying and mental health stigma. Her Anti-Bullying Ambassadors Program, now active in over 500 schools, empowers students to lead the charge by identifying, educating, and transforming bullying behaviour- while building peer-support networks that promote safety and empathy. Samaya has also pioneered Art Therapy Workshops, where young people use graffiti, painting, and other creative forms to process trauma, find their voice, and turn emotional pain into powerful expression. These sessions are now being conducted in both school and university campuses, transforming corridors into spaces of healing and hope. Samara Chauhan : Bridging the Education Divide Samara's focus lies in dismantling the barriers to equitable learning. Through her initiative, and webapp, the Learning with Equity and Access Program (LEAP), she is redefining accessibility by creating inclusive digital ecosystems that include learning games, discussion forums, community mentorship, and free study resources – reaching students across socio-economic lines. Partnering with ATL Sarthi, LEAP has already impacted more than 5,000 students and educators, becoming a scalable model for inclusive education in both urban and rural India . Beyond the Runway: Action That Resonates Walking beside children from NGO Pravan, whose lives echo the causes they champion, the sisters displayed a powerful act of solidarity – demonstrating that advocacy is most impactful when grounded in empathy and inclusion. Their digital movement is equally robust. Through online campaigns, youth forums, and a powerful pledge initiative that has garnered over 40,000 signatures, Samaya and Samara have touched more than 50,000 lives with their message of resilience, equity, and action. A Runway Reimagined What unfolded on the runway was far more than a fashion statement. It was a rallying cry – a declaration that youth voices must not only be heard but heeded. In Samaya and Samara Chauhan , India sees not just young leaders, but a vision of the future in motion – fearless, inclusive, and unstoppable. About Amity International School Amity International School, New Delhi , is one of the oldest schools in Delhi NCR, imparting value-based education with a global perspective. It's state-of-the-art facilities and experienced faculty create a nurturing ecosystem where students grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially, preparing them to meet the challenges of the future with confidence and resilience. Photo – View original content to download multimedia: Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PR Newswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
TWIN TRAILBLAZERS SAMAYA AND SAMARA CHAUHAN WALK THE RAMP FOR MENTAL HEALTH & EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY AT DELHI TIMES FASHION WEEK 2025
NEW DELHI, 29 May 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In a stirring moment that fused fashion with fierce purpose, 16-year-old changemakers Samaya and Samara Chauhan, students of Amity International School, took center stage at Delhi Times Fashion Week 2025 – not for glamour, but for a cause. Walking the runway in solidarity with thousands of young voices, the twin sisters used fashion as their platform to spotlight urgent issues: cyberbullying, mental health awareness, and educational inequality. The sisters are the co-founders of the Policy and Leadership Action Network for Youth (PLAN Y), a youth-led movement that empowers young people to shape policy, advocate for inclusive education, and destigmatize mental health through meaningful, action-oriented change. Dressed in black as a symbol of resilience and resistance, Samaya and Samara walked not just for themselves, but for the countless others silenced by stigma or circumstance. Their presence was a declaration – young people are not the leaders of tomorrow; they are the change-makers of today. Samaya Chauhan: Championing Mental Health & Anti-Bullying Under her initiative, "Project Pause", Samaya has taken a bold stance against bullying and mental health stigma. Her Anti-Bullying Ambassadors Program, now active in over 500 schools, empowers students to lead the charge by identifying, educating, and transforming bullying behaviour- while building peer-support networks that promote safety and empathy. Samaya has also pioneered Art Therapy Workshops, where young people use graffiti, painting, and other creative forms to process trauma, find their voice, and turn emotional pain into powerful expression. These sessions are now being conducted in both school and university campuses, transforming corridors into spaces of healing and hope. Samara Chauhan: Bridging the Education Divide Samara's focus lies in dismantling the barriers to equitable learning. Through her initiative, and webapp, the Learning with Equity and Access Program (LEAP), she is redefining accessibility by creating inclusive digital ecosystems that include learning games, discussion forums, community mentorship, and free study resources – reaching students across socio-economic lines. Partnering with ATL Sarthi, LEAP has already impacted more than 5,000 students and educators, becoming a scalable model for inclusive education in both urban and rural India. Beyond the Runway: Action That Resonates Walking beside children from NGO Pravan, whose lives echo the causes they champion, the sisters displayed a powerful act of solidarity – demonstrating that advocacy is most impactful when grounded in empathy and inclusion. Their digital movement is equally robust. Through online campaigns, youth forums, and a powerful pledge initiative that has garnered over 40,000 signatures, Samaya and Samara have touched more than 50,000 lives with their message of resilience, equity, and action. A Runway Reimagined What unfolded on the runway was far more than a fashion statement. It was a rallying cry – a declaration that youth voices must not only be heard but heeded. In Samaya and Samara Chauhan, India sees not just young leaders, but a vision of the future in motion – fearless, inclusive, and unstoppable. About Amity International School Amity International School, New Delhi, is one of the oldest schools in Delhi NCR, imparting value-based education with a global perspective. It's state-of-the-art facilities and experienced faculty create a nurturing ecosystem where students grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially, preparing them to meet the challenges of the future with confidence and resilience. Photo - View original content to download multimedia:
CBC
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Q&A: How this Guelph author's research on World War II led to writing her 2nd novel
Social Sharing When aspiring writer Samara moved with her boyfriend J. to the little town of Upton Bay to write a story, she wasn't expecting to discover that behind the town's charming facade is a dark history. That's the premise of Guelph author Karen Smythe's new book A Town With No Noise. The novel will have its official launch next month. Smythe joined CBC K-W's The Morning Edition g uest host Josette Lafleur to talk about her inspiration and her writing process. Audio of this interview can be found at the bottom of this story. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Josette Lafleur: Tell us a little bit more about A Town With No Noise and what readers can expect. Karen Smythe: Well, the book is about two fictional small towns actually, and it's told in two parts. The first part of the book focuses on Upton Bay, which is… a southern Ontario pretty town that is very attractive to tourists. Part two is actually set back in World War II in Norway. But the link is the narrator, whose name is Sam. She's an aspiring writer. She's on assignment in Upton Bay. She's to write an article about the town. The novel opens with Sam traveling to Upton Bay with her boyfriend. His name is J. and they stay with J.'s grandfather, who's a German immigrant. And while there, she does uncover some secrets about the town, including its treatment of migrant workers, but also about J.'s family and its past in Nazi Germany. Then the novel becomes focused on Sam's investigation of her own family's past in occupied Norway. She becomes much more interested in researching and writing about what happened in Norway under the German occupation. So there are lots of surprises in that part of the book also. Lafleur: So what inspired you to write this book? Smythe: Well, I started out writing the book about a town like Upton Bay. There were so many stories that I wanted to tell about the people who lived there and the changes that the town had undergone, from becoming an agricultural area gradually transitioning into kind of a winery destination and a tourism hotspot. But as I was writing and developing characters, the one character who kind of took over for me in terms of the story line was J.'s grandfather, Otto, who had immigrated just after WW II to Canada. And the stories that I was uncovering as I was thinking about and researching, that aspect of that character kind of turned into more of a wide research into WW II. My narrator, Sam, had a Norwegian family background, so the research took off from there, and that's how the book kind of evolved and became what it is. Lafleur: What else did you learn during your research? Because you do combine fiction and nonfiction in this novel. Smythe: So the novel is kind of a hybrid, especially in part two of fact and fiction. When I was researching about the Norwegian experience under German occupation, I discovered a lot of things that I hadn't known. I do have a family background based in Norway. My grandparents on my mother's side immigrated to Canada from Norway, and I hadn't heard about any of the things that I discovered about the war, Norway, and what it was like for not only my family and Norwegians in general but also that the Jewish population in Norway. So it was kind of surprising and shocking to me to learn about how the Holocaust took place in Norway, as well as in other countries in Europe during the war. Lafleur: So Sam almost sounds like you. Smythe: She is – and she isn't. She's a young woman and she is aspiring to be a writer, but she's not a fiction writer. She's more of an investigator, and so she's more interested in writing about history and writing about social issues and things like that. In the book, she changes the course of her future by shifting her career as well. She doesn't become me by any means. Lafleur: The Norwegian connection as well. It does sound like there's a little bit of inspiration there. Smythe: Yeah, although the stories about Norway are completely imagined. None of my family experience is what is experienced by the characters in my novel. But certainly a lot of the research I did uncovered a lot of stories that did happen to people exactly the way they happen in the novel, but they're fictionalized. Lafleur: So Karen, this is your second full length novel. You are usually prone to writing short stories, and they're included in a compilation of short stories called Stubborn Bones. What's your process when you're preparing a short story opposed to a longer novel? Smythe: That's a great question. When I'm writing short stories, which I haven't done for many years, I have been focusing on the novel, but when I'm writing short stories, I'm very alert to details. And as I'm writing stories, I'm always making notes about very specific images, sounds, and details. When you're writing a novel, those things are important and do come into the writing process for sure, but the scope is so much larger. So in my process for writing a novel, I also have notes and keep track of all kinds of thoughts and ideas and images, but also map out a story line and the characters. I put a big white sheet on the wall with markers, and make maps kind of the shape of the novel and how the characters are interconnected. So that's, I guess that would be a general way of describing the difference. The short stories are much more narrow and focused versus the timelines that happen in the novels. Lafleur: So what do you hope readers take away when they pick up A Town With No Noise? Smythe: I think I want them to realize that how we think about the past and remember the past is not always what you think and that it's really important to understand how history is written and remembered. So the novel is not only about these characters and these towns and these stories, but it's about how history is written and how history and memory get passed down through the generations. Lafleur: So what's next for you, Karen? Are you sticking with longform or are you doing more short stories? Smythe: I'm kind of doing a little bit of both. I have some ideas percolating for short stories, but I also have another novel that I'm polishing off and some ideas for yet another one after that. So lots of stuff going on, not exactly sure which one I'm going to tackle first.
Saba Yemen
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Burns Injuries During Settler Attack on Bruqin, Salfit
Occupied Quds - (Saba): Several Palestinian citizens sustained burns during the repelling of a settler attack last night on the town of Bruqin, west of Salfit, in the northern occupied West Bank. Settlers set fire to homes and vehicles belonging to citizens. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that its crews treated eight people suffering from burns as a result of settlers setting fire to homes in Bruqin and provided them with medical treatment on the spot. Local sources reported to the Palestinian News Agency that a large group of settlers attacked the "Al-Baqan" area on the outskirts of Bruqin, under the protection of Israeli enemy forces. They set fire to five homes and five vehicles belonging to the town's residents, and threw stones at the homes. Appeals were made over mosque loudspeakers to confront the settlers, help extinguish the fires, and rescue the residents of the targeted homes. Israeli forces withdrew from Bruqin on Thursday afternoon, following a nine-day assault during which they executed Nael Samara, seized his body, arrested others, and left extensive damage to the homes they raided. Measurements of Samara's home were also taken in preparation for its demolition. The settlers' attack followed a renewed incursion into the town in the evening, closing off some internal streets, raiding and searching several homes, and arresting the child Ayman Omar Sand. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print
