Vaisnava Academy for Girls
The foremost goal of the Vaisnava Academy for Girls (VAG), Alachua, Florida, is to inspire young ladies between the ages of 12 and 18 to develop firm faith and love for Krishna and a bona-fide spiritual master. The philosophical and spiritual position of VAG is based on the books and teachings of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
We work to encourage each student to recognise and develop her unique abilities and to enthusiastically offer those abilities in devotional service to Lord Krishna. The program at the Vaisnava Academy for Girls is designed to facilitate this by training students to follow a schedule of regular sadhana, including rising early to worship the Lord, chanting japa, and regularly studying Srila Prabhupada's books.
We encourage our students to imbibe good qualities, such as respect for authority, humility, tolerance, control of the mind and senses, detachment, simplicity, honesty, cleanliness, obedience, chastity, patience, and freedom from the bodily concept of life.
The Vaisnava Academy for Girls aims to help students achieve a level of academic proficiency that will match or excel that offered by most Western educational institutions. The qualified student will be equipped with the necessary academic knowledge and skills to allow her to achieve whatever academic goals she may set for herself and at the same time remain fixed in the philosophy and practice of Krishna consciousness.
The programme of the Vaishnava Academy is divided into two 18-week semesters that are separated by a six week break.
Students regularly attend the morning programme at the New Raman Reti Temple. Academic classes run from 9:45 to 2:30, Monday through Friday. After lunch and ashram clean up there is a full program of activities including, but not limited to, swimming and other sports, sewing, computer, bharata natyam dance, mrdanga (drums), harmonium, art, cooking, pottery, and woodworking.
On Friday evenings all members of the Academy participate in hari nama and then spend an hour distributing Srila Prabhupada's books. Both yearly school schedules and daily programs are subject to periodic review and change to meet the needs of the school's constituency as well as the New Raman Reti community.