Meena

Meena joined the academy as a student in the year 2015. A camp, exclusively for girls, was hosted in the academy, which was open for all. With some encouragement from her mother and the sheer curiosity to try something new, Meena attended the camp hosted in the academy and eventually joined the academy as a student. Meena readily took to the academy, like fish takes to water and went on to become the caretaker of the academy, too. The girls are fond of her and call her ‘Meena Di’, connoting her as their elder sister. Meena helps the girls, teaches them, takes attendance and makes tea and snacks for the guests.

Meena is a resident of Johri village. She was 17 years old when she first came to the academy. Meena excelled in shooting to the extent that she even went on to the national level. In the year 2017 she started with her first job. Post that, she took some training and got inculcated in the academy after that. Meena says that the proportion of girls to boys has gone up since 2015. In fact, when she had joined in 2015, the proportion of girls and boys was almost the same. The academy has the only government affiliated shooting range in the entire district. Therefore, a lot of students keep coming in from across the village. Some come in the morning and some come after school in the afternoon. The academy is open to people from all social and economic backgrounds. The academy helps the students from humble backgrounds by waving their tuition fee.

The academy has proved to be a boon for Meena. She had to leave her studies but post coming to the academy, her life has found a new motive. Neetu Singh, who was one of the first few people to join the academy has gone on to win accolades for the academy and now works as a coach. Neetu has been a guide to Meena since the time she joined the academy. Meena says that she has experienced a sense of freedom and control of her life, ever since she joined the academy. Even though, she was not supported by her family entirely, her mother always stood by her side. Her admission fee was waived as a show of support to her from the academy. The high point of her stay in the academy was when Meena went to work for the first time. “It felt like I was doing something productive and good with my life”, say a beaming Meena.