Alumni/ae rocks evening at reunion

They may have probably run around trees together, had common tea breaks, practiced dance steps, or perhaps, discussed about their future with each other at some point when they were on the campus in their yesteryears.

Such and many more nostalgic moments were recreated at St Joseph’s College on Sunday when over 300 old students gathered for the annual reunion.

Organised and hosted by the Alumni Association of the College, indeed the alumni/ae rocked the evening. Young, old, women, some with their family and kids, came together to feel the bond of being a proud Josephite and none could resist the temptation of shaking a leg or two for a dance finale that complimented the whole day’s events.

At the inauguration, Principal Fr Ambrose Pinto said, “A College is known by its strong alumni. St Joseph’s is fortunate to have one. The alumni association of the College has done so much for the College and has proved that together we can really do much.”

The President of the Association, Mr Lakshminaryan said that the College was really the source behind all the success that individual students who passed out from here had achieved. “We are here today with all our credentials because of our alma mater,” he opined.

Later on it was fun all the way. Groups of batches were seen huddling together and cherishing their glorious moments in the College. Some of them were meeting each other after many years. The participants ranged from the batches as old as 1962 to those who passed out just recently.

It was a perfect time for the reunion of old students. “For the first time I attended the alumni function. This was the place for young and old students to mingle freely,” said Mathew Cruz who graduated from 1970 batch.

“It is very well organised and this association should become more popular. More and more students should participate in this reunion,” added Mathew Cruz.

“I had a great evening today. I love participating in music and dance. After a long time I got chance to dance with my old buddies. Great fun even at my age of 63 years of life,” said, Prakash Murthy from 1970 batch.

It was a grand evening not only for the old ones but for passed out from the College just recently as well. “I was very happy to attend this function and I enjoyed the evening dance which was indeed unique with young and old students dancing without hesitation,” said, Priya who graduated in 2008.

“It was one of the best days of my life. It was absolutely lovely. More than the studies, I cannot forget the enjoyment I had in this College, with my teachers and my lovely friends. Now I met them after a long time,” said, Sandeep S who finished his graduation in 2007.

Chilled beer, multi-course lavish spread of vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals, funny games and, of course, foot-tapping music all added to the mood of the day.

- Raghunath S.

Exam ‘fever’ sets in

Exam season is fast approaching, so is the anxiousness among students. Incessant trips to the library, frequent visits to the photocopy place, several cups of caffeine have become a part of every student’s routine these days. Many are anxious whether they would be able to live up to the expectations of their peers, parents and teachers.

Bincy Mathew, a student of II MSW, said, “It is a hectic and stressful time of the year. Continuous assessment makes it difficult for me to prepare for my exams.”

pic sourse: The Hindu

Preetham, a student of I MSW, said, “Since the semester has been advanced, the time to prepare for the exam has decreased. However, I am looking forward for the semester holidays.”

Nikhil, a student from III IES, said, “I've somehow managed to scrape through all my previous semesters with a pretty decent score. But this semester, it’s like a big nightmare to me.”

- Steffi Xavier, I MS Com

The autonomy effect

St Joseph's College is completing five years since it received autonomy. How has the autonomous status helped the institution? What changes has it brought about? This video will give an idea.

A video by Vito, Terali and Shonali of II M S Communication.

UGC Committee on Autonomy Status inspects College

The University Grants Commission (UGC) appointed Autonomy Status Committee came on a day’s visit to St Josephs College (SJC) on Monday as part of the renewal of Autonomous status to the College. The expert committee consisted of Prof Afshar Alam, Chairman, Dr Suhas Pednekar and Dr Vaishali Pradhan, members, Prof B.C. Prabhakar, University nominee member and Dr K.P.Singh, member secretary of UGC. The assessment began with a seminar during which Fr Ambrose Pinto, Principal of SJC, along with the heads of various departments and staff officials took part.

“The seminar featured a documentary about the College. Later, there were discussions and clarifications about examinations, academic syllabus, libraries, staff remuneration, laboratories and admission procedures. This assessment is for the renewal of Autonomy to the College and we have done our best to showcase the works of our College,” Said, Dr Latha Radhakrishnan, Head of Economics Department.

The expert committee visited all the departments to assess and evaluate their working. They observed the PG and the Research centre, especially Micro Biology, Mass Communication and Chemistry labs, as well.

“This visit by the UGC officials is an important milestone for the College. The assessment will go on for the day, where the expert committee will evaluate and assess our works. There were suggestions given by the officials to the College and we will work on it shortly,” said, Dr Mohan Das, Department of Chemistry, who co-ordinated the entire exercise.A short cultural programme was also held to show case multi-culturalism of the College.

“The inspection is going on all well as of now, We are preparing for the interaction with the expert committee, where we will exhibit the works produced by our students under our guidance,” said, Dr Subhashini, Lecturer, Department of Economics.

A member of the expert committee said, “Overall the experience at St Joseph’s was satisfactory.”

- Priyanka A and Navami, I M S Com

“Technology must help improve quality of life”

“All our technology should be aimed at improving the quality of life. The purpose of science is to include those who are excluded from development,” said Fr Ambrose Pinto, Principal of St Joseph’s College (SJC).

He was speaking during the inauguration of the Academy lecture workshop conducted by the Botany Department here on Friday. The topic of the seminar was the ‘Recent molecular biological trends in infectious diseases and cancer.’

Reflecting on importance of the workshop’s focus, Fr Pinto added, “Cancer research is the frontier area affecting human kind today.”

Students from 17 colleges across the city attended the event. Dr Betty Daniel, Organising Secretary of the event, said, “The purpose of the seminar is to expose our young minds to the recent developments in molecular biology. Students can use the information to innovate ideas and execute them in future research.”

The speakers at the event were renowned scientists and researchers Dr Ravi V from the Dept of Neurovirology, NIMHANS, Dr Sudhir Krishna, from the Dept of Cellular Organisation and Signaling, NCBS, Dr Ravi Kumar from Xcyton Diagnostics and Dr Annapoorni Rangarajan from the Dept of Molecular Reproduction, IISc.

“The comparison between the old research and the new findings was fascinating. The workshop was interactive and interesting. We were given questions to think about for the next day’s session, so we have more to look forward to,” said Graham Wungrampha, a student of III MCZ from SJC.

“The topic of discussion is what drew me to the workshop. It was a very enlightening event that shed light on the landmark developments in cancer research,” said Sophia P from T John College.

- Parinitha and Vigneshwaran I M S Com

SJC winners at ‘Exalted’ fest

The College won the rolling trophy for the fourth consecutive year at the ‘Exalted’ Gospel Fest on September 15. The event was hosted by Bishop Cottons Women’s Christian College.

Ten winning titles out of the 11 events were bagged by the college. Christ University was the runners up at the event.

Kiran Jeevan from the MSW Department of SJC was the chief guest of the event. In his address he said, “Such fests should be conducted by the churches in Bangalore; however, Christian colleges in the city have come forward to take up this initiative.”

All events were based on the theme, ‘Arise and Shine’. Sixteen colleges participated in the fest.

- Supriya, I MS Com

College wins prizes

SJC has won many prizes in the intercollegiate competitions hosted by M S Ramaiah College and St Johns College.

The students took active participation in most of the events.Andrew Kutty(IIIrd EPS) bagged I place in Quiz competition . G Shyam(III BCA) was recognized as the Best Instrumentalist in Western Music.

The College came first in Street Dance and Collage competition held at M S Ramaiah College.

Malemngauba was awarded Best Male Singer at St Johns College.

“We have the best students,we give the best training and we win,”said Fariyal Shaikh, the cultural committee co-ordinator.

- Navami I M S Com