Mangaluru: NICO hosts ILA 2019 to mark World Earth Day

Mangaluru, Jan 8: The centenary year of St. Agnes College got off to a grand start on January 3, 2020 with a day of commemoration that involved staff, students, alumni and benefactors. The college is all set to celebrate its centenary with the community of Mangaluru on January 10, 2020 from 9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m with a daylong festival – Knowledge Factory. It will be held at the newly inaugurated air-conditioned auditorium with over 1000 attendees expected to be present. 

KNOWLEDGE FACTORY is the first of the five mega centenary programmes that St. Agnes College has envisaged.  The Promise Foundation and niiti Consulting – two organisations headquartered in the national capital under the mentorship of veteran journalist Madhavan Narayan are collaborating with the college to bring this event to Mangaluru for the first time.  A dozen icons will share the stage throughout the day and bring forth their thoughts and ideas enabling a culture of learning through fire-side chats and keynotes. 

The speakers include Lisa Ray, Indo-Canadian Actor and Author; Sunil Buch, Director, Live Nation; Dipannita Sharma, Actor and Supermodel; Kriti Tula, Co-Founder and Creative Director, Doodlage; Nandini Srikar, Singer and Composer; Prakash Belawadi, Movie and Theatre Actor,  Manasi Paresh Kumar, Senior Journalist; Swati Pande, Co-Founder and CEO, Arboreal; Anuradha Kedia Parekh, Co-Founder, The Better India; Arokiaswamy Velumani, Founder and Chairman, Thyrocare Technologies; Heena Sidhu, the former world  number 1 pistol shooter. The event anchor will be the celebrity news reader Rini Simon Khanna who has been anchoring the event since its first edition in 2017.

Gaurava Yadav, a well-known quiz master will conduct a quiz focussed on History.  Based on a written prelims that will take place at 8.15 am in the designated room, four teams of two members each will compete in the finals at 4.45 pm. The winning team will receive a prize of INR 30,000 and the runner up team will receive INR.20,000/-    

The event is put together by social entrepreneurs - Meena Vadiyanathan and Amith Prabhu (who is of Mangalorean origin). All who desire to attend the event and participate in the quiz may buy donor passes costing Rs 500/- per head which includes lunch.  Sale of donor passes will close on the 8th. The college cordially invites the community of Mangaluru to join hands with it in making this programme a great success. 

The Post Graduate Department of English, St. Agnes College (Autonomous) organized COSMOPOETICA – a Two-Day International Poets Conference, transcending the boundaries of language and bringing together scholars from English, Hindi and Kannada languages. The key-note speaker was Dr Hima Urmila Shetty and the Panel of Experts included Maggie Harris, a Commonwealth short stories award winning poet of Broadstairs, Kent; Dr Kathryn Hummel, a visiting professor at IIT Hyderabad; Prof Raj Rao, acclaimed poet and novelist, former HOD of English, Savithribai Phule University; Lata Chouhan from Bangalore; Vijay Tiwari from Ahmedabad; Dr. Nagaveni Manchi, an acclaimed Poet and Professor, Govt College, Carstreet and Ms. Chandrakala Nandavara, former Principal of Ganapati PU College.

Dr Sr Jeswina A.C., the Principal; Dr Sr Maria Roopa A.C. the Superior and Dr Sr Vinora A.C., graced the occasion.

Dr Geralyn Pinto, the Staff Convenor; Dr Malini Hebbar, the HOD and Ananya Sneha the student Convenor organised the Conference.

The highlight of the Conference was the Poetry Workshop, Slam Poetry Competition in three languages and paper presentations on various aspects of poetry.

Overall the conference drew together poets and academicians to discuss poetry as a genre and practice with ignited minds.

The Department of Business Administration organised a Webinar on Career Planning and Development for the Under Graduate and PUC students of various colleges on 23 May 2020. Sr Dr Venissa A.C, Principal, inaugurated the programme and conveyed her best wishes. Mr Abhilash K, Managing Director of Abhijnya Education Private Limited was the Resource speaker.

Mr Abhilash said that a student should assess themselves, evaluate their career skills, set career goals in order to implement and maximise their career plan. He listed out the various courses available after completion of PUC/Degree. He also said that the students need to create their own future, assess their strengths, build personality and explore various options available to build their own career. He gave a few tips on how to prepare for the various competitive exams and manage time.

The Webinar had 125 participants from various colleges who actively participated by asking their doubts on Career Planning. The programme was conducted on Google Meet. Dr Neethu Suraj, Assistant Professor of BBA welcomed the Resource speaker and the participants, Mr Elson Dsouza Assistant Professor of BBA delivered the vote of thanks and Mrs Sabina Dsouza HOD of BBA coordinated the programme.