Geeks in Suits Podcast

“Far and away, the greatest threat to the ocean, and thus to ourselves, is ignorance. But we can do something about that.” – Sylvia Earle

Alexia Pasteels at Courtown Seal Rescue Centre

The Geeks in Suits podcast (on Spotify), the initiative took a step forward to investigate the pernicious effects of climate change on our oceans and the marine species. Ms. Alexia Pasteels from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, coordinated in releasing the third episode ‘How the ocean is in danger’ on August 28^th 2021. Ms. Pasteels is an active volunteer of the Swiss Cetacean Society, offering assistance in a project to save dolphins and seals in the Ionian Sea and Archelon- the sea turtle protection society of Greece. This episode focused on the ill effects of overfishing, impact of climate change on oceans and also the threats caused by us humans on sea turtles along with several precautionary measures to be taken to save our oceans.

‘Save the Seals’, the fourth episode of Geeks in Suits starring Ms. Melanie Croce, the executive director of Seal Rescue, Ireland was invited as the guest speaker. This was published on September 8th. Decline in the number of seals in oceans is a major concern as they are one of the keystone species in the marine ecosystem.  The episode discussed the consequences on the ecosystem that arise owing to the decline in their numbers. The speaker’s dedication on working and rescuing seals was depicted in the episode as she shared some of her personal experiences.

-Anees Ali, II PCMB E

-Kushal Jayakumar, II PCMB E

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ANDROID APP DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

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The Tech Club of Christ Junior College organized an online workshop on Android App Development from 1st to 3rd September with the participation of 20 students. This event was conducted in collaboration with Skyfi Labs on Microsoft teams. On the first day of the event, the students were taught the basic foundation of designing apps through blocks. Students got a hands-on experience of app development by working on four projects – a text to speech app, a voice to text app, a speech to text app with Bluetooth, and an app to send SMS. With the students excited and familiar with the norms of designing, they moved on to day two of the event which comprised of two projects, “Location finder app” and “Shown on the app”. At the end of day two, the students were given the assignment to design an app using the logic that they had learned. The last day of the event involved a complex level of designing to be incorporated for the projects – “SOS and “Drawing app”. The students were told to develop an app with a single button that would be used for sending a message and location to a preset phone number. Overall, it was an enriching experience for all the participants where they explored vast areas of designing an app.

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Sanjana Iyengar

2 PCMC H

Sanskrit Quiz

Prerana, the language association, organized a Sanskrit quiz competition on the 23rd and 24th of August 2021. The competition conducted on Microsoft teams consisted of two rounds, with each round curated specifically to test the students on their familiarity and fluency in the language. The preliminary round held on the 23rd at 2:00 pm started with cordial greetings from Akash M of 2 CAMS J. Anaya Santhosh of 2 CAMS J briefed the participants on the format of the event. With the floor being set for the event to start, the participants attempted a wide range of questions on the Quizzing platform Kahoot. On the 24th, the Guest Nidhi R, a former student of Christ Junior College, inaugurated the 2nd round of the competition. It began with the same amount of enthusiasm as the day before! In this round, the participants were given topics to write essays with a time limit. The participants penned out compelling essays expressing their command of the language. As the event came to end, the results were announced with Mahati Hampioli of 2 HEPP N securing first place, followed by Vamsi Krishna of II CAMS K in second place. The Sanskrit quiz served as the perfect opportunity for the students to analyze their proficiency in the language as their grammar, writing, and creativity were put to test!

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– Reena Gretel

2 PCMB A

Release of ‘Comlette’

The Department of Commerce at Christ Junior College, released the first volume of its Annual Newsletter- Comlette (VOL 1– 2021-22)- for the academic year 2021-22 on 3rd September 2021. The teacher coordinator from the Department was Ms. Ann Rose E, Faculty in Commerce.  With the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals being the theme, Comlette imbibed the same with the SDGs and the business realm as ‘SDGs and Commerce’. The newsletter invited articles in diverse areas from various sections of the Commerce stream – ranging from Coca-Cola’s water saving strategy to the Egypt-Libyan Oil Trade Cooperation and the source of the metal of the Tokyo Olympic medals’!  An article authored by Mrs. Sahana Chatterjee, Faculty, Department of Commerce, about investments and handling one’s finances has also been included. To add a spot of ideas and colour, for the first time ever, an infographics page has been included to give voice to numbers related to the SDGs. A coloured review page about the events of the Commerce Association- Colossus- has also been included.

-Judith Anngelina

II CAMS K

Chat Over Coffee

On the 27th of August, the team of Centre for Social Action conducted an exclusive interactive session for the volunteers of the club on Microsoft teams. The event scheduled for 60 minutes was entertaining with a multitude of exciting games and interactions planned. The program commenced with Shrieya Desai of II PCMC I, the student coordinator, welcoming the volunteers on board. This was followed by the introduction of all the core committee members along with a briefing about their roles in the committee. Along the way, the participants were also introduced to the goals, motto, objectives of CSA and presented the various events planned for the year 2021-22. Ms. Brizlyn Tanya, the teacher coordinator of CSA, took this opportunity to inaugurate the survey planned in sync with one of the 17 sustainable development goals – Quality Education. The survey is a stepping stone for the teaching program conducted by CSA for the underprivileged children of our society, which is expected to go on floors soon! As the session was coming to an end, the newsletter of the year 2020-21 was presented to give the volunteers an idea of how they can contribute to the upcoming events and sure piqued the interest of the volunteers to partake in the future events planned! The vote of thanks delivered by Sanjana of II CAMS J, The media head, brought this well-planned and interactive session to an end. 

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Shrieya Desai

2 PCMC I

Insignia

Prakruthi– The Eco Club of Christ Junior College, hosted its first competition for the academic year 2021-22 titled Insignia. The e-logo designing competition held on 27th August 2021 at 1.45pm was focused on bringing out the creativity, imagination and technical skills of the participants. The event was conducted on Microsoft Teams platform where the participants were given an opportunity to use any application to design their logos on any one of the three of the SDG’s (Sustainable Development Goals) 2030, namely – ‘Climate Change’, ‘Life on Land’ and ‘Life Below Water’, within the span of an hour. The event received a tremendous response from the participants and the winning logo was showcased on Prakruthi’s Official Instagram page. The participants were judged on the originality of their work, relevance to the topic and creativity.

The winners of Insignia were:

First place – Allen Tom, II PCME G, 20P0903

Second place: Snigdha Suryanarayan, II PCMC I, 20P1210

Third place: R.V Shri Abhirami, II PCMB A, 20P0027

-Vibha Karen D’Souza, II PCMB A, 20P0087

Orientation on Overseas Education

The Department of English at Christ Junior College, organized a two-days Orientation session on Overseas Education for the students of Christ Junior College and IBDP- Christ Junior College. The programme was held on Microsoft Teams platform from 2.30 – 3.30 pm on 13th August 2021 and 11.30 to 12.45pm on 14th August 2021. The objective of this programme was to acquaint students with the know-how and admission procedures of higher education in universities abroad. Sr. Nirmala H S, Career Counsellor, IBDP- Christ Junior College was the key speaker of the session. Day one witnessed Ms. Stephanie Sieggreen and Mr. Vir S Anand taking the stage as the invitees. Ms. Sieggreen is the Director, International Recruitment, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Mr. Anand is the Designation – Director – University of St Andrews Global Office India, Institution – University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK. The invitees discussed systems of higher education in the United States of America and the United Kingdom respectively. On the second day, Ms. Anjali Seth, International Admissions Advisor, South Asia at Huron University in London-Ontario, Canada and Mr. Gurpreet Singh, University of Newcastle’s engagement in South Asia led the discussion about the mode of higher education in the countries of Canada and Australia. The common areas of discussion on the two days included the process of applying to these universities; the highly ranked academia in these countries along with the criteria to be met by students in order to get admitted. Additional points on the ambience of learning in these universities and the cost of living were also highlighted for the benefit of students.

Madhura Prakash

II PPES O

Geeks in Suits Podcast

“The exigency of this situation must not lead us to despair, rather it should propel us into action.”- Mary Robinson.

The world of today is facing a looming threat where people are existing with the consequences of decades of greenhouse gas emissions. Climate crisis requires a solution – a failure to act urgently now can give rise to deleterious effects. As the earth thrives in an ecosystem, where everything is connected, changes in one area can influence changes in all its spheres. To spread awareness about climate change and the precautionary measures that ought to be taken in order to prevent it, an educational podcast titled ‘Geeks in Suits’, has been hosted on Spotify, as an initiative by Prakruthi- the Eco Club of Christ Junior College. Mr. Anees Ali and Mr. Kushal Jayakumar of II PCMB E were the hosts for the first two episodes of the same. Ms. Mary Bermingham, Co-Founder of Burren Nature Sanctuary, Ireland, and host of the award-winning podcast, Nature Magic was the guest speaker for the first episode. The Biodiversity Crisis due to climate change was the focus area of the first episode.  In the second episode, the production of fast food, being one of the major contributors to climate change, and its adverse effects, along with a few solutions to combat this was discussed.

Anees Ali II PCMB E

Kushal Jayakumar II PCMB E

Poets Meet 2021

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.”- Robert Frost.

Pierian Spring – the English literary club, has always come up with unique events to bring out the hidden talents in the Christites. Poets Meet 2021 was yet another successful event which provided an opportunity to the students to express their thoughts through poems. The theme of this event was ‘Prejudice’, on which the students were asked to write poems.

The Poets meet was conducted on 21^st August 2021 at 12 p.m., with 4 poets and 7 spectators on Microsoft Teams. The poems were displayed on the screen and read out by the respective poets. The other participants were then asked to interpret the poem and express their ideas on it. This was followed by a segment where the poets expressed their intentions and thoughts behind their poems. The programme was moderated by the club coordinator Aarya Atul Gohad who explained the theme in different perspectives. She elaborated on the two types of prejudice- elementary and social. The participants were explained on how the elementary prejudice is not socially wrong. This fruitful discussion concluded with the thought- ‘Prejudiced against Prejudice’, with which, the participants were motivated to go against social prejudice.

The club received feedback from the attendees through Google form where they expressed their experience in the discussion. It was a wonderful experience for the participants as well as the organising committee. The event succeeded in fulfilling its objective of bringing out the creativity of the students and sowing the seed of social responsibility in them.

– Sunidhi S. Hegde

II HEPP N

Book Review- 4

THE ALCHEMIST

By Paulo Coelho

Alchemy refers to an ancient tradition where people were in search of the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher’s Stone. Alchemists were the people who upheld this tradition and partook in this quest to transform substances to something better. There are theories which suggest that the Elixir of Life was the ultimate medicine which had the capability of rejuvenating health and life, whereas its other half, i.e., the Philosopher’s Stone had the ability to convert any material into gold. They were people of high integrity, value, and self-discipline. ‘THE ALCHEMIST’ by Brazilian Author Paulo Coelho is an elegant book which describes the journey of the young alchemist, Santiago, and gives the quest a contemporary spiritual touch.

This book actually depicts two journeys simultaneously – internal and external. Externally, he starts a journey and returns to a location where he had started off. Internally, he finds himself. He overcomes many desires and pangs to reach his ultimate point to find the treasure which he had most wished for. On his journey he encounters a variety of people, a witch, a merchant, a king, desert people, a thief, the tribals, an aspiring alchemist and many others. 

This book is a short read which can be completed within three sittings. The vocabulary and comprehension requirements to read this book is not much, any average reader can read it. It is a valuable gem among other books in my bookshelf. It is absolutely recommended for anyone from a beginner to an experienced reader, across various phases of life. 

Cdt. Maneesh Arun Kumar

II PCMB E