Orientation Program for First year students

Orientation Program for First year students

On

20-21, July, 2018

Organised by

Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC)

St.Philomena’s college (Autonomous)

Orientation Program For First year UG students

St Philomena’s college had organized an orientation program for the I degree (UG) students, in the indoor stadium for two days from July 20- 21,2018.

The stage saw the presence of dignitaries viz. Rev. Dr. Bernard Prakash Barnis, rector/ Manager , Rev Fr Maria Sunil Xavier, vice – rector , Dr. Ruth Shantha Kumari, Principal, Dr. Alphonsus D’souza, controller of examinations, Prof. Othbert Pinto, Director, P.G block, Rev. Fr. Rony Ravi Kumar, Asst Director, P.G block, MR. Ronald Prakash Cutinha, IQAC coordinator and Rev Fr Anthony Raj, warden of the Boys’ hostel.

The session began with prayer service and lighting of the lamp by students and the dignitaries present.

Session:1 Motivational Talk

In the first session Prof. Jose V.K, Former Principal, Teresian college, Mysuru spoke about ‘ Determinism and possibilism’ . He started the session with a quote which read,

“ Education does not  mean teaching people what they do not know.

It means teaching them to behave as they do not behave .” – John Ruskin

He said that we live in ‘knowledge work world’, where knowledge is very important to make you effective. We must integrate whatever we learn into our life. He said that- to know and not to do, is really not to know, to learn and not to do, is really not to learn and to understand and not doing it, is really not understood.

He also said that there are two roads in life. They are the road of  ‘Greatness ‘ the road less travelled and that of  ‘mediocrity’ travelled by many. It is left to us to select the road we travel in our life.

Continuing his talk on motivation , he said ‘Survival is the first motivation to live’, where as love motivates relationship , learning motivates gowth and development and leaving a legacy motivates  contributions to life. He conveyed the message that everyone should understand ‘ Life is short’ and ‘Nothing is imposible’.

He concluded the session with a quote which said ,

“ Few of us can do great things,

But all of us can do small things with great love” – Mother Teresa.

Session 2: Communication Skills

In the second session Prof.A.John Siluvai, HOD, P G dept of English, St.Philomena’s college Mysuru, spoke about ‘The necessity of proper communication skills’. He conveyed the message in a lively and humorous way.

During his talk he differentiated the body language of people which differs from country to country very humorously. He spoke about non-verbal communication which includes pitch, speed, tone, and volume of voice, gestures and facial expressions, eye movements and appearance. Regarding verbal communication, use of words to express yourself, he gave an example saying “NO” in various facial expressions and gestures comically. Following that he engaged an interaction session with students on correction of sentences, in which students actively participated.

Session 3: About the College

Dr.Alphonsus Dsouza, controller of examinations , gave the students a clear understanding of the present examination pattern of the college. He spoke about the choice based credit system (CBCS) which is extended for the (UG) courses. He explained semesterwise scheme of examination for all the streams, & The UGC recommended 10-point grading system. As per the university guidelines and also court directives, students who do not attend 75% of the total classes held, cannot appear for the end semester exams he said. He cautioned the students that there shall be no provision for improvement of IA marks scored once

Mr. Ronald Prakash Cutinna, the librarian and IQAC coordinator spoke about the various facilities available in the college and advised them to make the best use.

Prof.Anand, HOD, Dept. of Political science, motivated the students to take part in various extra-curricular activities conducted by the cultural committee throughout the year. He conducted a small  activity to make students realize ‘we are good imitators; but we are not good initiators’, and motivated them to participate in all events.

Day 2

Session: 4 Information Sources- Print and Online

The session was handled by Dr.C.P. Ramasesh, Retd. Librarian, University of Mysuru. During his talk he gave the complete details of the information sources available for students both in print and online.

He explained various types of books available for reference to studentsand taught the students ‘How to read a book’. Moving on to online sources he explained about number of websites specially meant for students’ guidance. DOAJ- Directory of Open Access Journals, gives 11000 e-journals for students and Amazon gives 50% offer on their books he specified. In the following session of the day, career guidance seminar was arranged for all the three streams.

Science Stream

Prof. Cletus D’souza, Retd. Professor, Dept of Biochemistry, University of Mysuru  spoke about the importance of making a right choice as to which way to go after completing the course through a series of meaningfully chosen comic slides. He said to find a job of your interest, not a job which pays you high salary but you are not interested. Primary goal of life must be ‘Happiness’ not ‘Money’, he specified.

Money is not equal to success, when you are successful money automatically comes to you. Hence exploring your interests is the best way to choose a perfect job. He spoke about ‘Aptitude’ and ‘Attitude’- the two little things that make a big difference.

Your career planning should be started now! Don’t postpone the decision, he stressed. He also gave a caution saying-many of the jobs that are today will not be after ten years, there will be new things/jobs in this digital world, which no college teaches you but its of your own interest of exploring things and finding a job of your interest. He emphasized that there is ‘No short cut to success’and urged the students to realize the significance of hard work.He also gave a ‘pencil parable’ example which was applied to a student life and said Excel in whatever career you choose.

Commerce stream

The session was handled by Dr. Parashiva Murthy, National level trainer and facilitator, Govt. First Grade college, T. Narasipura. He said 92% of engineers are unemployed. Life is not easy after 5 years, he cautioned the students and added that every week 5 students aged above 25, come to him, unemployed and depressed. He motivated the students to take risk in life and to be self confident. Dr. Parashiva Murthy urged the students to ensure that their stay in St.Philomena’s will be a turning point in life. He also quoted that ‘You are worth more than diamonds, have dreams in your life, remember first impression is the best impression, but the last is the everlasting one .

 Arts stream

The session was headed by Dr.Prithvi Datta, faculty of KSOU, Mysore, a man of letters, an academic giant and an intellect.

Prof.Prithvi Datta started his talk by congratulating all the students for furnishing their schooling and entering into the portals of a degree college where next three years are got to be exciting.

He stressed on three things. First, the timeor era in which we live, second, what shoud be the education for students ,what are the strengths and limitations of learning that we are getting inside the classroom over the next three years and thirdly a little bit about what are the other kinds of prospects that exist. He also spoke about human species, DNA and increasing rate of life span. He sressed about the ways in which subjects like Political Science and Public Administration help us!

After streamwise interaction, all the students assembled in the indoor stadium for a concluding session. Some of the students gave suggestions and a feedback about the whole programme. Dr.Ruth Shantha Kumari proposed the vote of thanks. Rev.Dr.Bernard Prakash Barnis, Rector/Manager; Rev.Fr.Maria Sunil Xavier, Vice Rector; Dr.Ruth Shantha Kumari Principal, Prof.Sanjay Nair, Vice Principal;  Dr.Alphonsus D’souza, Controller of Examinations; Prof.Othbert Pinto, Director, PG block; Rev.Fr.Rony Ravikumar, Asst Director, PG block; Mr.Ronald Prakash Cutinha, IQAC co- ordinator; Deans of Science, Commerce, Arts and languages; Prof.Anand ,HOD of Political Science; all the members of  faculty and first year UG students were present in the orientation programme.