No matter how far an engineer may go in life, their journey remains attached to their time in college. In this spirit, the Alumni Association organised the much-awaited Alumni meet on 29 December 2017, held at the spacious, open, scenic terrace of the S.P.I.T. building, above the technology business incubator (SP-TBI). The evening saw former students from various batches sharing their experiences, journeys, and accomplishments, taking another dip in the ocean of mutual learning.
Around 7 PM, the alumni began to arrive. Friends met and caught up; greetings were exchanged with teachers and mentors. At 8 pm, Dr Prachi Gharpure, Principal, S.P.I.T., gave her speech. Beaming with pride, she spoke about the recently acquired autonomous status of the college and touched upon the various aspects that autonomy had changed. Stressing on the fact that it is the students, above everything else, that define the institute, she urged the alumni to stay in touch in whichever way they could.
This was followed by a speech by Mr Ayush Ahuja, the head of the Alumni association. Having been a resourceful member of the E-Cell and IEEE during his days in college, Mr Ahuja has ensured that the ties that bind him to his alma mater remain strong to this day. He requested the alumni gathered there to invest some of their time in working towards the betterment of institute, either as part of the Association or through initiatives of their own.
The oldest alumni present, Mr Devendra Vaja from the batch of 2002, was then called forward. Reminiscing about his days in S.P.I.T., Mr Devendra spoke about his engineering knowledge having moulded and impacted his 15-year long career. He encouraged entrepreneurship (a thought that Mr Vikrant Potnis, representing SP-TBI, later echoed in his short talk), and called upon everyone present to come up with their own startups, to indulge in work that gives not just monetary satisfaction, but overall contentment as well. A small gift ceremony followed by a banquet in the cool night brought the meet to close.
The team behind the organization of the meet comprised of Minakshi Kudulkar and Shashank Gupta (First Year I.T. students), Kedar Khedekar and Anushka Iyer (Third Year I.T. students), all student coordinators for the IR Committee, under the guidance of Mr. Vinod Sikka (The Training and Placement Officer, S.P.I.T.), Prof. Kaisar Katchi (The E-Cell coordinator for the IR Committee), and S.P.I.T.’s Prof. Narendra Bhagat (a member of the Alumni Association). The air was thick with nostalgia as the alumni returned to their alma mater which has shaped their lives, turning them into the professionals that they are today.
“It was a great initiative to get the alumni to come together and connect,” said Kritika Sabharwal, alumnus, batch of 2016. “It is indeed a pleasure to see how far the college has come.”
Report by Draco Malfoy