E-Cell Panel Discussion 2018

After the first month of college, the freshers found themselves at the threshold of an ocean of opportunities. With so much to explore in college, many were unsure about the path they wish to follow.

Entrepreneurship Cell SPIT stepped in at the right time with their annual event, the Alumni Panel Discussion, on the 28th of August. The committee brought in four distinguished alumni to discuss their academic routes and the professional choices they made, imparting their knowledge to the first years. The event aimed to make the students familiar with the variety of options to follow post engineering. They would be guided on the steps to follow during their college, to set themselves up in pole position for their life in the professional world.   

The four revered alumni were : Sheryl Paul, currently pursuing MS in Computer Science at Oxford; Gunarjun Chawla: IT advisor and Risk Consultant in Cybersecurity at KPMG and Director at VPS Technologies; Dhaval Kunte: MBA Graduate from NMIMS and currently an MBA coach; Bhavin Kamdar: CEO at Embedos Systems (Start-up).                                      

 After a brief introductory session, the panelists talked about their journey in college and beyond. They then fielded questions from the audience and helped them with various tips. The students were encouraged to try out new things and build up their skill sets depending on what they wanted to pursue in life. The panelists, each from a unique domain, had differing yet valuable perspectives.

Dhaval Kunte emphasized on the fact that it is imperative to look for a path that one enjoys and finds interesting. He also shared his personal experience of pursuing an MBA that completely changed his outlook. Gunarjun Chawla’s advice to the students was to try one new thing every semester. This would help them explore their options while making their college experience fulfilling. Sheryl Paul stressed on having a healthy blend of academic and extracurricular pursuits. She explained that a strong GPA and a decent  extracurricular resume are equally important. Bhavin Kamdar said that we must not let go off any opportunities that come our way, as our chances to learn and explore reduce as we grow older.                                                                                                                                                         

The event concluded with Prof. Kaisar Katchi, E-Cell faculty co-ordinator for first year, presenting the panelists a thank you note and a memorabilia for sharing their knowledge and insight with the students.

“The event helped me get a clearer picture of the choices I have to make in the years to come and I’m really thankful for the opportunity E-Cell has given me ” , Kamal Raisinghani(one of the attendees) said.

Report by Aumkar Gadekar, Ruchi Gupte and Chinmay Bajpai.