Calcutta Boys’ School is an integral part of my life today. So much so, that a few still think that I am an alumnus of Calcutta Boys’ School. I wish I was that privileged when I was a child. However, I have been very close to this school from 2011 and today, I treat it as dearly as my own Alma Mater.
I was a part of their on line planning coordinating group. The way they planned and executed the entire event, is commendable. There were shortcomings, but to have pulled it off so well at the age of 15-17 deserves all the praise.
Kolkata Bloggers was invited to conduct a school level bloggers contest. And after the inclusion of The Times of India, the school decided to conduct an informal bloggers’ meet as well. I was invited to judge their photography contest and later asked to judge their coding event because their designated judge met an accident on his way.
I loved being a part of Concord and for many reasons. It is always a pleasure working with Jit Sengupta (TOI) and I know Sayan Bhattacharya (Concord representative) for the last 6 years. There was a lot of anticipation and excitement since Concord could not happen for the last few years. This time their war-cry was “Legacy never dies“. Death is far off, this would not even fade from one’s memory. Such is the legacy.
Interacting with students. [Photograph: TOI, 30 July 2015]
Blogging contest: We got around 23 entries. It was relatively easier choosing the top 5. But to have chosen the 1st, 2nd and 3rd was tough. The difference in scores of the person who came 3rd and the person who came 4th is zero. There was a tie. The blogger who came 5th scored 0.14 less. The most enthusiastic school who actively took part is DPS Megacity! La Martiniere for Girls stood first, followed by Delhi Public School Megacity and Calcutta Girls High School.
During September second week (tentative) we would conduct a Bloggers workshop in the American Center. 10 schools and 10 colleges would be invited. We are planning for a bloggers contest after the workshop. The best entries would get iPad mini. [PS: If you want your school / college to be invited, drop me a message.]
I never miss an opportunity to wear a tie. This is the new red one.
Photography contest: 2 hours of discussion and brainstorming with a very experienced Dr. Murthy. I loved every bit of the discussion with him. He is very experienced and very humble. I gave written feedback to each participant, writing about each photograph. Then called the top 4 schools inside the conference room to interview. Later called all schools in, give them the feedback sheet, respond to their questions and speaking about what went wrong with their photographs. Everyone, hopefully, was satisfied with the judgement. Calcutta Girls High School came first, followed by Calcutta Boys’ School and Calcutta International School.
This was the 3rd photography event I had judged after Rotaract Club of Behala and Presidency University’s fest.
I miss conducting meetups in schools/colleges. After November last year, I stopped accepting invitations. If you want me to conduct a meetup in your school/college, do let me know.
Coding contest: This is a bit too interesting. I met Mrs. Reena Dey. I’ve always known her as a very strict teacher. She is a very good person as well. Being strict with students is a part of the game and now I know why. I went through each code line by line. I had fun giving “0 (zero)” when exception handling was not done. And “-1 (minus one) when comment lines were not properly written or the instructions on screen had spelling errors. I was amazed by the amount of creativity there. The best of engineering students of WBUT needs to meet them and interact!
Calcutta Bys’ School came first, followed by St. Xaviers Collegiete School.
Interaction during the Bloggers meet. Photograph: Soupayan Dutta.
Informal bloggers meet: There was a series of miscommunication towards the start and the organisers had to reschedule it to the next day first slot. Things should have happened the way it was scheduled and I was at fault as well. But the rescheduled event was way better than what it might have been if conducted properly. 25+ students, terrific energy levels and an incredible interaction. I was joined by Mrs. Reena Dey (Computer Teacher) and Mr. Subhashish Chatterjee (Calcutta based Entrepreneur) in the discussion.
We talked about big data (yes, off the topic), Web 2.0 and how we are defining web 3.0, how to share on social media (the 8 seconds challenge), social media graphics and their aspect ratio, analytics (Alexa, similarweb, Facebook page) and a few other things. It was mentioned in today’s TOI Calcutta Times article.
The slide we used to aid the discussion:
I had a great time. I’m personally looking forward to more interactions with all the schools.