AASH Report 2018-19 I am pleased to present the report of activities undertaken by the Alumni Association of Sacred Heart College (AASH), as well as the different department alumni associations and chapters during the past one year. It has been an eventful year for the association in the past year. The Annual General Assembly of AASH was held on January 20, 2018. Heartian, Hon’ble Justice K. Abraham Mathew, permanent judge of the High Court of Kerala was the chief guest of the event. Prof. Dr. Thomas Thundat (B.Sc. Physics 1975-78), chosen as the “Heartian Alumnus of the Year 2018’, was honoured in the meeting. The event also marked the official launching of AASH Music Band –Hridayaragam Orchestra under the leadership of alumnus and noted playback singer, Shri Jolly Abraham. Hridayaragam Orchestra had its first public performance on March 15, 2018. Both alumni and faculty musicians sang melodious numbers and added glitter to the musical extravaganza. The orchestra was preceded by a grand reception to Hon’ble Justice Antony Dominic, our alumnus, who was sworn in as the chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala. Other Heartians currently serving the High Court of Kerala as judges including Justice Ramachandra Menon, Justice K. Abraham Mathew, Justice Jayashankaran Nambiar, Justice Anil Narendran and Shri. K. Mohandas, Member, Kerala State Human Rights Commissioner were also present on the occasion. Retiring teaching and non-teaching staff members of the college were felicitated in the meeting. Hridayaragam, in association with the Music Club of SH college organized two more music events in the year. One performance was in Govt. Old Age Home 1 Thevara on World Elder’s Day – Vaoyjana Dinam, October 1, 2018. The second performance was conducted as part of the College Platinum Jubilee Celebrations – Season 2 on January 16, 2018. Another remarkable milestone in the history of AASH is the formation of SHCNAF – Sacred Heart College NSS Alumni Fraternity, a platform for the networking of alumni who were NSS volunteers during their study in this college. Beginning as a whatsapp group towards the fag end of the Academic Year 2017-2018, it transformed into a vibrant philanthropic group within a short span of one month, with over 150 members from different walks of life, aged between 55 to 40 years, living in different parts of the World. Here is a report of the notable activities of the group during the past year World Environment Day 2018 - Official kick off of activities were started on the World Environment Day by planting a sapling of ‘Neermaathalam’ by Rev. Dr. Prasant Palackappillil, principal. This was one and first of the 75 saplings planned in the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of our College. All volunteers who assembled were provided with one sapling each as a souvenir. A Day at Snehabhavan – The volunteer visited the Don Bosco Home at Palluruthy the dame day and spent time with kids there in a very memorable way for both kids and volunteers. Flood Rescue and Relief Activities: SHCNAF actively participated in the rescue and relief operations during and after the 2018 Kerala Floods. The group was able to mobilize funds worth nearly 40 lakhs for relief and rescue activities. Some 2 other activities in connection with flood relief included ‘Stitching Dreams, Stitching Lives’ – an initiative for installing stitching machines & collecting books for children libraries, ‘Oru Kutty, Oru Paathram, Oru Kuttipaathram’– initiated in SH CMI Public School, Thevara for motivating Plus Two students to enter the world of donating Philanthropy, which filled up two rooms of adjoining school with kitchen vessels enough for many families, which were later distributed in some of the worst-hit areas in Idukki district. In less than 2 months, SH NSS Fraternity is about to be 1 year old. Just a few days back, these warriors got together at Parathode in Idukki district to felicitate and honour Prof. JOSEPH T MOOLAYIL, who was the then NSS Programme Officer. AASH would like to place on our sincere appreciation to the office bearers and members of SHCNAF for the commendable services rendered by them during the past year. Activities undertaken by the alumni associations of various departments were as follows: Dept. of Computer Science As part of an outreach programme, department of Computer Science has distributed note books to 100 deserving high students of Sacred Heart High School on 06-06-2018. The department alumni have sponsored this programme. School headmistress, department head, alumni representatives, faculty members and students were present on that occasion. 3 In connection with the inauguration of CASA, the Dept. has honored the students for their excellent academic performance. ‘Alumni Endowment for Best Academic Performer 2018’, ‘Alumni Endowment for Outstanding Academic Performer 2018’ were distributed on 17.07.2018. Department plans to conduct Alumni meet on 20th Jan. 2019. Dept. of Economics Rev. Fr. Zacharias Payikkatt, former Manager of the College, and faculty of the department of Economics was honoured by Kerala Economics Association and Alumni of the department of Economics during the budget talk on 16th March 2018. The Executive Committee meeting of the Association was held on 29th September, 2018 to plan for the annual gathering of the association on 2nd October 2018. The annual gathering of the association was held on 2nd October, 2018. Rev. Dr. Prasant Palakkapillil gave the presidential address. Secretary Dr. Sindhu Krishnan presented the report and treasurer, presented the accounts. The alumni relished their memories of the college. The meeting decided to bring more members to the gathering in the future and to contribute to the new building of the college. Dept. of English The Grand Homecoming, Nostos 2018, was conducted on 3rd March 2018. It gave an opportunity for the faculty and alumni to take a walk down the corridor of 4 nostalgia. The meeting started traditionally by invoking the presence of Lord Almighty. Dr. C S. Francis, the Head of Department delivered the welcome speech, followed by the report presentation of last alumni meet, Nostos 2017. Rev. Dr. Prasant Palackappillil, Principal, SH college delivered the presidential address. The chief guest of the day Rev. Dr. Augustine Thottakara, Manager, SH college gave the keynote address and also released the department magazine Koppee. Mementos were distributed and felicitations were addressed to Dr. C. Mary Das, Dr. C S. Jayaram and Prof A M. Chacko. The batch toppers Amritha, Alice Kurian, Lakshmi S Babu, Namitha, Aparna Mohan and Zahirra were felicitated for their achievements. Then the session was opened for the Alumni to share their good old memories. Sonia, the representative Alumnus, presented the vote of thanks to all gathered members. The inaugural session was followed by the cultural extravaganza by the students as well the alumni which delighted the audience. Everyone left with heart full of colorful memories and hopeful of meeting the next time. Dept. of Mathematics The annual general body meeting of the Mathematics alumni association (ALMAT) was held on 15th August 2018 in the Marian Hall. More than 30 members participated. It was decided to collect a database of all members as soon as possible. Dept. of Zoology The general body meeting of the Zoology Alumni Association of Sacred Heart College (ZAASH) was held on 20th January 2018. The following office bearers were elected in the meeting: 5 Mr. A.K. Thajaudheen – President Adv. P. Jayashankar – Vice President Mr. A. Rahamathulla Khan – Secretary Mr. Joseph Pallan – Joint Secretary Five executive committee members: Mini Menon, Preetha Ravindran, Vinodini Sukumar, Abin Joseliph and Shilpa K.R. were also elected. It was decided to conduct the next alumni meeting on 20th January 2019 in a big way being the platinum Jubilee year of the college. The executive committee held meetings on 27th March, 29th October, 27th November and 10th December in connection with the Platinum Jubilee Mahasangamam and other jubilee related activities. It was decided to hononur all the retired faculty members of the department in this meeting. ZAASH members were deeply shocked and saddened to hear the untimely death of the association vice president, Adv. P. Jayashankar, who expired on May 20, 2018. As part of the Alumni Lecture Series, Dr. Sujith K. Joseph, Staff Scientist at Baylor College of Medicine (Pediatrics Hematology/Oncology), Houston, Texas, USA, who is our alumnus in the 1998-2001 B.Sc Zoology batch and 2001-2003 M.Sc. Zoology batch delivered a talk on “Immunotherapy for the treatment of solid tumors”. 6 In summary, we are happy to record that our Alumni Association is growing slowly but steadily over time and that the bonding and participation of the alumni is becoming stronger and stronger day by day. We are also pleased to report that our new feature rich alumni portal www.aashheartians.fourthambit.com has been growing over time since it was launched last year. To be a part of this ever- growing network of Heartians, I request you to visit the portal and sign up. Let us connect, communicate, interact and collaborate with each other. ******************************** 7 2019 AASH Genearal Assembly and Heartifest - Registration Sheet Sl. No. Name and address Year of study Department Programme Phone No Email id 1 Jose Joseph,Spark Institute of Design,Aluva 1980-1982 Arts UG 9562141285 [email protected] 2 viji mohan,kollamparmbil ashokapuram aluva 1985 Arts UG 8281287919 Prasanth p.p,a/929 b M.D lane north cherlai 3