Pics: Joshwa D'souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JS)

Mangaluru, Nov 12: St Joseph Engineering College (SJEC) celebrated its 11th graduation day with a colourful ceremony at the college premises in Vamanjoor here on Saturday November 12.

The programme began with invocation by the college choir.

Chief guest of the programme, Dr T K Alex, former director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bengaluru and currently professor at ISRO, and E S Chakravarthy, centre head, Tata Consultancy Services, Bengaluru distributed degree certificates to around 610 students of engineering, MBA, MCA, and M Tech.

Addressing the gathering, Dr T K Alex said, "I am honoured to be part of the graduation ceremony of SJEC. Currently everybody is worried about the currency change but we at ISRO are thrilled by the introduction of Rs 2,000 denomination. The new currency of Rs 2,000 has the picture of Mangalyaan. I am delighted to be associated with the Mangalyaan project. We are happy that the government and the public accepted and appreciated it. Mangalyaan was one of the most difficult projects. Engineering wise it was a difficult one. The spacecraft had to travel 190 million km from Earth to Mars and reach Mars at the exact designated time. If there was any mistake anywhere it would have reached late or early, and this was one of the greatest challenges. We are really delighted with its success which many thought India could not achieve.

"The bright faces here remind me of my graduation. Those days India was going through a warlike situation. There was less employment but now things are different. I can sense from the faces of each one of you. I congratulate all of you who have wisely chosen engineering as your profession. Engineers have the ability to build with imagination, ideas and raw material. Engineers do not talk much but they build things with their ability. They build the nation with their ideas. I congratulate and wish bright future to all the young graduates. I call upon all of you to join hands in nation building," he urged.

Guest of honour E S Chakravarthy said, "SJEC is one of the most trusted academic partners in the state of Karnataka. I congratulate the graduates who are being awarded degrees today. According to my personal experience of 20 years in the industry, the purpose of education is that it must make us confident individuals. Further, education should make us active contributors and make us self-reliant in learning so that we become concerned civic citizens of this great country. I am extremely happy to say that students whom we recruit from this great institution do demonstrate all these outcomes when they start their journey in TCS. Congratulations to the institution, staff and great leaders who made this institution what it is today."

"It is very important to know the purpose of our journey. The purpose of our lives is to earn respect. You earn respect from the society through intellectual currency, that is knowledge, skill and creativity and enhancing these three is the key. The institutional currency is the institution you belong to and the cultural currency is the culture you have nurtured for yourself. Social currency is what you have contributed to the society. These are the very simple things which we need to follow in life. These will earn you maximum respect," he said.

Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza, bishop of Mangaluru and president of SJEC in his presidential address said, "I am indeed happy to be part of your celebration on achieving a great milestone in your life. I congratulate all the graduates who have been awarded degrees in this august gathering. My congratulations and appreciation to your parents, who have sacrificed so much to give you good education. I appreciate the principal, director, assistant director and all the faculty members who have contributed so much to this institution. Education should make you a good human being. The motto of education is to create a person of love, respect, kindness, truthfulness and person of values. Education should make you a refined person and being educated you ought to take that as a positive feedback. Education should make you a person of good attitude. If you inculcate this you will be the most admired people in the society."

Chief guest of the programme Dr T K Alex, guest of honour E S Chakravarthy and president of SJEC, Bishop Dr Aloysius Paul D'Souza were felicitated on the occasion.

The bishop awarded the toppers in academics. Ann Varghese and Chris D'Souza were acknowledged on behalf of all the graduates.

The director of the college Fr Joseph J Lobo, principal Dr Joseph Gonsalves, vice-principal Rio D'Souza and others were present.