Media Release
Puttur, Dec 21: St Philomena High School founded by the visionary Msgr A Patrao on December 19 celebrated its 69th annual day.
The morning session of the programme began with the offering of the holy Eucharistic celebration at Divya Chethana Chapel under the stewardship of Fr Dr John Baptist Saldhana, priest of St Sebastian Church, Permannur. The co-celebrants were Fr Alfred J Pinto the correspondent, Fr Dr Antony Prakash Monteiro the campus director, Fr Peter Gonsalves, Fr Peter Serrao, Fr Rithesh Rodrigues, Fr Sunil George D’Souza, Fr Vijay Lobo, Fr Valerian Masarenhas, Fr Praveen D’Souza.
This was followed by the flag hoisting ceremony. After the formal invocation by the students and the welcome speech by the headmaster, Oswald Rodrigues, the chief guest, Alwyn Rodrigues, chartered accountant, Mangaluru, hoisted the school flag and formally inaugurated the day’s function. The attractive march past by the NCC cadets was followed by a felicitation programme wherein Dr John Baptist Saldhana and Alwyn Rodrigues were felicitated by the correspondent Fr Alfred J Pinto and other guests. Alwyn Rodrigues, in his inaugural address expressed his joy for being the senior student of the institution. He urged the students to continue the legacy of the school by respecting their teachers, setting a goal for themselves to achieve and persevering to reach it. He also wished a grand success for the evening programme. Prizes were distributed to the winners of the sports events. J P Rodrigues vice-president of the church parish council, PTA members, heads of the neighbouring schools and colleges, retired teachers and other guests were present on the occasion. Rasmitha Rao, the ASPL proposed the vote of thanks. Rajshekhar compered the programme. Distribution of sweets to the students after the programme enhanced the festive mood of the day.
The commencement of the evening programme witnessed a ceremonial welcome to the dignitaries. The president of the function, Fr Antony Michael Sera, the secretary, Catholic Board of Education, Prof Ujwal U J and Dr Sharan Shetty, the chief guests and others were led to the dais by the NCC cadets and the school music band. The guests paid homage to the portraits of late Msgr A Patrao and the former headmaster, late Dennis D’Souza. After invoking the blessings of the school’s patron St Philomena, observed a minute's silence as condolence for the departed souls – A B Vajpayee, former Prime Minster, in whose name the Atal Tinkering Lab Scheme was launched and sanctioned to the school, Shriram Bhat, a former teacher, Kudkadi Viswanatha Rai a retired teacher of the school, three senior students and five parents
of the present students. Fr. Alfred J Pinto, the correspondent introduced the guests to the audience and warmly welcomed everyone. Placing the school’s annual report before the audience, which highlighted the achievements of the school, Oswald Rodrigues, the headmaster, not only thanked the donors for their co-operation in cherishing the dream of possessing a well equipped school building, but also sought their support for their future endeavours. Prize distribution by the dignitaries on the dais enhanced the joy of the prize winners in the academic and non-academic activities. Other guests who were present on stage included the campus director Fr Dr Antony Prakash Monteiro, N K Jagannivas Rao, president of the Alumni Association, Dr Sooryanarayana, vice-president of PTA and Mahammad Shaheer, the student pupil leader.
Felicitations
Students who represented the school at state and national level events were duly honoured. They were Anusha (Science model competition-IRIS Grand Award and selected for ISF 2019, USA), Benhur Veigas and Nischay Kudva (badminton), Asmi, Dhanvi J Rai, Mrudula Mascarenhas, Thanvir Jerome Pinto, Praneel Mascarenhas, Sujan
K, Krithik S L, Dheemanth, Suhan B H (state level swimming), Neil Mascarenhas (national level swimming), Dimple S Bangera (national level athletics), Keerthan N K (national level Karate) and Vikram Chandra (Pre-RD1, II, III) camp. Others who were felicitated included Bhamini for participating in Gandhi Jayanthi celebrations at Delhi, Bhavith for achievement in pole vault, Robin Tauro and Riyaz for being elected as councillors, Fr Dr Antony Prakash Monteiro, Prof Ujwal, Dr Sharan Shetty and Fr Antony Michael Sera for achievements in different fields.
Address by the chief guests
Both, Prof Ujwal U J, HOD, Computer Science, KVG Engineering College, Sulya and Dr Sharan Shetty, member of Senate, Rajiv Gandhi University, Bengaluru being the senior students of the school, expressed their gratitude and joy for getting an opportunity to revisit the school, recalling their student days and the guidance given by the teachers which played a great role in shaping their lives. The chief guests applauded the school for its all round success and wished a better future to the students.
"Man should be God fearing, is the root of knowledge which will help develop good human relationship. Let us be humane in our attitude and dealings, protecting and preserving the environment is one of the solutions to lessen the harmful effects of the threatening problem of Global warming," said Fr Antony Michael Sera, the secretary of Catholic Board of Education in his presidential address. He encouraged the audience to be godfearing, humane and to preserve the environment. The stage programme concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Mohammad Shaheer, the SPL, Rajshekhar and Francis Mascarenhas, Fr Peter Gonsalves, Peter Naresh Lobo, Clement Pinto conducted various programmes. Samruddi and Sharan compered the programme.
A colourful cultural programme called Cini-Mini-Bharath captured the attention of the viewers. The purpose of this programme was to highlight the contributions of a century old Indian film industry to different fields like Indian dance, music, languages, national integration and other aspects of culture. The first item highlighted a few selected scenes from the life of Jesus Christ from the movie ‘Bhuvanajyothi’ which was released in 1994, the producer and director being Fr Mathew Vas and Udupi Vasudeva Bhat respectively. The song and Bharatanatyam from the movie ‘Malayamarutha’ were presented under Bharatha Nritya. Kerala’s cultural representation under the subtitle ‘kairali’ was done through the dance performance for the song from the movie ‘Nandanam’. Scenes from Indian epic movies of Tollywood Bahubali 1 and 2 were the attractions of the fourth item ‘Amara Mahishmathi’. ‘Kashmir Ka Sair’ was a package of three songs and dances from ‘Bemisal’, ‘Mission Kashmir’ and ‘Kashmir Ki Kali’ films. Its intention was to show how the beauty of Kashmir and its people is depicted in Indian films. The skit and dance from the movie by Dwarakish presented under ‘sinihasya’ were enjoyed by the audience. A dance fusion then followed. 'Ananabhairavi’ movie highlighting the importance of Kuchipudi dance allowed a fusion of several classical dance styles namely Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Kathak, Kathakali to which Mohini Attam from the film ‘Kambhoji’, and Odyssey dance from ‘Nirjana Saikathe were added leading to ‘Ananda Nartanam’. The seventh item ‘Amchi Konkani’ brought to light the contributions of Goa and Mangaluru to the film industry. While the song and dance performance from the movie ‘Tarvonteancho Rong’ depicted the life of the sailors. The song ‘Yo re Pavsa’ expressed joy in welcoming rainfall. ‘Eashanyada Rangu’ spread the beauty of the dances of Hajongs of Meghalaya, Meijis of Arunachal Pradesh, Chakmas of Tripura, Mizos, Nagas, Assameese, Manipuris and Singhi cham of Sikkim. Coastalwood was represented by ‘Denana Denana with the dances of ‘Pattanaji’, ‘Chandi Kori’ and ‘Rang’ movies. Bollywood stars like Rajkapoor, Dilip Kumar, Amithab Bachan, Amir Khan, Sharukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Deepika Padukone were represented in the programme ‘B-town chamak’ through their dances. The great Tamil music composer A R Rehaman’s compositions for ‘Roza’, ‘Gentleman’ and ‘Jean’ were chosen for the dance performances under the title ‘Mesmarizing Rehaman’. The last item NEWS was a combination of patriotic songs and dance performance for five songs from ‘Mayor Muttanna’ of Kannada, ‘Shahid’ of Hindi, Ravindranath Tagore’s song, Rajasthani’s ‘Thari Mhari’ movie song, Jai Ho song from Slumdog Millianaire. These songs represented North, South, East and West to tribute national integration.
Thus a sincere attempt was made to cover a few areas of Indian culture through the selected movie songs and dances under the programme Cini-mini-Bharath. The programme on the whole, proved, 'Better is always different'.