Media Release
Davanagere, Jul 29: St Aloysius College Harihar on July 27 celebrated the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola.
The guests for the day were Fr Dionysius Vaz SJ rector of St Aloysius College and vice principal of Mangalore Jesuit education society, Fr Eric Mathias SJ principal and superior of degree college, Fr Santhosh Fernandes SJ principal of PU college, Fr Pradeep Sequeira SJ finance officer of St Aloysius college, FR Cyril Raj vice principal of degree college, Sunny Gudino and Pushpalatha vice principals of St Aloysius college and Shobha Monis lecturer and coordinator of the programme.
The day began with the students of NCC escorting the guests to the gathering. The programme began with a welcome dance which was led by Pallavi. The dance was followed by a prayer song led by Macton.
The master of the ceremony Priyanka M H and Amar Katve called upon Saramsh to deliver the welcome speech.
The programme was inaugurated by watering the sapling and cake cutting. Grace Vargeese lecturer of St Aloysius College along with the students enchanted the audience with an Ignatian song.
Fr Pradeep Sequira addressed the gathering where he began with a story of a Gowda and later connected it with the life of Ignatius of Loyola who is the co-founder of the Society of Jesus.
Ignatius of Loyola was born on October 23, 1491 and beatified on July 27, 1609. He was the youngest of thirteen children. In his early life he had great love for military exercises as well as tremendous desire for fame. He joined the army at seventeen. He participated in many battles without injury but in the Battle of Pamplona he was knocked down. He then began to reflect on his life and decided to start a new life. From then on, he worked for the greater glory of God and the service of people and founded the Society of Jesus.
After narrating this story to the gathering, Fr Pradeep gave a message to students that 'we also should be ready to change our life and become women and men with and for others'.
After Fr Pradeep’s inspiring words Degree Council inauguration followed by an oath taking session.
The second session was all about various cultural programmes. Indian classical dance is sustained by a profound philosophy. Students of first PUC mesmerized the audience with a graceful classical dance which was led by Soumya Clara student of first PUC PCMB. Mime makes the invisible, visible and the visible, invisible. Mime is an art of expressing feelings through expressions; students of first PUC Commerce captured the hearts of the audience through their ravishing expressions. Mime was followed by an energetic dance performance by Vilisha and Shimmi Raj, lecturers of St Aloysius College.
The stage witnessed all types of dance forms. Western dance was followed by a folk dance which was led by Rashmi student of first PU Commerce. The audience enjoyed a beautiful classical dance led by Hemalatha.
After the cultural events the chief guest of the day Fr Dionysius Vaz SJ spoke to the gathering. He began his speech by narrating a story of a German Shepherd in Hassan. One day one of the Fathers was gifted with a German Shepherd and it was put in a cage. It is a breed of dog that grows very fast, but the dog was not growing in height it was growing in length. It was because the father had put it in a small cage which was not appropriate for the growth of the dog. The dog was kept in the same cage right from the beginning so the dog was restricted and did not get space to grow. So, Fr Dionysius said that nobody can be restricted; everybody should grow according to the situations. In the same way, students also cannot be kept in a restricted environment. They also have to be changed and manipulated accordingly.
Fr Dionysius motivated the students through his inspiring words.
Master of the Ceremony Priyanka and Amar then called upon Macton to deliver the vote of thanks which was followed by singing of the National Anthem.
The day ended with enjoyment of refreshments.