Artist Dianna Cohen shares some hard hitting facts about plastic pollution in the ocean and in our lives.

Scientist Greg Stone tells the inspiring story of how he helped the Republic of Kiribati create an enormous protected area in the middle of the Pacific, this protects fish, sea life and the island nation itself.

Dee Boersma shares stories of penguin life and culture, she suggests that we start listening to what penguins are telling us.

Five years ago, Roz Savage quit her high-powered London job to become an ocean rower. She’s crossed the Atlantic solo, and just started the third leg of a Pacific solo row, the first for a woman. She raises awareness along the way of plastic pollution, climate change and eco-heroism

Underwater filmmaker Mike deGruy shares his life story about the time he has spent understanding the ocean, this blue heart of the planet.

Jane McGonigal talks about harnessing the gamer power to solve real world problems. She explains how we need game play of 21 billion hours per week to achieve epic solutions.

SOIL alumnus Md Dilshad Ayubi participated in an ad completion conducted by Pepsi India.

He created this video as part of ‘Shot 60’ competition organized by Pepsi India.

Dilshad:

“As per the rule this ad was to be made in 24 hours. Our Team made it in 12 hours. We started with the script at 6 pm and completed with shooting at 10pm. Editing went on till 6am the next morning. Although we could not reach in Top 10, but it was a great learning and joyful experience. This ad has been modified to add credentials with additional slides from 00:00 to 00:05 and 01:01 to 01:10.”

Photo Credit: Ricecracker. via Compfight cc

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ― H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Quoting the beautiful statement above, the Master of Ceremony concluded what was a thoroughly enjoyable day at SOIL Convocation ceremony for the Class of 2013. School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL) bid farewell t0 114 students who have won many awards and have had numerous achievements during their precious time here. Emotions flying high, parents looking at their children with pride, it was that time of the year when all the students’ hard work and perseverance began to bear fruit. Be it the wonderful words of wisdom from Swami Nikhilananda or the wealth of experience shared by Mr. B Muthuraman, Vice Chairman of Tata Steel and Dr. Santrupt B Misra, CEO, Carbon Black Business & Director, Group HR, Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt. Ltd. the event bore resemblance to many of the professionally conducted ceremonies by SOIL.

It was around 2:30 PM when students slowly began to fill the Chinmaya Mission Auditorium located at Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Parents accompanied the students and got an opportunity to interact with the CEO & Founder of SOIL Mr. Anil Sachdev and other staff members. Each and every parent shared their feelings about the impact SOIL has made in their children’s life. It was awe-inspiring to see some parents getting emotional. After a while the guests of honour began to arrive. The best reception was reserved for former Interim Dean Prof. Hardayal Singh. He surely seemed to have had the edge with the students present in the event. Around 4 pm the event commenced with the lighting of lamp. The Guests of Honour Swami Nikhilananda, Dr. Santrupt Misra, Mr. Muthuraman, Mr. Sanjay Gupta and a student from Anchors Batch lit the lamp. Mr. Anil Sachdev began to address the gathering and shared the highlights of SOIL for the year 2012-2013. He also proudly spoke about the achievements of some of the students, one of whom has opened a school for the poorest of poor in Bhagalpur, Bihar. The extremely popular Prof. Hardayal Singh took over from Anil and shared his valuable insights. He thanked the students and staffs of SOIL who have helped him in carrying SOIL’s mission forward during his time here.

Following Prof. Hardayal Singh’s speech there was a session on Appreciative Inquiry. It was moderated by Mr. Sanjay Gupta, CEO, English Helper Incorporation and the member of SOIL Board.  Mr. Shantharaju, CEO, Indus Towers, Mr. K.S. Bhullar, President-HR Anand Group, Ms. Vinita Singh, Founder, We the People and the member of SOIL Board, Mr. Anurav Banerjee, President and Chief Researcher, SOIL Innovation Board and Ms. Shweta Sharma were the co panelists in this interesting session. The panelists spoke about the impact of SOIL in transforming students in every walk of life.

Few students of Anchors’ batch then enacted a theatrical play highlighting the experience and learning from Sidhbari trip (a Himalayan Retreat). The play was received extremely well and the actors in the play exemplified supreme professionalism.

Swami Nikhilananda with his words of wisdom enlightened the gathering. He emphasized the importance of leaders having a good vision and also stressed upon the importance of listening skills. Dr. B Santrupt Misra spoke about the importance of making the right choices to make life successful. According to him “Success is not where you are, but how far you have travelled from where you started”. He also shared his incredible story about the journey of his professional life. Last but not the least, Mr. Muthuraman wowed the audience with his inspirational life story and acknowledged and appreciated SOIL’s mission in transforming students into Inspired Leaders. He concluded his speech with this thought provoking quote “Life is not to be lived like a 100 meter race but a long marathon race”.

Highlight of the day was about to begin. Students were being rewarded by the Guests of Honour for their phenomenal achievements during the year 2012-2013.

Here is the list of awards given to the students.

• Winning Social Innovation Program team – “We The People”.
• All Rounder Award for the year 2012-2013 – Sahil Seth.
• Role Model award for the Business Leadership Program (BLP) – Hetal Gandhi.
• Role Model award for the HR Leadership Program (HRLP) – Ananya Dhall.
• Role Model award for the Marketing Leadership Program (MLP) – Sheeza Shakeel and Vijay Kumar MP.
• SPV Courage Award of the year – Simar Pal Singh and Hargeet Brar.
• Inspired Leader of the year – Avirup Mukherjee.
• Awanish Dev Memorial Award – Namrata Singh.
• VS Mahesh Award – N. Balaji.
• The Attendance Award – Aditya Kumar.

Following this the students received their Post-Graduation Certificates from Mr. Anil Sachdev and from Mr. B Muthuraman. It was goose bumps all over for students and parents alike. Emotions began to take over and students began to embrace each other on stage. The event was extremely successful and all the students took part in doffing off their hat thereby marking an end to an incredible journey with SOIL.

Vote of Thanks was read by the new Dean of SOIL Dr. Subhajyoti Ray, following which the event concluded with the students of Anchors’ batch reading out their Pledge.

It was a memorable and unforgettable experience to say the least!

Regards,

Arul PaulRaj F
HR Leadership Program | Batch 2013-2014