Ranchi, Jharkhand | July | 08, 2016 :: Craig L. Hall, the U S Consul General in Kolkata along with his team visited DPS Ranchi, on the 8th of July for an interactive session with the students of DPS, Ranchi as well as other schools of the town with an objective to make them aware and give them a broad perspective of the opportunities available in the universities of the USA to pursue higher studies. His team included Greg, Padro, Ms. Shivanti, Ms. Sonam Luthra and Nikhil Bhatnagar.
The entire school was geared up for the day and an air of thrill and excitement prevailed in the entire school campus especially among the students of classes XI and XII who were a part of the session.
The programme began with a welcome song ‘Swagatam’ and honouring the guests. The principal, Dr. Ram Singh, extended a warm welcome to Craig L, Hall and his team. He also welcomed other dignitaries, guests, principals, parents, teachers, students and all who had come to be a part of this momentous occasion.
The other guests who were present today were Anurag Gupta, ADGP, Jharkhand Police, Dr. B. B. Agarwal, Pro- Vice- Chairman of DPS, Ranchi, K.B. Bhargav, Principal, DPS, Dhanbad; Abhishek Kumar, Principal, DPS, Gaya; K.D.Singh, Principal, DPS, Jamshedpur; and other Principals from Ranchi Sahodaya School Complex like- Rajan Verghese, Manoharlal, S.D. Singh, S.K.Mishra, P.K.Thakur,etc.
Students from almost 20 schools of Ranchi like- VVPS, Surendranath School, Sarala Birala, Loyola Convent, DAV Nageshwar, Kairali School, SSVM, etc. who had come to attend the programme along with their escort teachers.
In his welcome speech, the principal shared a few notable achievements of the school and thanked the stakeholders of the society for the immense growth of the school.
After this Greg Padro, The Associate Public Affairs Office gave a detailed profile of Craig L. Hall. He said, Mr. Hall took up his assignment as U.S Consul General in Kolkata August 19. Initially he had served as the Deputy Political Counsellor in the US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia; Seoul, Korea; Canberra, Australia, etc.
Then Mr. Hall felicitated 2 children ADITYA ABHISHEK who secured AIR 346 in JEE-ADVANCED and SHRISTY SARAWGI, the Commerce topper of the school in AISSCE-2016, following which a power point presentation regarding AFS i.e, a program which has an essence of ‘Stay and Study’ in a different cultural setting along with YES program i.e, a program which recognized the importance of youth exchange as a key to building bridges between citizens o USA and countries around the world, particularly those with significant Muslim populations and to grant them scholarships for one academic year in the US was shown to the students.
Then began the Interactive Session in which the students asked several questions which they had in their minds like career options available in the US, about scholarships, about Visas, whether going abroad will be beneficial before or after Graduation, etc.
Animesh of Class XI asked about the process of acquiring visa, Anurag of class XII asked about the different courses offered in Biotech and subjects related to Biology. Yet other student asked about Ivy League Universities.
Each question of the students was answered satisfactorily by the US Consul General, Mr. Hall and Ms. Shivanti.
Students and teachers from different schools were also invited who took equal interest in asking questions to the Consul General. A few of them said,” We are extremely grateful to the principal of DPS, Ranchi who invited us and gave us such a wonderful exposure.”
Some 40 students from Zila School, Ranchi with which DPS, Ranchi has collaborated to work for were one academic year also given an opportunity to be a part of this event and get exposure about the options available in the universities of the USA. When asked a few of them about how they liked the programme and how would it be beneficial to them, they said “We never thought that we would be getting such a broad view of the opportunities available in the USA for higher studies”.
The whole idea of the programme was to give an insight to the students of the opportunities for higher studies in the US i.e, to provide a clear cut idea of the ranking of the universities, the funding scholarship options, the eligibility and the admission criterion, the cost involved, the kind of career options available, the ways to prepare for the qualifying exams and how to apply for the visas.
DPS Ranchi and the US Consul General have agreed upon to work in unison in order to benefit the students and teachers of DPS, Ranchi as well as students of other schools by giving a base for the following
1. Opportunities available for educational and cultural exchange.
2. Opportunities for teacher training whereby teachers from DPS, Ranchi could go for a short period to teach and work with the students in the US and also to invite teachers from the USA to do the same in DPS, Ranchi.
3. Opportunities for cultural programmes and talks and also to invite American artists and experts to DPS, Ranchi.
4. Opportunities to work with other schools in Ranchi whereby DPS, Ranchi could act as a contact point and be facilitator between the US Consulate and various educational institutions in Ranchi and Jharkhand.
5. Work in collaboration with the US Consulate in Kolkata in areas of Human Trafficking and other social causes of interest.
For the same A Centre for Overseas opportunities has been setup in DPS Ranchi which was inaugurated by honourable Consul General Mr. Craig L. Hall.
Principals of different schools when asked about their opinion of the programme and the efforts taken by principal, Dr. Ram Singh, to have gone an extra mile, expressed their delight and congratulated him and his team of dedicated teachers for being so considerate towards the future citizens.
Principal DPS, Gaya Abhishek Kumar said,’ All the queries were well attended. I highly appreciate the Information desk set up at DPS, Ranchi where children from all over Jharkhand can get information at the click of a button.”
K.B.Bhargav, Principal DPS, Dhanbad, was of the opinion that the programme was extremely well organized and it gave the children a deep insight about the various options available in the US.
K.D. Singh, Principal DPS, Jamshedpur said, ‘ Earlier eminent personalities like Gandhiji, Nehruji, etc. could only think of overseas education but such programmes will enable todays’ youth to pursue a career abroad.”
Rajan Verghese, Principal VVPS, said that it was a welcome change and the children got a wonderful exposure.
S.K. Mishra, Principal International Public School said,” It was really an enriching session and will go a long way.”
When asked the principal of DPS, Ranchi about why this thought of inviting a Consul General came to his mind, he said, “ I really feel honoured that with the help of Craig L. Hall and his team, DPS Ranchi will be able to do something extraordinary for the students. According to me, the International exposure to the students about the opportunities available in the US universities for pursuing higher studies might have set minds of the students in motion and will undoubtedly be beneficial for them in near future.” He added, “In this world of Globalisation, it is my prime concern to nurture my students to be Global Citizens.” He further said that the school had earlier collaborated with the British as well with the Australian Council to provide a bigger platform to the students and in coming future we are planning to get in contact with other embassies too, to help our students to achieve the best from life.
Before the departure of our distinguished guests The Main Gate of the school was also inaugurated by Mr. Hall in the presence of all other eminent guests.
The crowd of students coming out after the programme had a dream in their eyes and each one aspired to try their luck in the universities of USA.
