Category: Announcements

ASSET Program – Award Function

I am happy to share with all of you that the training of first batch under the ASSET87 program has been successfully completed. We trained a total of 490 students of the third year. We had 16 sessions of 3 hours each spread throughout the year and we had an overall attendance of over 70%. (More statistics will be shared in a future post).

There were some disruptions to our schedule due to the closing of all colleges in Tamilnadu due to the Sri Lankan Tamils issue but thanks to the unstinting support of the Principal and the staff of ACCET and the dedication and commitment of the training team lead by Mr. Sudhir, we managed to complete the training program in this academic year.

The final session of the program was conducted on April 17th the ASSET Program for 2012-13. We concluded the session with an closing ceremony which was attended in full strength by the 3rd year  and 2nd year students, The Principal and HODs also attended the function.

The closing ceremony started off with a speech by the ASSET87 Coordinator Vilva.

We had instituted awards for Top Leader, Top Communicator and Top Learner based on their performance during the training sessions. The selection of the students was made by the trainers using the guidelines provided by us. The following students were selected for the three awards:

Top Leader:    R Rhema (ECE)
Top Communicator:  K Jerlin (EEE)
Top Learner:  KJ Archana (ECE)

They received a cup, certificate and a pen-drive as part of the award. Each one of them expressed sincerely how this program has changed the way they talk and behave among their peers and family. Interesting to note that the top 3 were women and all of them had attended almost all the training sessions.

Ten other students were picked for their marked performance during the course of the training program

  1. M Yogalakshmi (CSE)
  2. Ragul (EEE)
  3. M Anees Ahmed (CSE)
  4. Osor Pertin (EEE)
  5. Shamitru (CSE)
  6. M Parani Bharathi (EEE)
  7. B Kohila (EEE)
  8. G Lakshmi Nivedetha (CSE)
  9. PM Hariharan (ME)
  10. Catharin Arathana (EEE)

These students received a merit certificate and a pen drive. All of them spoke for a couple of minutes and were very vocal in expressing gratitude to the ACCET 87 batch for giving them this training program.

Pen drives were given to the student volunteers who helped in organizing transport, food and logistics for the 16 training sessions.

Mr. Ravikumar (Placement Coordinator) gave a short speech where he suggested some changes in the training program content.

The Principal Ms. Mala gave her continued support for the program and said that she has been trumpeting this program wherever she talks as being one of a kind in any Engineering College in Tamilnadu.

The second year students had come in great numbers and expressed their eagerness to undergo this training program for the next year.

We presented the Master Trainer Mr. Sudhir with a ACCET87 Foundation watch as a souvenir. He has been a great source of inspiration for the students and he is extremely popular with all the students.

It was a great ending to the first year of the ASSET program.  As usual, Siva concluded the event with his Vote of Thanks.

On behalf of ACCET87 Foundation, I would like to place on record our sincere appreciation of our friend Sivanantharaja. Much credit for the great success of this program goes to Siva. He not only coordinated the program in Karaikudi but was always there to iron out the many issues that came up and he also took great taking care of our batchmates who went to the college to monitor the sessions.

I also want to thank  all our batchmates who attended the various sessions and gave their valuable feedback which helped us improve the program as it went by. I am sure that the next year’s sessions are going to be even better.

A many thanks are also due to Boby Thomas & Vilva. Boby has been in the background at all time taking care of the financial management and providing administrative support. From conceptualisation to execution, Vilva has been in the thick of the action at all times and has successfully steered the program. These two guys did an awesome job.

And many thanks to each of you for your financial & moral support. You made it happen!

ACCET 2012 Placement Season

Dear All,

This is the start of the Placement Season and our College is planning on a campaign to introduce and invite companies to come on campus and recruit students. As part of this campaign the Placement team headed by Mr. Ravikumar and Mr. Nachiappan will be in Chennai between Oct 3-5 and in Bangalore after that. They are looking for opportunities to talk to some Alumni who can introduce them to companies (their own or companies they work for) who are willing to come to KKDI for recruitment.

I think this is a good opportunity to give back to the college by participating in the placement program. Those interested can email or call the ACCET placement team directly. Below are the contact details

R.Ravikumar, M.E.,
Placement Officer,
Email:accet.placement@gmail.com,
Mobile: 9443146556

S.Nachiappan,
Placement Coordinator,
Email:accet.placement@gmail.com,
Mobile: 9443146556

 

SJC Expenses

When we first started mobilising funds for the SJC we had promised that we will have a transparent system and publish the details of the expenses on our website. It has taken a while to catch up on the accounting. Here is the summary of the expenses.

Expense Category Amount (Rs)
Mementos – 134 watches, 150 planners, 150 bags & 125 snackpacks
 3,16,542
Catering – Persons served: Breakfast – 250, Lunch – 700+, Dinner – 225
 3,00,000
Orchestra 83,500
Event Management 55,525
Gift – faculty, staff & volunteers 30,710
Stage & Hall decoration 25,000
Miscellaneous 23,050
Photo / Video / WebCasting 22,000
Graphics & Artwork Production 18,100
ASSET87 Plaque 14,385
Memory Chest 12,115
Accommodation – Chief Guest, Event Manager, Entertainement Team 7,800
Local transportation 7,500
Website – domain name & hosting for 2 years
 5,700
Cleaning operations 5,000
Invitation printing & mailing 5,000
Trust formation 4,850
Grand Total 9,36,777

 

Disclosures

  1. A few gifts were left after the event:
    1. Four rechargeable torches (value Rs. 90 each). Saravanan, Krishnamurthy, Vilva and Sudarsan were given 1 each
    2. Two sets of pens (value Rs. 225 each). Rajeshwar & Boby Thomas were given one set each
  2. The amounts spent on gifts includes a sum of Rs. 3,500 incurred in buying a cellphone as a gift for Mr. Nehru who is Rajeshwar’s general assistant. Nehru has been a constant member of the team, serving us at all the meetings in Rajeshwar’s office and did countless chores for the SJC, most of the time after normal work hours. So, the SJC committee decided to give him a gift commensurate to his deeds.
  3. The domain hosting has been provided by Rajeshwar’s company. We have been provided unlimited space and bandwidth for a nominal price of Rs. 2,000 per year.

SJC Mementos

The SJC Memento pack comprised the following items:

  • Bag printed with ACCET logo
  • Titan Watch (Men’s watch with ACCET87 logo for the male members of the batch and a ladies’ watch for ladies)
  • Eagle Planner customized with ACCET87 logo, message and database of ACCET87 members
  • Chettinad snack pack  comprising seedai, murukku, and thenkuzhal

Here are some pictures of the mementos:

 

Sorry, no pictures of the snacks. They vanished before we could shoot them!

The Core Committee decided to give mementos to:

  • Every ACCET 83-87 member who attended the event (irrespective of whether they made a contribution to the fund)
  • Every person who contributed to the ACCET87 fund

While everyone who attended collected their memento packs, the mementos of the others (minus the snack pack) are with the Core Committee members.  We still need to get a bunch of watches(22 to be precise) from Titan and we expect them to be delivered before September 15th.

Please arrange to collect your memento packs soon. Please call or email one of us to coordinate: ***PRIVATE*** Sorry, the content here is visible only to logged in users. If you are a registered user, please log in to view this content.

We have extra planners and bags (around 15) which shall be given to the next 15 new contributors. So, if you have not sent your contribution yet, you have an incentive to do it now. Remember, only 15 left and they will go to the first 15 NEW contributors.

SJC Videos

I know all of you have been eagerly waiting to see the videos of the SJC. Here is the full collection of video recordings from our SJC. We have about 7 hours of recordings in all. We will be slicing them into smaller sections and uploading them over a period of time.

You wont be able to fast-forward or rewind the videos in the first run. If you want that, allow the full video to play & buffer one time and then you can keep moving the slider back and forth to play/replay as you please.

Part 1: The Inauguration ceremony

Part 2: Inauguration ceremony continued

Part 3: Performances by ACCET87 family

Part 4: More performances, Orchestra & Some games

Part 5: Reminiscences & Anthakshari

Part 6: Anthakshari continued, Orchestra with some mass dancing performances!

Part 7: Golden Chest Sealing, Games and Goodbyes!

Feedback Time

On behalf of the Core Committee, I thank you all for your support, encouragement and enthusiastic response to whatever we attempted.  The event went off well and was widely appreciated. You were all generous in your praise.

Notwithstanding the accolades, I think we could have conducted several things better. There is always room for improvement. I have already made a list of things I messed up and though the list is small now, I am sure it will grow. I am highly self-critical.

Your feedback is important to understand what went right and what did not, what worked and what did not, what was liked and what was not. The past few days would have helped you reflect on the event. So, please take a few minutes and provide your feedback by filling the SJC Feedback Form.

The summary of the feedback will be published after all feedback is received. The Core Committee will be meeting for an analysis in 2-3 weeks time. So, please submit your feedback as soon as possible.

Click here now and give your feedback.

A reflection on our long overdue fee to ACCET…

Dear ACCET87 friends:

I along with my family had a memorable time participating on our SJC; many, many thanks to the tireless work of the organizers – planning every small detail, engaging the right people to manage certain aspects of the events like the Master of the Ceremony, orchestra, etc. Rajeshwar, VP, Vilva,  Boby, Sivanantha Raja and team– Kudos to you! We are blessed to have leaders and volunteers like you in our midst.

As I was reflecting on the commitment and responsibility that we have undertaken in ASSET87, it is evident that we are going to need an ongoing monetary contribution commitment in addition to the volunteer and time commitments.

Well, first let me firmly state that the soft skills enhancement is a worthy cause. In fact, after many discussions leading to SJC, listening to all of the presentations on August 11th and talking to a few people on the engineering campus recruitment side after the SJC event (people who had nothing to do with our college), I am convinced that ASSET87 is a precedent/best practice that other colleges will eventually embrace.

Coming back to the topic of our commitment to ASSET87 and the funds that will be required to sustain it; I wanted to share my thought process when I made my first pledge and a few other things I realized as I continue to reflect about our college…

If I rewind a few months back, I was confident that we’d do a splendid job of organizing the SJC and do a sizable contribution similar to our seniors. I had the privilege of being inspired by one of our seniors who had a moving experience of participating in their golden jubilee event at Karaikudi two years back. Right then, I had made a commitment to attend ours in person and make a contribution. I am happy I was able to do both!

As I reflected sitting at the SJC and later, I realize that it has still not quite dawned on us as to how blessed we are to have been awarded this opportunity in 1983 to be a student of this college. So, I started thinking a few “what if”s – they always help me put things in a better perspective…

  • What if the ACCET fee had been Rs. 25,000 per semester – instead of the “close to nothing” that we eventually paid; could my parents have afforded to have me study at ACCET? What would have been the student loan when I graduated, if we had to take a loan?
  • What if like most other colleges started in mid-80s, there had been a “capitation fee” to get admission to the college? Could my parents have paid it? Probably not; I would have studied in an Arts college for a three year science or a commerce undergraduate degree; how different my life might have turned out?
  • What if I had to spend in $s for my college education? I already know the answer – not a hypothetical answer but a real one: I could not do my post-graduate studies after ACCET in USA; it was too expensive and we could not afford it. In US, majority of the people graduating have huge student loans that they end up paying along with their car and house loans for many, many years.
  • What if every college today was like our ACCET! As a parent today, how much do  I actually need to plan to save to get a college education for my children… To put this question in perspective, when we had our third child when I was 41 years old, my financially savvy friend commented that I should forget about retiring and work until and perhaps after my last one graduated to pay for upbringing and college.

Reflecting on these, I can’t but wonder what a blessing and gift ACCET has been to my life. Yes, I work hard, to be where I am today and trying to stay there and improve; but ACCET was the foundation that even made any of this possible.  Meena and my children are strong supporters of my contributions to the college now and am sure in future; particularly, after seeing the college in person, what it needs today to deliver the kind of education that we received, and the camaraderie and commitment of all of our batch mates!

Friends, it is time to reach in to our pockets and bank accounts and pay our college fee that have been due for the past 25 years! The beauty of this fee is that it is only due in our minds and hence the amount, late fee, interest and inflation adjustment – everything is up to each of us to determine. Even if you have made your contributions already, consider doing your own analysis and add to the contribution and make it an ongoing commitment, until we believe that our ACCET dues have been paid! I commit to doing my own analysis. Please share it with your family – you need their support and encouragement as well.

I am sorry for the long winded message, but this is an important topic deserves your time, attention and consideration.

Cheers,

Srinivasan R.S. ECE