REC CAMPUS

SCHOOL

PROJECT

HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN???

An idea can change your life…but how

can your idea change the lives of

others??? This must have been the

thought in our then club President’s

mind in 2010 – Sreenivas

Panchamukhi Sir.

TIME TO REWIND

THE LEO STATE OF AFFAIRS

IN 2010In 2010, Leo had made its mark in NIT

Rourkela. It was in a good

position, both aesthetically and

financially.

But the time table of the club had

become monotonous…

To break this saturation period…our

then President – Sreenivas

Panchamukhi Sir – came up with the

idea of a whole new project : a generic

full-fledged one, which was non-

existent at that time.

WHY WE CHOSE

THE

REC SCHOOL???

This was the question on

everybody’s mind at that

time.

The primary reasons behind it

were:- It was already one of our workplaces. The school is inside the NITR campus

and thus NIT had a great relation with REC School.

The kids there are equally brilliant. Its just that they didn’t get the exposure that they deserved.

Other places like Shanti Bhawan, Home & Hope Foundation, SOS Village, etc. were either already on our list of workplaces or were well endowed by other organizations.

WHAT WE DID

THERE???

The best thing that we know about are

examinations. So, playing to our

strengths, we decided to give a

scholarship of Rs. 1000 to one Std X

student, based on his performance in

an aptitude test and a personal

interview conducted by us.

We thought that the sum of thousand

rupees would be enough for a Std X

student of the BSE, Odisha.

With this idea in our mind…we

approached the Principal of REC

School who was more than happy to

oblige. The concept was then

conveyed to the parents through the

teachers, who gave positive

responses to the idea.

But, the language barrier was one

thing that had to be taken care of.

Since most of the children there were

conversant in Odia only, we had to

make sure that we too interact with

them in Odia; and make the question

papers too in Odia.

THE FIRST SCHOLARSHIP

EXAM

The first scholarship exam was

conducted in 2010. After the aptitude

test, 6 students were selected for the

personal interview.

After interviewing the students and

their parents, and making an analysis

of their financial conditions, Prashant

Pradhan was selected for the

scholarship.

The thing to note here is that the money

was never given directly to Prashant…it

was given to his mentor- our very own

Anurag Mohapatra Sir.

THE CONCEPT OF

MENTORING

It was decided by the club members that

they wouldn’t look after Prashant as a unit;

instead we would assign a one to one

mentor for him who would guide him

throughout the course.

The mentor for a particular student was

chosen on the basis that he/she should be

a day scholar having his own vehicle.

The reasons being:

Liberty and mobility

Time

Knowledge about Rourkela’s education

infrastructure.

AFTER SELECTION…

Having received the money on behalf of Prashant, Anurag Sir spent it for him…on him. Buying quality Std X books and the necessary stationery for Prashant was one of the things that Anurag Sir did.

Apart from the monetary help, Anurag Sir imparted to Prashant two very important things from the point of view of a student-motivation and confidence.

He regularly met Prashant and his parents, talked and counselled them about academics.

Being a child, Prashant initially hesitated

upon the Anurag Sir’s participation in his

academics; but the ice between them was

soon broken and they started interacting

more freely.

THE RESULTS-

HIT YA MISS???

Prashant did really well in his Class 10 Board Exams and is now studying Science in the Ispat College, Rourkela.

Prashant’s success also meant that our project was successful. Subsequently in 2011, we decided to increase the budget to Rs. 2000 and select two instead of one Std X student for the scholarship.

Last year, two Std X kids-Soumya Ranjan and Swarnashree were studying under the mentorship of Anupam Mishra Sir.

NEXT IS WHAT???

LEO CLUB,

NIT ROURKELA