ANNUAL PRIZE DAY

Senior Section

“Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

– Theodore Roosevelt

Do you know what tastes better than success? It is the recognition of excellence as manifested in their getting awarded for their meritorious performance. Keeping this in mind, St. Joseph’s College, Prayagraj organised the Annual Prize Day, 2024 on the 6^th of July, 2024.

The highly anticipated programme commenced with the Chief Guest, Rev. Fr. Isidore D’Souza being escorted by the Principal, Rev. Fr. Walter D’Silva, the Additional Administrator, Mr. A. McGowan and the Staff Coordinator, Mr. Jyoti Dube amidst a thunderous round of applause.

The Mistress of Ceremonies, Mrs. Madhulika D’Souza welcomed the dignitaries of the event following which Mrs. Sarika Lyall led the audience with the Bible Reading and a special prayer for the overall well-being of the prize-winning students as well as all those who mentored them, namely their parents and their teachers. Under the expert guidance of Mr. S. Nayak, the College Choir then sang a special Prayer Song followed by the College Anthem.

In her introduction of the Chief Guest, Mrs. M. D’Souza dwelt on the impressive line-up of responsibilities that has distinguished the Chief Guest’s illustrious career. Rev. Fr. Isidore D’Souza has served as the Vice Principal at St. Thomas School, Kidwainagar, Kanpur and has also been the Vice-Principal of St. Joseph’s College, Prayagraj. He is currently serving as the Administrator of Nazareth Hospital, Prayagraj. His is a life exemplifying the motto “Called to give life” and he truly lives up to it.

Moving onto the main event, the students of classes 6 to 8 were awarded for securing the top ranks in their respective sections. Awards for 100 % attendance were handed out as well. The students have truly worked hard for their achievements.

Adding onto the allure of the event, the College Band performed a foot tapping song, giving way to the next section of the programme-a bevy of teachers being awarded the Late Leon Ducasse Award for 100% attendance. It is no mean feat to brave inclement weather besides an occasional bout of illness yet be present throughout an Academic Session. Capt. A. B. Singh, Mrs. M. Masih, Mr. S. Chandra, Mr. V. David, Mr. A. Mahendra, Mr. D. Pascal, Dr. R. Dwivedi, Mr. N. Gune and Mr. M. Ahmed were awarded for 100% attendance.

Subsequently, students of classes 9 and 11 were felicitated for their outstanding performance in the home examinations, both for merit and 100% attendance. Kavya Rai of class 11 F was awarded a special token of appreciation for helping write the ISC exams for a fellow Josephite.

Alively, instrumental compendium of some of the most well-known nursery rhymes brought smiles aplenty to the assembled gathering as they marvelled at the remarkable synchronization by the junior most students thanks to the tutelage of Mr. R. Solomon.

The ICSE toppers were then awarded for their remarkable scores in the exams. Kavya Kushwaha bagged the first position with 98.7%, Anay Verma at the second position with 98.2% and Chinmay Tiwari at the third position with 98%. All the ICSE toppers were also given a 100% fee concession in order to motivate them to keep excelling in life.

Further on, the ISC toppers of various streams for the session 2023-2024 were awarded the merit awards for their outstanding performance in the ISC examinations. In the Science stream, Aditya Upadhyay along with Manan Madnani bagged the first position with 97%, Krishanu Som, the second position with 96.5% and Aditya Pandey along with Uddyan Chatterjee at the third position with 96.25%. In the Commerce stream, Divyam Agarwal and Udit Shukla bagged the first position with 95.25%, Kartikeya Shukla secured the second place with 95% and Madhur Purswani won the third place with 93.5%. The Humanities stream saw Aditya Divya Prakash claiming the first position with 95.5%, Sameer Shankar the second position with 93% and finally Mayank Singh, the third position with 90.5%. Aditya Upadhyay and Manan Madnani were also awarded a laptop by the school on the Annual Sport’s Day.

The scholarship by the Batch of 199 launched a Josephite Financial Trust to aid the financial needs of the students to help in their education was awarded to Saksham Jaiswal and Shashwat Pandey, both from the Computer section and Xiao Ping Chai from the Physical Section. It was certainly a proud moment for the students to receive their scholarships from the representatives of the 1996 batch, that is, Dr. Piyush Saxena, Mr. Siddharth Nandan and Mr. Arjun Agarwal.

Mrs. Rekha Shukla and Mr. S. B. Rai were also felicitated by the Award they had been bestowed by the United Group of Institutions for their relentless hard work. Keeping in mind the highly creditable performance of our students in the CMS Model United Nations. Special Mention Awards for their merits were given to the following students:Aditya Mishra, Mohd. Sultan and Kavya Rai. Nishkarsh Gupta and Sarthak Singh received ‘High Commendation’, Mohd. Inzamamul Haque, Arnav Pandey, Daksh Lyall, Raghav Mishra and Shourya Goswami received ‘Participation Certificate’ and Arush Singh and Samagra Gune received the ‘Verbal Mention Certificate’. Mrs. Sumona Banerjee received a vote of thanks for selecting, nurturing and training the students, putting in tremendous work which in turn helped them to do their best. Special thanks were also extended to Mrs. S. Rajauriya, Mrs. S. Lyall, Mrs. M. D’Cruz and Mr. D. Sebastian, for their whole-hearted efforts for the same.

The Chief Guest, Rev. Fr. Isidore D’Souza was then invited to the stage to address the gathering. Rev. Fr. Isidore D’Souza began by encouraging the students to "Never underestimate themselves and to always utilise the opportunities which come on an equal basis to all” referring to the great Former President, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Rev. Fr. Isidore D’Souza then referred Arunima Sinha, the first amputee climber to reach Mt. Everest, his main point being, to not feel defeated even if challenges come your way. Further on, he explained the importance of diligence in one’s life and that the only mantra for success is hard work quoting the former Missile Man of India, “If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun.”

As a mark of appreciation and gratitude, a memento was presented to the Chief Guest by the Principal, Rev. Fr. Walter D’Silva. The Principal, moving onto the final stage of the event, attended the gathering, appreciating the hard work displayed by the awardees. He greatly appreciated the students who outdid themselves and displayed their instrumental talents on the stage. He gave a special mention to all the parents and the teachers who have worked alongside and the students and have helped them improve. He talked about the triad of “teachers, parents and students” who pave a clear path to success. Rev. Fr. Walter D’Silva emphasised on the need to not rest on your laurels as the sky is the limit for those who are consistent. Success touches the feet of those who are never afraid of hard work. Concluding his speech, Rev. Fr. Walter D’Silva advised all students to not get distracted by temptations and to "Always Aim High" in life.

The National Anthem marked the end of the event.