2007-Resounding Success

The year 2007 was a historic year for YELL club. In fact i would go a step further and say it was the turning point for the club. The club which was found in September 2006 had a rough run in the initial semester. But then again there were various factors for that. Firstly it was a group of 9 people to be precise who started the club. The idea was very new and students in the college weren't sure whether it would work out or not. We organized two discussion forums in the beginning (which now goes by the name of 'Shout Out') which got a descent response. By the end of 2006 we realized that we will have to market this club in a better manner in order to reach out to the students. We were firm about one thing from the beginning that the core of the club would be "expression" and for the club"quality matters more then quantity" . The club would act as a forum for all students to come and express themselves. Obviously music and dance wouldn't fit in this category as we already had a cultural committee in place to organize that. We started the year 2007 on a different note. In Feb we organized a 'public speaking' workshop which was conducted by Dr. George Mclemore, Rtd prof University of Texas Pan America. The workshop was for MIC students and had a free entry. The aim of the workshop was to make students to come forward and drop their inhibitions to become better expressers through public speaking. And to our surprise we had a turn out of 30 students. Whats important to note here is that we were asked to take only 25 students but due to the huge demand for participation we had to close the intake of the students at 30. The workshop was instrumental in making the students aware about the club and its objectives. The workshop was followed by a inter MIC debate competition which was held in the month of March. The debate competition saw 8 of the best debaters coming forward and voicing their opinions in an hour long fierce debate which saw a huge response from the audience. We went a step ahead in the month of April by organizing the University level photography certified workshop. This workshop was again conducted by Dr. George Mclemore who is also a known photographer and has just finished writing a book on photography. 30 participants from 10 different colleges of Manipal University participated in this workshop which was conducted on two days over a period of one week. This workshop was a resounding success which bolstered the image of the club. YELL was now not only known in MIC but also in different colleges of Manipal University thanks to this workshop. In fact there were a few people who wanted to join the club at that time but we weren't ready to take members yet. The semester saw the club organizing three major events which saw a encouraging response and the club got the much needed publicity. But this was not the end. The academic year ended on a all time high when the club was issued the ISO 9001 certificate. We couldn't have asked for a better ending to the academic year. As we headed in the new academic year by now the club was stable enough and clear about its objectives it was time to start enrolling members. We enrolled members from the existing batches which were the 2nd BAJC, 3rd BAJC and MS 2nd year. We decided not to register members from the fresh batches that included 1st BAJC and 1st MS. But instead we organized an exclusive 2 day literary event by the name of "Expload" for the freshers. The 2 day event included debate,dumb charades, creative writing and extempore. This event was organized to give the freshers a platform to come forward and exhibit their talent. The event got a good response and day 2 ended with the prize distribution. Expload gave the freshers an idea and feel about the club. Once the event got over we started registering the freshers in the club. September 5th was the last date and to our surprise 55 students joined the club. It was heartening to see that in it's very first year the club was able to register so many members. We had to select 4 news members for the core committee from the new batches to expand it to 10 members. After a 3 hour long rigourous interview session we finally selected 4 new freshers out of the 26 candidates The subtle message was that people started believing in the club and its activities. The other events organized were "Shout out" and Bibliomania which was the brain child of the UG 1st years. They organized the event which saw the book lovers of MIC come together. The mother of all events was organized in October- The first ever Intra MIC literary Events... "The YELL WEEK". The event was organized for 5 days that included 8 literary events... The objective of the event was to infuse enthusiasm among students for literary activities and also at the same time build a good literary team for the college. YELL was delegated the responsibility to build a good literary team for the college....so we decided to raise the bar and made the events a bit tough...this way we would expose the participants to the tough competition that awaits them in inter college events. Its a gradual process and if we keep organizing events like this on a regular basis and keep raising the bar then we will surely start winning events in tough inter college events. This is a long term strategy which will surely prove fruitful in the years to come. The YELL week saw 56 participant from all the the 5 batches. The best part was that people who are shy in classes not only participated but also won events. This underlines one fact that everyone has talent, it just needs to be nurtured.

In retrospect the last semester was the most happening semester for YELL club. We have taken not a single penny from the college and university but still have ensured that we give away quality mementos and certificates to encourage more participation. But the key of the last semester i would say was the cohesiveness which with the whole club worked..the team work displayed in all the major and small events was the key behind the club's success. There are a few freshers who have shown a lot of enthusiasm and i believe they are the future of this club

But i believe this is just the beginning and it is time for us to raise the bar even higher.We are now firm within the college and now its time to prove ourselves outside. In November YELL also tied up with 'India First' a Bangalore based youth NGO. The vision both the organizations share is to help each other grow across India and build a umbrella of all the youth based clubs and organization to come together and emanate mass social campaigns across the nation. The coming semester is going to be even more challenging as we gear ourselves up to organize the first ever Student Media Convention by the name of 'Manipal Student Media Convention'. The idea is to bring media students, students interested in media and experts from the industry for a direct interaction. The Convention would serve as a interface between the experts and the fiture of media. The theme for the convention would be "New Media". The biggest challenge is to get sponsors. I am sure the way we have worked in the last semester we will surely be able to execute this event on a large scale and make it a grand spectacle. I would like to end by stating that this is just the beginning. We still have a long long way to go and have to set newer goals for the club. If we work cohesively and with the same enthusiasm then sky is the limit. Looking forward to the next semester with a hope that we will pull out some more pleasant surprises. Till then keep YELLING......

Sameer Ahmad Hashmi