KADAM - STEPPING FORWARD TOGETHER

In the truest Mangalayatan tradition of community-before-self, a group of students, from all disciplines, have taken on the responsibility of educating the children of Campus Workers, Grade-4 staff and of nearby Farmers and Shopkeepers. One founding member of this initiative has this to say about her experience:

I come from a small town near Agra. I used to think that I was unlucky because our town had only 2-3 decent schools, and we knew so little about the outside world. Then I came to Mangalayatan, a University established in a semi-rural place, where there are so many nearby villages without a single school. At least, my family and friends were all oriented towards education. Children here are told to drop out because parents are menial workers who don't want to spend on education! When my friends and I saw this in our first year, after talking to these children on campus, we had to do something.

She goes on to add, “Being at Mangalayatan, we realize how lucky we are, to have good faculty, a structured curriculum, many professional experts training us and helping us plan our careers. We feel that we want to help less fortunate children so that they may get the passion to go back to education and build a bright future.”

Today, the Kadam initiative has over 120 volunteers, and touches the lives of over 400 children around the University. Its members feel there is no limit to the reach of this effort. It offers new students an ideal platform to discover themselves, in the way one can only by giving.

PARIVARTAN - CHANGE FOR THE GREENER

Another exemplary student initiative, Parivartan aims to preach the green life with such fervor that it becomes the only life.

In its first year of existence, Parivartan has organized street plays to raise awareness on global warming, conducted elaborate presentations on energy conservation and renewable energy, held a shramdaan (donation of labor) to clean up the campus, a much-publicized run called the Greenathon, and put up awareness posters on a variety of issues all over campus.

The club has already begun work on a periodic newsletter, to be circulated among various citizens of Aligarh outside of the Mangalayatan Community. This will consist of essays, original opinions and short research reports on relevant topics. Fresh students at MU will have the opportunity to be pivotal contributors in this growing initiative.

MU TECHNOLOGY CLUB

Founded by a bunch of technology enthusiasts, the TechClub has conducted several technology workshops since its inception. Chief among these was the two-day Ethical Hacking workshop conducted by industry experts. Club volunteers contacted executives of a leading company in the field and convinced them to visit the campus for the workshop. The workshop kick started a wave of enthusiasm in campus towards high technology.