Alumni come to the rescue of prestigious school

St John’s Church High School Alumni Association (SJCHSAA) is celebrating the diamond jubilee celebrations of school on January 5 and 6, said P Sanjay Ram, organising secretary, SJCHSAA. He said that the Saturday Open House - meet and greet event will be held from 4 pm to 7 pm at ST. John’s Church High School at Marredpally in Secunderabad, while the main event "Diamond Jubilee Celebrations" will be held from 4.30pm to 10.30 pm at Wesley College Grounds, Opp to Anand Theatre, SD Road, Secunderabad on Sunday. Alumni from across the world are likely to participate in the diamond jubilee celebrations and alumni can register for the event on Jan 6 at the venue, he added.

Dr Moses Paul, the principal of St John’s Church High School stated that “The diamond jubilee celebrations to be held on Saturday will be all about delegates, passed outs and alumni from across the globe who will add up to this historic celebration. It perhaps is the celebration of past and reliving the school days of our students and nostalgia." “The event is even more prestigious and valuable as we have the inaugural of our plan for the new multiplex building to come up in place of the 200-year old historic school premises," the principal added. Meanwhile, the main objectives of St. John’s Church High School Alumni Association (SJCHSAA) is to ensure and facilitate the continual bonding of the alumni, said Sanjay Ram.

SJCHSAA was formed and registered as a society three years ago with the primary objective to establish, promote and carry on an association for the alumni of St. John’s Church High School and to maintain and promote unity and fellowship amongst the alumni of the school. He further informed that the aim was also to bring the old students of St. John’s Church High School under one forum to promote rapport between the association and the school and its students for the development and advancement of the school, its students, and teaching staff, exchange of experience, dissemination of knowledge and talents amongst its members and further development. The alumni association and the school management met frequently to take steps to revive the past glory of school.

It was almost 58 years the first batch of alumni left the gates of the alma mater in order to pursue lifelong dreams and thus the association decided to organise the first global alumni reunion in Jan 2016 involving alumni from 1969 to 2015. The planning for the 1st Global Alumni Meet started in June 2015 by the alumni committee members. How time flies can be witnessed when one meets school mates. So much changes right from the looks, receding hairlines, the increased waist lines and change in addresses. “It was a tough job trying to locate and coordinate with our alumni from 1969 onwards and I am sure those who helped out can testify to that. We tried to spread the message regarding the reunion through our alumni groups, social media, personal contacts and lot more,” said another organising member of the association.

SJCHSAA says its next objective was to coordinate and bring all our loving teachers for the first alumni meet. “We may not remember all the lessons our loving teachers taught us, but we remember them as a person who have been instrumental in shaping to what we are today.” Coordination with different batches of alumni, past and present teachers, and school management ensured the success of first global meet by the alumni committee. “I take this opportunity to record my appreciations and congratulate the committee members who are successful professionals working in different sectors for taking time out from their busy schedule and working very hard to make the reunion happen successfully,” Sanjay Ram said.

After the 1st reunion meet, the SJCHSAA with the support of some alumni took up a few development works and supported the school in the following areas in 2016: Sports equipment supported by 1988 batch and alumni association; play area supported by 1988 batch alumni; smart class supported by Dr Noel Deep of 1985 batch; Computer Lab supported by Lions Life Charitable Trust; Nano water treatment plant supported by Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and partly by Dr Noel Deep; Library books supported 1978 Alumni; 3 children fees supported by Surya Samudrala of 1976; Jai Kumar of 1975 and Sai Prasad Muthyam of 2000 batch. Speaking about the following meets, the organising secretary said that the 2nd alumni meet was organised successfully in Jan 2017. “We printed and distributed an alumni directory in Jan 2017 meet, based on the information gathered in the last meet.”

The alumni wanted the 3rd union to be held In Dec 2017 so that alumni from abroad could participate in the reunion, however, the turnout of alumni from abroad was not much. Hence, the committee decided to have the reunions in January from 2019 onwards. In 2017 meet the SJCHSAA initiated the concept of “Adopt a Classroom” where in each batch of students together can support the entire makeover of the class (infrastructure). The response was excellent, and the batches that have adopted classes are from years 1976, 1978 A Section (adopts two classes), 1980, 1985 A Section, 1985 B Section (adopts two classes), 1985 C Section, 1987 (adopts two smart classes), 1988 (adopts two classes) and 1991 B Section.

Makeover of classrooms from LKG to 10th class have been completed by Nov 2018. For the makeover new fans & tube lights have been installed in all rooms. Electrical internal wiring and switch boards have been changed in all rooms. New furniture (wherever needed) have been added to certain classrooms and wherever the benches were good have been repainted. To make learning fun and joyful, lot of toys and educational aids for the kindergarten classes have been provided. Painting of walls inside / outside have been undertaken in all classrooms. With the support from alumni two classes were upgraded to smart class with latest projector and screen. Desks and chairs for teachers have been provided. Apart from the classrooms, a fresh look to the Principal’s room, office, library and staff room have been provided.

Dr Vimal Sukumar has been kind enough to support the alumni meets. A few of our generous alumni have also supported the alumni meets. Sanjay Ram said, “I take this opportunity to record my appreciations and thank the alumni who have supported the school. We are also proud of our alumni who have achieved great milestones and made a mark in the world.” “It's a matter of pride to be an alumni of the great institution SJCHS. What awesome education we received can be seen by the number of successful alumni spread across the globe. We are truly indebted to our revered teachers who not only taught us how to stand on our feet and face life's challenges but also inculcated a fabulous value system which is helping us through our lives. Our education was not restricted to bookish knowledge, our teachers taught us way beyond that and proudly I can say, "Truth & Courage" was our motto in school and carries on in our life. The last 12 months have been a new chapter in my life wherein I have found an extended family in our alumni, consider myself blessed and am ever so thankful to God for it. Excited and looking forward to meeting our fabulous family of SJCHS,” says ex- SJCHS student, Kush Bhandari.