PATHANAMTHITTA: Sacred Heart College, Thevara, the overall champion at the Mahatma Gandhi University Youth Festival for three consecutive years till 2020, is all set to lift the trophy this time too. When the points were announced on Monday evening, SH College was leading with 65 points. The college has never gone back from the first position after the organisers started announcing the results of the competitions since Friday.
“This time, we came to Pathanamthitta with a lot of apprehension as we got only 18 days for practising for the youth festival. In the previous years, we used to start the preparations at least three months before the festival. But this time, there was uncertainty about the youth festival taking place like last year due to the pandemic situation. Hence, we got only a short span of time,” said Abin Ambily, student development officer of the college. “We started the practice sessions in the second week of March.
As many as 88 students are taking part in the competitions. During the practice, our participants, teachers concerned were really dedicated and had stayed in the college even at night. Literally, all participants had practised tirelessly to make up for the lost time,” said Abin. The college team for the youth festival is being coordinated by Fr Sebastian John. “This time, except for drama competitions, our students are participating in all other items.
Our teams are competing in six group events. Our college had scored a hat-trick in the MG University Youth Fest since 2018. There was no youth festival in 2021 due to the Covid spread. We are hopeful that our college will retain the trophy this time too. Music events are the main monopoly of our college and we have been keeping first position for the past 10 years in group song (Indian),” said Abin.
SH College students bagged first places in group song (Indian), aksharaslokam, kavyakeli, skit, poetry recitation (Hindi), light music vocal (female), light music vocal (male), stringed instruments (western) and western vocal solo. The students secured second places in keralanadanam, kathakali, quiz and classical music vocal (male). The college also bagged third place in stringed instrument (eastern).
“Our college has been giving pivotal importance to provide a platform to encourage the students’ extracurricular activities. At the time of admission, the college gives preference to the students who are talented in extracurricular activities besides their academic background. So, our college can stage good performances in youth festivals. We are hopeful that we will retain the overall championship once again,” said a team member of the college.