MY FIRST YEAR AT THE SOIL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

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Recalling My First Year at SOIL PGDM

19 Apr 2022
- admin
- Student Life
2 Year MBA

It is no secret that for everyone college life is one of the most remarkable times of their lives and likely so for me as well. My first year at SOIL PGDM was truly a one of a kind experience. Though we were not that lucky to meet, greet and experience it physically because of the unforeseeable conditions, nonetheless it was the most exciting journey for me and my fellow batchmates.

Even though the life of an MBA student is hectic with regular classes and tons of assignments, case studies and readings, we actually made sure to have fun in between all these. In the beginning, I was a bit unsure about how I would be able to make friends or adjust digitally, but gradually, multiple ice breaking sessions during the first two weeks of our orientation and induction helped us a lot. Connecting sessions with the seniors and peers were very engaging and interactive. Our seniors, the Avant Garde batch, were able to guide and motivate us about our upcoming online journey. I still remember, one of the seniors suggested to me to just go with the flow and not worry about what would happen next, because the suspense and surprise is what makes life fun.

Preparing for Morning circles was the most relaxing and comforting task for us because it was the time when we could share our insights, ideas, and thoughts in any form with our faculties, seniors and batch mates. Celebrating birthdays with melodies, songs and lots of wishes in the morning circle was our favourite thing.

Student elections were the next biggest highlight of our first year, the craze and excitement among our batch mates was definitely worth seeing. The election campaigns, drills and speeches were in the full swing even between our classes, which led to all those promises like extending breaks in between classes and even reducing the assignments!

Break out rooms were always our little escape from the intense and often serious classroom sessions. These breakout rooms were very helpful for us in learning, but at the same time they taught us to be compassionate and empathic. I fondly remember all those times when we use our break out rooms as a chit chat session about our lives and things going on, these were places where we could all release our stresses.

Another fond memory that is very fresh in my mind is the Freedom of Fear event we were part of. It was an integral aspect of our Self-Leadership course and the idea was to present something at the end of the course but to choose something that we were not very good at. We were encouraged to take up a practice of something we were actually scared of doing in front of the public. It was great to watch all our friends face their fears in the most fun-loving way and also to be able to overcome my own fears through this class. The goal of this course was to learn how to take the first step in any journey, even if it was uncomfortable or scary. The rest would follow thanks to our determination and will power.

People may always look back at the times spent in the college canteen, but we also had our share of fun and pranks during our online journey as well. I believe the pandemic has taught us how to be prepared for any crisis – both in our professional and personal lives. True to the saying ‘Amid every crisis lies good opportunity’. I am positive our batch has developed the skill to make memories even more meaningful, and that’s the reason we are called ‘The Imagineers’.

Swati Sharma
PGDM, Class of 2022