Mangaluru: The Eleventh Graduation Ceremony of the Class of 2016 at St Joseph Engineering College – Vamanjoor, Mangaluru was held on Saturday, November, 12 at 9:15 am in the Open Air Stage of the SJEC Campus. The ceremony witnessed the graduation of 610 graduands from six Engineering disciplines (Computer Science, Electronics and Communication, Electrical and Electronics, Mechanical, Civil, and Information Science), MBA, MCA, and three M.Tech disciplines (Computational Analysis in Mechanical Sciences, Power Electronics, and Digital Electronics and Communication). 
The ceremony was an impressive and impeccably organized event in the presence of revered luminaries in the field of Science and Technology. Padmashree awardee Dr T.K. Alex, Member – Space Commission and Former Director – ISRO Satellite Center, Bengaluru graced the occasion as Chief Guest. E. S. Chakravarthy, Center Head – Tata Consultancy Services, Bengaluru was the Guest of Honour for the ceremony. Most Rev. Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza, Bishop of Mangaluru and President of SJEC presided over the ceremony.
E.S. Chakravarthy, the Guest of Honour spoke with conviction of his own life experiences and offered students inspiration and motivation for the future, focussing their attention on the purpose of education and the purpose of life. He described SJEC as the most trusted academic partner of TCS in the State of Karnataka and expressed appreciation that students of this College are being trained to be “confident individuals, active contributors, self-driven learners, and concerned citizens.”
“Education is not a destination, but a journey. Students should set a target and attach a timeline to achieve them. Remember three things to succeed in life. Lose anything but not your character, be thankful to your parents and elders and the last keep smiling always,” he added.
The Chief Guest T. K. Alex spoke of the differences in the development of the nation from the 1970’s to date. Briefly presenting the history of ISRO, he said that there are valuable life lessons to be learnt from this experience. India is second to none; the nation will support your efforts if you have the good will to achieve; with hard work you can achieve your goals. He reminded the graduands that we should take pride in the success of Mangalyaan, India’s mission to Mars, and the fact that many of the facilities enjoyed by the common man come from space research, such as GPS and telecommunications. He congratulated the graduands on choosing engineering as a profession that would enable them to imagine, decide, and build a new nation and a new world and urged them to use this gift for a noble cause.
The Bishop of Mangalore Diocese and the President of SJEC, Most Rev. Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza honoured the rank holders and sportspersons of the Class of 2016 and also addressed the gathering. His Excellency congratulated the graduands for their life of dedication that had earned them their degree and the faculty and Management whose hard work had been crowned with success. He offered three goals for the Graduating students: to be a good human being; to be refined in all they do; and to be persons of good attitude.
The SJEC family also congratulated and honoured Most Rev. Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza, President of SJEC and Bishop of Mangalore Diocese on the celebrations of triple jubilee: 20 years as the Bishop of Mangaluru, 50 years as a priest and 75 years of the gift of life.
The ceremony concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr Sheryl Grace Colaco, Professor and Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Convenor of the Graduation Day Ceremony 2016.
