Mangaluru: St Agnes College (Autonomous) celebrates its Establishment Day each year on 2 July. The college which was founded in 1921 is now 103 years old. In order to commemorate the work of the visionary founder Mother Mary Aloysia A.C. the college holds an endowment lecture each year. This year it was held on 24 July 2023. The invited guest speaker for this academic year 2023-24 was Vasanthi Hariprakash Founder CEO of Pickle Jar Media. She is an award-winning journalist, and radio and television personality, as well as into media entrepreneurship.
The programme commenced at 2.30 p.m. in the Mother Mary Aloysia Centenary Block with a prayer, soon after which Sr M. Clara A.C, the Vice Principal welcomed and introduced the guest speaker to the audience. Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Sr Dr M. Maria Roopa A.C., Superior of St Agnes Convent and Joint Secretary of the College, Sr M. Carmel Rita A.C the Administrator, Sr Dr M.Venissa A.C, the Principal, Sr Dr M. Vinora A.C., the Co-ordinator of Post Graduate Studies and Dr Ita Gonsalves, the Co-ordinator of the IQAC. As a mark of respect and gratitude, and on behalf of all the stakeholders present, the dignitaries offered a floral tribute to the founder.
Vasanthi Hariprakash addressed the audience on the power of speaking up and the objective of her lecture was that the career of the audience goes from good to great. She said that the constitution invests in us the freedom of speech and we must use it for our good and for the collective good. She gave her personal life example to prove that she was able to carve a niche for herself in the world of mass communication and media because of her ability to speak up for the voiceless. While it takes a lot of hard work to be able to speak up and speak out, it is definitely very satisfying and rewarding is what she elucidated during the course of her lecture.
She offered three tips to the student audience, the first being that one should engage in meaningful and positive “self-talk”, secondly one should “build resilience” in order to develop confidence and lastly one should “pull out all stops” and widen one’s vision and transform ones future from good to great. She urged the audience to walk in the footsteps of the founder Mother Mary Aloysia A.C. and make this society a better place for all. The lecture was followed by a lively question-and-answer session.
The programme concluded at 4 pm after Vineetha from the Dept of Commerce proposed the vote of thanks.
