How Sacred Heart College won MG University Youth Festival
Just when the first round of results was announced, Sacred Heart College, Thevara had secured a huge lead against their arch-rivals Maharaja’s and St. Teresa’s College in MG University Youth Festival. It marked the hat trick win trumping their rivals with a lead of over thirty points. The college managed to secure 156 points, a record in MG University Youth Festival.
Speaking to Onmanorama, SH college’s first woman chairperson, Vaikhari said, “We got onto the bus dreaming about the hattrick, our students are hugely talented, we didn’t have a second plan, our plan was to win the trophy. The credit for winning the trophy solely goes to the talented students.”
Fr. Prasanth Palakkappillil says, “We have been preparing for the fest for a long time and we have an amazing talent pool and we thought we deserved to win and results were as expected. It’s a combination of God’s grace, hard work of the students and the support of teachers and our management. For me, participation is the key and the oneness created should unite us all.”
Arts club secretary Alex received a standing ovation from the students for the sleepless nights and efforts he took in making sure the college retained the coveted cup. He says, “It was a matter of pride for us to win the cup in 2020, we started our preparation three-four months before the festival. We not only wanted to win the cup but also wanted to create history. We have won prizes in all group events we participated in.”
Prof. Shyamlal who co-ordinated the efforts between teachers and students said, “We had a clear plan to win the trophy, we analysed our past year results and understood the areas where we had to score, we spent a lot of time concentrating on literary events and the overall support from all corners led us to victory.”
Team members of Eastern light music who secured first prize said, “The competition was really tough, we weren’t sure at first but the audience response gave us the belief that we may win and our music teacher said, we have done well than last year and when the results were announced we were ecstatic.”
Malavika who secured first in ‘Kathaprasangam’ said, “ I chose the theme of photojournalist Kevin Carter, it was about the criticism he had to face after he took the photo of the vulture and little girl which led him to depression and suicide.”
Kerala Minister for Electricity MM Mani gave away the trophy for the winners of Article 14 MG University Youth Festival. The theme of the festival emphasised on equality and was largely inspired by the resistance of students across India fighting against the recently enacted Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. The Festival was held at Al-Azhar College, Thodupuzha from Feb 28 to March 3 with a distinct feature of having the infrastructure to host all events under one roof.