I organized two Winter Schools in my college days, the aim was to make juniors learn about things that were beyond the reaches of ordinary classrooms. In 2019, the theme was Bridging the Skill Gap. We conducted workshops on Data Science & Computational Fluid Dynamics I share with you here the speech that we delivered on the last day of the Winter School.
The only way to be comfortable with something is to be uncomfortable with it for a prolonged period until everything becomes familiar and relatable. That’s how we learn and grow by constantly going out of our comfort zones, by putting ourselves in places where we least want to be. When the logic delivered in class makes little sense. When urges are high to quit. When it feels like it won’t be easy and yet when we stay. When we walk a few extra miles. We become what we want to become. We learn what we want to learn. We grow. We learn most by putting ourselves in the most uncomfortable shoes.
Sure, the last few weeks were tough and challenging. Sleepless nights spent on fixing that ONE BUG. Sleepless nights spent on hammering that ONE NAIL. These sleepless nights will not go in vain, they never can. With the conclusion of Winter School, I can safely say that we all learned a lot and my friends that was our purpose behind conducting Winter School after all.
The real school will begin now, from tomorrow, in your own room, in your own time, when no one would be watching, no one to keep you accounted, what you in that school will determine what you become. I hope you make the right decision. I hope that you understand that Winter School is just the beginning, just the means, it’s not the end. The certificate that you’ll get is for participation, not competence. I hope you spend your time to become competent in Data Science and Computational Fluid Dynamics. I hope you become the kind of engineer India needs most right now. I hope you get skilled and help us Bridge the Skill Gap.
With S&T Committee we are trying to build a unique culture at RGIPT. The culture of learning and growing. The culture of innovating and tinkering and coding and entrepreneurship. The culture of teamwork and leadership. The culture of walking extra miles. We acknowledge that things are not perfect, but it’s my understanding that they never are. There is always some scope of improvement there to motivate us. I’m thoroughly impressed with the project and posters presented by the team. Pulling off an electronic circuit or an android app within a month without any proper guidance or educating is not easy, and all those who believe otherwise, well are welcome to try it once for themselves, we’ll be happy to fund their adventure. But, and this is a big But, nothing that we do is of any worth if we are not constantly growing. For what is the same perishes. If we are not taking feedbacks seriously and if we are not constantly changing and improving, all that we have built will go in vain, we must not let that happen. Our work should not be repeated annually, our work should be incremented. We should not be scientific only when it’s needed. We should be breathing science and talking ideas, we should spend more time tinkering and coding then we spend on futile things. We should spend more time in research labs, tinkering lab, libraries, then we spend in our rooms doing nothing. If we aim at excellence and if we want to be best, then we must do what they do, we must work hard. Success is simple, constantly work hard until you die. I never said Success is easy. It’s simple.
A big thank you to all the participants of Winter School for joining us and learning. I wish you keep sailing on this boat.
I would like to thank Dr. Satish Sinha for joining us on this valedictory session of Winter School. I’d like to call him on stage to say a few words of encouragement and announce the winners of the Poster & Project Exhibition.
Thank You.