It is with great pride and joy that we put this news down on paper. Adding another feather to the already well-adorned cap of our alma-mater SIMSREE, a group of our students has gone where many prominent personalities can’t even imagine of going. They are a part of the select few who met and welcomed the US first lady, Ms Michelle Obama on 6th November in Mumbai.
A few weeks back, these SIMSREE students made the college proud, by winning MUNIJAN 2010. Mumbai University inaugurated MUNIJAN (Mumbai University New Initiative for Joint Action Now) competition this year which is a student social responsibility initiative. The aim of this competition was to encourage students to think in terms of their responsibilities towards the environment, the world and society. The winning SIMSREE team consisted of Akanksha Sharma, Michelle Rodrigues, Akanksha Bhalla, Upasana Koul and Pratik Mittal. Their idea was called ‘Ecobinders’. The plan consisted of implementing a system to rebind unused pages from notebooks into new books. This idea was judged the most implementable and sustainable, as well as being very relevant to the lives of students.
Now these five people have gone a few steps ahead and have taken the college to new heights by getting a chance to meet the first lady of the United States of America, Ms Michelle Obama. After the historic meeting, Akanksha Bhalla said, “Our project reminded her of her early days when she was involved with social work and had worked on many social issues. She said she could relate to it and had done similar projects after she graduated from Harvard Law School.” The meet was initially scheduled for 5 minutes but it extended to 20 minutes as Ms Obama got really engrossed in interacting with the team. Another team member, Michelle said this after meeting her namesake, “Our idea not just provides a solution to deforestation, but also promotes education. She loved our idea and told us that since it is an important project and is relevant globally, so we must take it to a global level”.
It was an opportunity that many people will give an arm and a leg for and these eco-warriors got it on merit.
Even during the MUNIJAN competition, ‘Ecobinders’ had fascinated everyone present and these invitations put another stamp of approval on this ridiculously simple initiative and also on the quality of students that come out of SIMSREE. Kudos to them all.
Here are a few links about the same that was covered in various national and regional newspapers.
DNA - http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_university-students-to-give-green-tips-to-michelle-obama_1461910
Indian Express - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/At-University-library--Michelle-to-meet-kids-and-budding-managers/707272/
Gulf News - http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/michelle-to-meet-poor-kids-pupils-1.706593
Pudhari - http://epaper.pudhari.com/epapermain.aspx
DNA - http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_mumbai-university-students-impress-michelle-obama-with-their-idea_1463138
A few weeks back, these SIMSREE students made the college proud, by winning MUNIJAN 2010. Mumbai University inaugurated MUNIJAN (Mumbai University New Initiative for Joint Action Now) competition this year which is a student social responsibility initiative. The aim of this competition was to encourage students to think in terms of their responsibilities towards the environment, the world and society. The winning SIMSREE team consisted of Akanksha Sharma, Michelle Rodrigues, Akanksha Bhalla, Upasana Koul and Pratik Mittal. Their idea was called ‘Ecobinders’. The plan consisted of implementing a system to rebind unused pages from notebooks into new books. This idea was judged the most implementable and sustainable, as well as being very relevant to the lives of students.
Now these five people have gone a few steps ahead and have taken the college to new heights by getting a chance to meet the first lady of the United States of America, Ms Michelle Obama. After the historic meeting, Akanksha Bhalla said, “Our project reminded her of her early days when she was involved with social work and had worked on many social issues. She said she could relate to it and had done similar projects after she graduated from Harvard Law School.” The meet was initially scheduled for 5 minutes but it extended to 20 minutes as Ms Obama got really engrossed in interacting with the team. Another team member, Michelle said this after meeting her namesake, “Our idea not just provides a solution to deforestation, but also promotes education. She loved our idea and told us that since it is an important project and is relevant globally, so we must take it to a global level”.Even during the MUNIJAN competition, ‘Ecobinders’ had fascinated everyone present and these invitations put another stamp of approval on this ridiculously simple initiative and also on the quality of students that come out of SIMSREE. Kudos to them all.
Here are a few links about the same that was covered in various national and regional newspapers.
DNA - http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_university-students-to-give-green-tips-to-michelle-obama_1461910
Indian Express - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/At-University-library--Michelle-to-meet-kids-and-budding-managers/707272/
Gulf News - http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/michelle-to-meet-poor-kids-pupils-1.706593
Pudhari - http://epaper.pudhari.com/epapermain.aspx
DNA - http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_mumbai-university-students-impress-michelle-obama-with-their-idea_1463138
