IITAA-K & GSIS Community Outreach Programme
As an alumni association we always strive to provide a rich set of experiences and opportunities to all our members; to learn and grow. We also work towards strengthening the brand of IIT by being relevant and create impact in the local community, business and academia.
IITAA-K was presented with one such community outreach opportunity and we are proud to announce partnership between Gyeonggi Suwon International School (GSIS) and IIT Alumni Association Korea (IITAA-K). The partnership involves organizing events “to bring the technical and professional expertise among the members and mould them in to simple insights for students.”
We are very happy to see this materialize and we hope all of our members patronize this initiative and make it a resounding success. More about this partnership and how to participate below:
The Beginnings:
As a pilot project we chose the topic of ‘Problem Solving’. On the afternoon of 10th of April, a Friday office bearers of IITAA-K gave a 45 min presentation followed by a Q&A session with students and teachers.
To give everyone a sense of what went on here is a quick summary of the session:
IITAA-K was presented with one such community outreach opportunity and we are proud to announce partnership between Gyeonggi Suwon International School (GSIS) and IIT Alumni Association Korea (IITAA-K). The partnership involves organizing events “to bring the technical and professional expertise among the members and mould them in to simple insights for students.”
We are very happy to see this materialize and we hope all of our members patronize this initiative and make it a resounding success. More about this partnership and how to participate below:
The Beginnings:
As a pilot project we chose the topic of ‘Problem Solving’. On the afternoon of 10th of April, a Friday office bearers of IITAA-K gave a 45 min presentation followed by a Q&A session with students and teachers.
To give everyone a sense of what went on here is a quick summary of the session:
- Jalaj Jain: Highlighted the importance of strategy, experimenting fast and failing fast and deciding on your goals and directing resources in that direction
- Vishnu Vinjam: Illustrated few problem solving strategies by the STOP-THINK-ACT-EVALUATE framework and did a live example on “Math difficulty” with student’s participation
- Subhojit Chakladar: About need to learn from the past, stand out and make place for oneself in this world and the idea of comfort zone and transcending its boundaries.
- Pankaj Agarwal: Three golden rules for success, to report to oneself, to always stay positive and to know he/she is special.
A photograph from the event.
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Results:
A lively Q&A session followed with topics like arts in a STEM based education; design thinking, effort vs intelligence in success and pursuing passions vs work among others. The response to the event on a whole was tremendously positive, insightful for the students and teachers seeing the potential of such events where professionals come to share their stories and lessons. In order to solidify this relationship, banking on the success of the first event IITAA-K has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GSIS to partner on having more such events. |
Signing the MoU.
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MoU Document.
Future Work:
Starting this September we would be having one event every month with students of GSIS on a Friday afternoon on a variety of topics. This will be organized in collaboration with Mu Alpha Theta club in GSIS and the event is open to teachers and parents of students too.
Our partnership with GSIS is first of many, where our professional expertise will be used positively for the benefit of the local community. It is a form of giving back not just to our alma mater but also to the place and country which has provided us an opportunity for our professional growth and well being. GSIS was chosen as our first project because of the already existing relationships we had with them i.e. many Suwon based IIT Alumni’s kids study there. We are currently in talks with schools and universities in Seoul too where our other members can get such an opportunity. We also encourage members to come up with initiatives and ideas on their own, to take our mission forward.
Action Plan:
Every event with GSIS will be on a particular theme. 4-5 members who volunteer for a topic will form a team that decides the structure, flow and presentation style of the event. Team will be given full creative freedom to make it engaging and useful for students.
We are currently in talks with GSIS on what topics will be for each month, but here is a sneak peak into few of them
Technical:
1. Starting to code: Importance of Programming
2. Art of Critical Thinking
General:
1. Pursuing Passions: Outside School
2. Art of Acquiring New Skill - Power of Habit
3. Books - Writing - Travel
Career:
1. Careers - Engineering and Science
2. Careers - Business, Management, Entrepreneurship
3. Careers - Arts, Music and Unconventional
4. Deciding your Major
5. The Startup of You: Managing Yourself to be a Star
Call:
All members who wish to participate in these events, please fill this form (takes 15 sec). We update you on topics, dates and ask for when you could give your valuable time.