Jatin Kumar is a BSc (H) Mathematics student of Rajdhani College, University of Delhi who has been continuously involved in beyond the classroom activities.
Here, Jatin is sharing his experience being a President of NSS Unit Rajdhani College. His hard work has the potential to propel him ahead of the curve.
Go ahead and know what his story has to offer so that you can easily find a path of self-growth.
What was your role? Briefly list the responsibilities associated with it.
Being the President of NSS, it was my duty to lead a change in the personalities of my fellow volunteers, motivating them to do certain tasks, talking with them, and explaining how things get done, telling them stories of the things I did and faced personally to motivate them.
The official duties assigned by the Program Officer to me were to bring out new ideas and act over them to create an event, involving the NSS teams in the organizations to the events and assigning various duties to suitable volunteers. Writing scripts for plays and anchoring, making sure that the volunteers are participating and learning, and if they were not then why? and finding out solutions for it, various documentation with the secretary of the society and making event reports, assigning positions like a team leader or an interim team leader, nominating suitable volunteers for various larger activities like the NSS National Camps, Pre RD Camp, Adventure camps etc.
It was my duty to personally handle all the events that were instructed from university or ministry. When an intra-college activity was to be conducted it would be assigned to a particular team willing to do the task, in this, I would always brief them on how to execute it and solve any problem they faced. Conducting weekly or monthly meetings with the core team member, team leaders, volunteers, and the PO and discussing the previous event, reflecting on the mistakes that were made, finding solutions to the problems we and the society faced and frame plans to solve them, collecting ideas for future, and making plans for the next event or activity.
What’s it like to juggle between leadership roles and academics? Pen down the challenges you faced.
When I became the NSS President, I was also in various other societies like Rangat: The fine art society, Equal opportunity cell, Arity: The Mathematics department, and was also involved in some other societies even when I was not completely in them like Gandhi Study circle. But the majority of the time was given to NSS.
Being the President of NSS, I had to take up various responsibilities and had to double-check everything that happened. Team management, Participating in the administration and meeting were some of the many things that I had to do in college, but the job was never done just in the college. When I used to get back home I would often do some other stuff like designing the event posters and banners, writing applications, calling the other members and PO for various things, etc.
Sometimes I felt tired and sometimes I was irritated, but the show must go on. Whenever something new was there, something which had never happened in and by my college NSS unit, the excitement that we would feel would know no bounds. This included some first time for our events like the District Youth Parliament, the NSS Fest, and Chalo Khele sports event and in this excitement studies never came to our minds, as if it never existed.
In my first semester, I scored quite good but from the 2nd semester, my academic result saw a sudden decline as I indulged myself in so many non-academic activities. All these activities had various life-long teachings that they taught me which are of course helping me a lot these days, but yeah, they did have an impact on my academics.
Some things that helped me stay on the academic track and protecting me from having any backlogs were that, whenever our exam times arrived, our PO would give a pause to the activities and we would have time to study then.
I missed so many classes of mine, but I would say I hardly attended some classes, but the precious moment when my class friends would teach me and provide me with their notes was like no other.
At last, I would say time management and priority setting are some of the things that got me through it and helped me maintain the balance between academics and ECA.
Did you also get a chance to connect with any other activity while working on this post?
Yes, my college started at 9 in the morning but I would reach there by 7:30 AM because I was played football and was a member of my college team. There the team played various tournaments like the intercollege, reliance football tournament, etc.
What are the top learnings, skills and values that you acquired here?
One of the most important thing that I gained was confidence. I had always been someone who would hardly talk with anyone unless I got something. I never knew how to start a conversation or speak publicly before a group or large gathering, but after experiencing so many things and learning a lot I was able to give an on the spot unscripted speech on the stage, before 100+ audience, for which I was informed just one minute earlier. And with that speech, I was the only speaker who got a standing ovation from the audience.
Better communication, Leadership, teamwork and team management, event organising, public speaking, presentation, graphic designing, Acting, content writing, report making, are some among many other things that I learned.
When it comes to values, the respect for life and the people who live in hardship and fight every day, and the kids who even somehow manage to learn in so many harsh conditions have increased.
Do you feel your current role fills you with pride and gratitude? Illustrate how the experience gained will help you going forward.
The experience here fro life is second to none. On the very first day when someone joins something these questions always arise What will we gain? How will it help us in the future? Is it really worth it? but for me, NSS answered all these questions not by words but by actions. It taught me so many things for life, so many values, and so many skills which are not only good for personality development but also improves my CV and profile as being a good and worthy experience.
Being an NSS volunteer has its own pride. We are able to do things that average people either won’t do or are unable to do. And this gives us an edge above others.
When it comes to pride the motto of NSS is enough to say a ton of things i.e. “NOT ME, BUT YOU”
When we walk in the college wearing the NSS T-shirts we are seen differently.
The NSS certificate we gain after the completion of our services has its own value in various sectors, but the things that we learn in the process and more important. Be it in some placement or some other selection process.
As when we talk about leadership we have a whole team with us. How do you persuade others to accept your ideas/ways?
Before expressing your ideas to someone else, it is very important that you yourself have thought it through and have put in on various grounds and situations. You must know what the idea is and evaluate in yourself to the best you can. You should always study it well.
One should tell others to follow a path only if he is willing to follow it himself. If you yourself are not convinced with the idea, others will never be. And when you are done with all this, only then you should present it before others to convince them for the same. You speaking and elaborating skills also plays an important role.
Your idea being great is one thing, but convincing others for the same is different and is also equally important. Introduce the idea well, show various points to it, look at it from various angles, and if it is feasible and the people you are presenting to are good enough then it will work.
What is your message to students, aspiring the same or a similar role to do?
The journey here is more important than the destination. The people you meet, the new things you learn, the challenges you face, your achievements and failures all of these have a lot more to gain from than the certificate, and the prize. And it is worth giving a chance to something from your you will learn something new. The greatest lessons are never in books, they are always before us in life.
How can we (Friends, Family, YI Fraternity) encourage young students such as yourself to engage with co-curricular or extra-curricular activities?
The academics will give you marks on your mark sheet, These experiences will give you marks on your personality. A single sheet of paper cannot decide your future, but if the paper is your CV then it may.
Anything else would you like to say to the YI learners who’ll be reading your experience?
I believe there are a few things that every person should have confidence, adaptability, discipline, learning attitude, and intellectual ability. If they acquire these things, they can acquire anything.
We at Young Influx would take this opportunity to thank Jatin for taking a leap of faith and sharing his impeccable story. We are humbled and grateful, your efforts mean a lot for the youth seeking growth and development.
And hello, dear readers, we welcome you to explore the platform with an open mind. Help yourself gain most out of the experiences and opportunities listed here.
And before you bid us adieu, we would like you to know that you can read more such student stories here.
