Rotaract leaders of Andhra
It is an eye-opener to know that a small town in the Anakapalli district of Andhra Pradesh is empowering youth and girl students through its twin Rotaract clubs — RACs Young Leaders and Sabala, RID 3020 — which have students of SPACES Degree College as members. “Our college offering arts, commerce, sciences and management courses is located in Payakaraopeta, a small town surrounded by villages. Sponsored by RC Tuni, we are a 14-year-old club for male students, while girls are represented by RAC Sabala,” says Pardha Saradhi Ayyangar, president, RAC Young Leaders. With just 40 members,
the club has done well-designed projects that speak volumes of their innovative spirit.
Around 200 people at Aratlakota and Mangavaram villages were sensitised at Project Vana Paatham camps on the need to “conserve nature, protect our trees/plants, and understand the crucial role of biodiversity in nurturing various forms of life on planet Earth,” explains Ayyangar. Having a tagline ‘celebrating life with plants,’ the special camps of Vana Paatham (path of trees) also distributed 450 saplings to villagers and students who were administered a pledge to nurture the trees till the end. More than 100 students from their college took part in a literary contest related to conservation.
Online Google meets were conducted under Project Maithri (friendship) where Rotaractors from 60 clubs in India, US, Russia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, among others, exchanged cultural ideas, letterheads; enjoyed fun games; and shared notes on future projects. “Our tagline ‘celebrating friendship beyond borders’ crisply puts forth the aim of Project Maithri,” he says.
‘Vande’ projects
Competitions in spoken and written Sanskrit were held for the Rotaractors of RID 3020 and students of Sampradaya, an institute in Hyderabad, under Project Vande Geervana Vani (salutions to Mother Sanskrit language). At the online seminar, scholars, Dorbala Prabhakara Sharma and V Gopalakrishna Shastri, gave lectures on ‘necessity to learn and speak Sanskrit in the modern era.’ DG Bhaskar Ram felicitated the scholars.
In the second ‘Vande’ event — Vande Guru Paramparaam (salutations to our teachers), 39 lecturers and teaching staff at SPACES College were felicitated by Rotaractors at a thanksgiving ceremony. “We are planning a series of programmes under ‘celebrations’ and ‘Vande’ taglines in the coming months,” says Ayyangar, a 3rd year student of BSc (CBZ). “Our sister club, RC Sabala with 60 members joins us in all our project activities and we work closely with them.” RC Sabala president
A Lahari says, “both the clubs strive together for the overall development of communities around us through joint planning and execution.”
Visionary educationist
SPACES College founder-correspondent Ch V K Narasimha Rao started Sri Prakash Educational Institutions in 1977 and later on, the degree college was added to the group in 1993. “Narasimha Rao and his son, Rtn Vijay Prakash, joint secretary, guide us with both moral and material support and encourage us to take up ambitious projects,” says Ayyangar.
The club bagged four top awards at the zonal Rotaract conference titled Samastham in Kakinada. “Along with RC Tuni president N Satish and college principal K Veerraju, who mentors them on a daily basis, the father-son duo is the pillar of strength and we are inspired by their words and deeds,” he adds.
