GEM...THE MOST CHERISHED MOMENT

College of Management Studies, GITAM, had a wonderful time on 24th and 25th January 2008, when we organized our bi-annual all India B-School meet, GEM-2008. Nearly 35 colleges from Andhra Pradesh and all over India had participated in this meet. It was a lovely experience we had meeting participants from various colleges across the country. Around 2000-3000 people from and around A.P visited the college campus, during these two days.
The first task we were entrusted upon was fund collecting, which was very educating as we got the chance to meet people from industry. It helped us in developing our negotiation and convincing skills. The major chunk of the work was done with the collection of funds. The entire work was delegated among the students. We have taken up three events namely, KOTLER’S COURT, THE Q FACTOR and ALCHEMIST individually, where our learning experience was extraordinary. We worked late for many days while preparing and designing the rounds of the events. We never felt bored or tired and managed to catch up the next day’s work. Almost all the students at CMS were involved in this mega event. The entire college bustled with heightened energy during the last few days before GEM. Some students who worked with creative team stayed back at the college late to decorate the college artistically.
The first day of GEM started with a magnificent inaugural function of which we were a part. The events commenced immediately after the inaugural where we had to rush back to our duties as volunteers of the events. We enjoyed a lot while learning from this experience. We were the judges for the preliminary round, where we had to choose the participants for the finals from some of the best B-Schools from the country. This enhanced our decision making skills as the competition was really tough. One needs a range of skills to organize and manage those events.
The events were followed by a great cultural show by the students of CMS-GITAM for around two and a half hours. We rocked the evening with lovely songs and greatly coordinated dance numbers. The cultural show attracted a huge crowd. Behind the scenes, we worked even harder to come out with such a mind blowing show.
The finals were conducted the following day i.e. on 25th.All the teams stayed back, even those who were not qualified for the finals. We had a tough time selecting the winners as the performance of all the finalists was astounding. All the teams scored almost equally which made judgment tougher! We enjoyed interaction with participants and learnt their lifestyle.
This was entirely a student’s event where all the organization, management and decision-making was done by us, students. It enabled us to understand the real meaning of ‘esprit de corps’. We learned many things through team work. We worked together in groups where each event was taken charge by a student coordinator and his team. This enabled us to show leadership qualities and group dynamics.
The college, as a ritual, conducts an Alumni Meet at every GEM. This year also the college followed the old tradition of conducting an old students reunion on the second day of GEM. The alumni who attended the meet interacted with the current students and gave a token of appreciation to us on conducting our GEM successfully. They even gave us valuable advices, suggestions on preparing for further studies and placements.
We even published a newspaper “Glitz” exclusively for these two days which was distributed for free to the students, participants and the guests. This was managed entirely by the students. It conveyed the details, schedules and other information regarding the happenings in GEM.
As said every good things should come to an end, so is our GEM. The finals were followed by the valedictory function where the prizes to the winners were distributed. After which the brilliance of fire works was a feast to our eyes. Though the fire works show went on only for one hour, the luster of the colours last forever in our memories.
We, as the final year students feel that such events will not only educate us academically but also practically. The enjoyment has brought us all together and developed a bond of togetherness. This has made us more loyal to our college and now we can’t even think of parting from this college. GEM taught us the real meaning of education, enjoyment, team-work and bliss of togetherness.
We worked for nearly three months on this and now we miss the meetings and the fun filled days of the heavy workload during the preparations of GEM. We want to go back to the work but for that we need to wait two years by which we won’t have a chance to be a part of the hosting but only as visitors we can come and se but miss the chance to host. We envy the current juniors who have got a chance to witness the next GEM which we are going to miss terribly. We worked hard every single day for these two days and finally our toil paid off……….GEM 2008 is a huge success… This success belongs to every one from the participants, sponsors, students, faculty, non-teaching staff, the chief engineer and last but not least the Management of GITAM University.
“Success is sweet but its secret is sweat