Spark’07 was the National Level Cultural fest hosted by St. Joseph’s Indian P.U. College on 22nd, 23rd and 24th of November 2007. It was a mega event. Many people were surprised to see that a P.U. College that began a year back took a gigantic step in conducting a national cultural fest. To our credit we had 25 colleges participating from Bangalore and outside Bangalore. There were 54 main stage and off stage events conducted. The climax of the fest was a concert by Mr. Sadu Kokila and Mr. Aslam as well as a Rock show by a band group called Parousia. The idea of the SPARK’07 is to enkindle in our students the spark of enthusiasm to excel in different cultural talents. This is to take our students – One Step Higher, One step Closer and One Step Ahead in the world of the 21st Century.

Prerana 2007 is the Talent’s Day of the Middle and High School students. Prerana, was held on 27th and 28th of November. Fr. Scotus Fernandez S.J. inaugurated the fest in the Middle School and Mrs. Suma Nagesh a classical dancer inaugurated the events in High School. There were 20 events conducted in the Middle School and around 22 events conducted in the High School. The whole school wore a colourful look while music and dance saw the students in sprightly action. On the second and the final day, the valedictory function was held in the Picardo Hall for the Middle School, where Mr. and Mrs. Anil Rego were the Chief Guests. The High School had its valedictory function in the Auditorium. Mrs Veena Varuni a classical veena instrumentalist was the Chief Guest for the occasion. Ms Kalpana of the Middle School and Mr Ashok Patil of the High School were the coordinators for the Prerana 2007.

Staff Formation
The highest function of the teacher consists not so much in imparting knowledge but in stimulation the students in love and pursuit. Staff formation is out top priority. During this year we had two day of seminar on vision and sincere thanks to Rev. Fr. Sarrao S.J. Rector of St. Aloysius College Mangalore who was the resource person for the Seminar.

Spiritual Formation
Spiritual Formation as part of student’s integral growth is of primary importance in our institution. Regular classes of Moral Science and Christian faith formation of Christians were conducted by our Staff in order to focus on and emphasize the value of human formation. The institution had organized two days of retreat for all the Catholic students. Eucharistic celebrations were held on first Friday of every month for all Catholic students.

Counseling Services
Counseling service is provided to the students to cope with academic and other emotional problems. Counseling is specially given to the students who are academically slow learners and problematic students. We are very grateful to Ms Manjula and Ms Helen Serrao for their painstaking services rendered to our students.

Other Achievements
Our teaching staff have proved efficient and effective not only in the campus of the institutions but also in other scholarly and intellectual circle.

• Mr Indresh from the Department of Kannada has submitted his Ph. D thesis and will be soon awarded doctorate in Kannada
• Br. Tom Joseph SJ, from the Department of English presented a research paper titled Postcolonialism for India – (A Theoretical framework to analyze Indian Literature in English) in the National Seminar held in Gandhigram Institute – Demmed University, Dindigul on 24th of November 2007
• Fr. Henary Saldanha, was awarded as Adharsha Shiskaka from the department of Public Instruction

Report of St. Joseph Community College
St. Joseph Community College had its beginning as /Ashirvad Community College’ in the year 2004 at Ashirvad on St. Mark’s Road. Within 6 months the programmes was shifted to St. Joseph’s Indian High School premises. In the year 2007 this community College was made part of St. Joseph’s Institutions

Community College as a concept was evolved in the United States to support further learning of the working class and the poorer sections who could not afford education at one go. Thus with Community College, working groups could come back and enhance their qualifications and further their career options.

In India the concept developed in 1997 as an alternative to the poorer sections who have developed out of school and College. Thus Community College offers ‘Best to the least’ and ‘Including the Excluded’

The Community College promotes

• Job Oriented
• Work related
• Skill based
• Life coping education

So far the Community College has conducted several courses.

1. Hotel Management Course which offered a certificated courses for 10 months in Stewardship had 2 batches of students of more then 35 students in each batch
2. One batch of Spoken English Course 2 months and a course in retail on customer relations was conducted during the summer vacations.
3. This year one batch of 70 girls were trained in data Entry Operations from April 2007 to October 2007 for rural girls with hostel facility
4. Currently we have three courses running
   • Construction techniques
   • Second Course is on Diploma in Computer Application for 6 months
   • Third Courses is on Airline Ticketing for 4 months , a basic course

Current Activities in the Community College

There are regular Classes on the following Subjects
English, Computer Basics, Life Coping Skills through various activity games and personality Development, Group Dynamics , Communication skills with emphasis on Interview Skills, Accounting Skills and Specialization in Various skills of their choice like Computer Data Entry work or Titling or Airline ticketing or Stewardship or Retail
The students are also given general awareness on Legal, Social and Health issues.

Several festivals the Independence Day, The Republic Day, The sports Day and the Rector’s Birthday were occasions for celebrations and exhibition of the student’s tralents through speeches, dances and drama

There have been many staff who have worked full time and part time. We also draw a number of staff from various institutions who come and go

This institution has gained vibrancy because of Fr. Francis Guntipilly SJ the Director. He is a person who has always ventured into troubled waters in order to bring light into bleak hearts facing the adversities of life. This work of community college is one example for his hard and committed work. He has already trained and placed one or two batches of the students of the community college.

We thank all the staff and benefactors and the Society of Jesus who have supported us to make this dream a possibility of reaching out to the poor.

Parent Teacher Association
Parents play a vital role in the process of education of their education in our Institutions. Through their involvement in the PTA Meetings, in various other occasions and also in the functioning of the Institution, they affirm their support. The PTA celebrated the Teacher’s Day in a befitting manner, honouring the teachers and appreciating their services. We sincerely thank Mr. John Bosco for his selfless services as the Vice-President of PTA for the last two consecutive terms. Mr Ramesh Narayan has been elected as the new Vice President of the PTA from 6th July 2007

Conclusion
Dear parents as well wishers we are happy that you are here today to share in our works and with a promise that lot more can be done together. Today children need a lot of support. Our staff members are building up people – your children specially – for a better tomorrow. We are all the parents in this education process. We thank the Almighty for his blessings and ask our patron Saint Joseph to obtain for us the graces we need. In St. Joseph we have the example of service. May his spirit be always be with us.

Thank you very much and God Bless you. Have a pleasant evening

Fr. Gillbert Saldanha SJ
Principal