When I reminisce about my six years of college life in KCE, I see the transferable set of competencies that got built up over a period in me. I will not talk about the knowledge piece here, but I would like to talk about the skills and mindsets that help to raise the bar of excellence. And when I hark back to my journey of four years I think skills like strategic planning, optimism, coaching, managing self, and time got developed at the grass-roots level that certainly played a vital role in post-graduation.

The rigorous curriculum of KCE in many ways prepared me to sustain the worst and outshine the best. Building on this I would like to highlight that currently if I am able to handle multiple tasks on my plate, I think it is because of the seeds that got planted in those golden Six years of college. “We don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges.” I resonate completely with this adage. And those six years were challenging. They escalated me on the learning curve and led to my personal development. When I say challenging, I talk about those series of tests in each semester that builds the knowledge and pedagogy, I also talk about the interventions that college had for personal development classes (mock interviews, classes in each semester, etc). I also talk about the opportunities available in six years to hone the skills- fest (cultural + technical) and workshops.

It is easy to whine for things that we didn’t get access to, but do we really make the best use of the ones that were available to us? I personally believe that KCE provides the access and exposure that is required to build those sets of competencies. Undoubtedly, it is us who need to skew the lens of looking at things. Avenues are provided by the college. For instance, guest speaker series, workshops, lectures, practical drilling, mock interviews, technical and cultural fest, and other key interventions. Accentuating the key points and recapitulating my journey I would say,

(a) I met different people and that’s how I got a different perspective.

(b) The six years were like burning in a crucible and coming out refined, having those leadership qualities like perseverance, grit, and embracing the chaos.

(c) Opportunities and platforms that made me equipped enough to fight the battle of the outside world.

(d) And the staff that owned my development.

In my current position, I’m an Executive Secretary to the Directors of a public limited company, which is a delegated position. The work is challenging and high stakes, but it’s worth it and thrills me. It forces me outside of my comfort zone and pushes me to improve my confidence and interpersonal skills. The work I do in the organization has high stakes and can be challenging but it is enjoyable and rewarding. It is important to have a strong sense of possibility to beat the odds. To some extent, the six years of college helped me shape a future that was previously amorphous.