Our Madam President Gethmi is a second-year undergraduate following an Honours Degree in International Relations at the University of Colombo, Faculty of Arts. She began her journey with the Rotaract Club due to her enthusiasm to network and engage with people (and oddly enough also due to family pressure). As president her vision for club is to ensure quality outcomes from all initiatives and increasing membership engagement whilst having fun. While she treads on an arduous journey to ensure a successful Rotaract year as President, it’s noteworthy to mention a few critical factoids about her. Firstly, is her undying love for Shah Rukh Khan (quite literally evergreen) and secondly, is her aspiration to be bougie with a man while earning a six-digit salary in another eight years’ time.
Anudi is a third-year undergraduate following an Honours Degree in English. As the immediate past president, she is the go-to individual for advice and mid-year crises. Accordingly, her vision this year is to continue being there for the members and to give something back to club and society at large. And her advice to the Rotaractors is to “be present,” and, “don’t leave things that you will regret later”. While an introduction to Anudi can continue for pages, one factoid that we cannot omit is her linguistical knowledge and her talent of reading fast (to put things into perspective, she read 35 novels in one month).
Our Co-Vice President is an Economics undergraduate with a very busy schedule so if Gethmi ever has a problem with locating her, she’d probably be off in a corner, studying for some exam or prepping for a speech contest while satisfying true Sri Lankan family expectations. She envisions Rotaract Arts as the most aspiring club in the district and would work tirelessly to do so. Kavindi is the kind of person who takes things one day at a time and has a vivid imagination, unsure of whether she’ll live till thirty, she sees herself doing a “boring 9-5 corporate job”, running a coffee shop and most importantly, travelling the world with her “(extremely hot) partner”. In true Kavindi spirit, her advice to the juniors is not to worry because we’ll all be navigating university till we graduate. With an unusual ability to impersonate the Kardashians and come up with random song lyrics, she proclaims that she has the ability to disappoint anyone, which we as Rotaractors would disagree with.
Our Co-vice President is a second-year undergraduate who follows an Honours Degree in International Relations. He joined the Rotaract Club because he allegedly “likes volunteering” (kudos to him). Yohan apparently has an extremely unusual talent, which made us gasp when we first heard about it, he sees the future in his sleep, perhaps that is how he sees himself settling in a foreign land 8 years from now. The Co-Vice President’s advice is to be versatile as a university student, instead of simply studying 24/7, he also believes that making friends is important and that being nice to someone can go a long way. His goal for Rotaract Arts is simple – “to complete every project that we’ve planned”. Unlike most of us selfish beings who think of ourselves when asked about superpowers, Yohan wishes that he can end hunger and thirst in the world.
Tharushika is a second-year undergraduate who follows an Honours degree in International Relations who joined the Rotaract Club for numerous reasons including challenging herself, helping society and making new friends. Her vision as the Secretary of the club is to ensure that everyone gets an opportunity to engage in Rotaract activities, hone their skills and make an impact on society. Tharushika believes that no one should miss anything in their university life since they can never be brought back, at the same time, she says that balance is key. Tharushika is an extremely talented singer and yet she believes that her real talent is being weird and annoying – a “talent” which no one who meets Tharushika will ever believe. Our secretary’s future ambitions, much like her nature, are simple and sweet – “to be happy and content”.
Udani is a second-year undergraduate following an Honours Degree in International Relations. She joined the Rotaract Arts family last year in hope of improving her social skills and spending quality time with others. Accordingly, her word of wisdom as the Assistant Secretary to the Rotaractors is to “be active when learning and socialising,” and to, “grab as many opportunities as you can”. For the busy bee and resident workaholic that she is, Udani hopes to never retire and to work forever while being part of something that will keep her happy and successful. A noteworthy fun fact about her is that she has an arguably bad habit of being sarcastic at the wrong moment, we urge you to not take offence should you break critical information to her.
Heshani is following an Honours Degree Programme in English and joined Rotaract Arts’ because she’d already fallen in love with the Editorial. Our Co-Vice Secretary’s advice to first years is well placed – “do what you can in the best way possible so that you won’t have any regrets” – a motto that Heshani has lived upto. Note to Gethmi if Heshani ever goes missing, in true introvert – English major fashion, she’d probably be reading quietly in the corner of a library or petting a darling little cat.
Dinithi, quite befitting the role of a Junior Treasurer, follows an Honours degree in Economics. Her goal for Rotaract Arts this year is to “never have empty pockets”, which for us is quite a relief. Dinithi joined the Rotaract Club because her best friend practically forced her into it, but lucky for him, she clearly loves it, mostly because of all the great people she’s been able to meet and get to know. While our treasurer is skilled at imitating people in a sarcastic tone, she also has a particular talent of being able to sleep for 2 days straight, and should Gethmi ever find trouble locating her, she too would be found soundly asleep at home. Dinithi’s advice for the younger generation is to consider the first year as a form of meditation that helps you develop your level of patience – wise words that perhaps even we should consider. While Dinithi plans to rest in the peaceful countryside as a wise old lady of 70, her immediate ambition is to write marketing content for a famous brand and open a shelter for stray dogs. Should she ever have a superpower, beware, because her would be mindreading.
Ranmali is a second-year undergraduate following a degree in the English Study stream. The club’s longstanding reputation of helping others and creating a sense of community drew Ranmali to be part of Rotaract Arts last year. While takes on the task of being the Sergeant-At-Arms of the club, her words of wisdom to her fellow Rotaractors are that “our attitude determines our direction.”Bearing that in mind, we urge the Rotaractors to NOT get on her bad books. On a lighthearted note, Ranmali has an unusual and ironic talent of hiding her actual talents whilst her potential superpower is to read minds.
Shihara follows an Economics Honours program and joined Rotaract Arts with the intention of writing and using projects as an excuse to travel, the latter ironically was never meant to be, except for that one time she traveled to Kandy to meet her awesome co-editor. Guided by her vision to make the Editorial an inclusive space for free expression and de-stressing, Shihara’s motto is to do as many things as possible until you are comfortable with making mistakes and embarrassing yourself. For someone who is constantly on her toes and busy shuttling between university and her many work and other commitments, her desire to have a superpower based on teleportation is well placed. That being said, in the event Gethmi were unable to find her, it wouldn’t be because she was busy getting about, but quite ironically because she’d be in the hospital after breaking a limb during basketball – Shihara would say she’s accident prone, but other might say it’s because she’s prone to taking rest and recovery into her own hands.
Tharini is a second-year undergraduate following an Honours Degree in Economics. Her journey with Rotaract Arts began last year for the purpose of making friends and finding like-minded people since university activities were held online. One can safely say that her efforts were successful as she ended up with a Co-Editor who shares her same enthusiasm for confectionary food, lame jokes, and overthinking scenarios. On a serious note, her advice for fellow Rotaractors is, “to give yourself time,” and that, “things will work out eventually in moments of self-doubt.” And her vision for the Editorial is to create a space for open dialogue and ensure a sense of community. The introduction to our fellow Co-Editor won’t be complete without mentioning her unusual talent of constantly falling over things, while her superhero power (should she ever be one) ironically, is to be invisible.
Oshini is a second–year undergraduate following a Degree in the study stream of Information and Communication Technology. As the Director of Club Service her vision for her avenue is to complete as many projects as possible to successfully to engage the club members. The best part about being a member at Rotaract Arts according to her are its people and the fun memories (her vibrant personality clearly emulates that). On a more personal note, her optimistic, empathetic, and fun persona transcends into her long-term life goal of travelling across the world and helping those in need in any way she can.
Buddhimali is a second-year undergraduate following an Honours Degree in English. She joined the Rotaract Arts community in hopes of serving her community while making friends and having fun. As the Director of the Community Service Avenue her goal is to identify problems and its roots causes and countering it with practical solutions. Buddhimali’s advice to her new Rotaractors is to, “not worry too much about the stress,” and that, “you will eventually get used to it and love it too”. On a lighthearted noted Buddhimali claims her unusual talent is that she can dance at anytime (an aspect we are yet to see, hopefully on Baila Night).
Sarasi, is a second-year undergraduate following an Honours Degree in English. Her reason for joining Rotaract Arts was solely to escape academic stress which is probably why her advice to freshers is to not let scores define your path and instead follow what you’re passionate about. Sarasi’s goal for this year is to build and encourage individual professionalism as she believes it is very important for personality development. While Sarasi claims that she has no particular talent, she doesn’t deny that she brilliant at belting out to her favourite songs at times. While her future aspirations to travel the world would make it difficult to locate Sarasi later in life, Gethmi will probably have no trouble this year, seeing as Sarasi has on several occasion disappeared, only to be found sipping a cup of hot Nescafe in the university cafeteria.
Jayani is a second-year undergraduate following an Honours degree in International Relations. She joined the Rotaract Club because she loves networking and making new friends, despite her self-proclaimed talent of “killing other people’s moods”. True to her own motto of making the best out of this new chapter in life, her goal for the International Service Avenue this year is simply to do her best whilst having fun. In that same vein her future aspirations, despite lacking in a definite path, has a clear motive, to find happiness and enjoyment. That being said, Jayani would love it if she could teleport and should Gethmi ever have trouble locating her, she would probably be lounging in a corner casually reading manga on her phone.
Anuruddhika who follows an Honours degree in Economics joined the Rotaract Club based on its reputation as an acclaimed international organization. The Co-director of the Membership Development Avenue aspires to build a collective co-working space within Rotaract Arts’ which is in line with her general desire to live peacefully throughout life. She wholeheartedly believes that university is a place where one is able to meet people from all walks of life and advice freshers to take every opportunity to get involved, perhaps this is the reason she considers Installation an event that should not be missed.
Yasal is a second-year undergraduate following an Honours Degree in Sociology. His main goal of joining Rotaract Arts was to improve his leadership and fellowship skills from the plethora of avenues the club has to offer. As the Co-Director of the Member Development Avenue, he hopes to create a homely atmosphere for all members. His deterministic morale has already ensured progress within the club with the help of his fellow Co-Director. Accordingly, he advices the first years at university to grab as many opportunities as you and to develop your attitude. On a heartwarming note, Yasal aspires to be a social worker and to travel around the world to help others.