Month In Review: July

This July saw the beginning of the new Rotaract year 2021-22, with the newly appointed Avenue Directors initiating a set of well curated projects that complimented an equally energetic and eventful month. And with the transition of the new Board, the excitement and adrenaline within the club reached new levels, as the Rotoractors swiftly began their work for the year. In a context where a global pandemic has largely limited the possibility of public gatherings, workshops and any other attempt at a physical venture, the innovative Directors of Club Service, Community Service and Professional Development Avenues managed to initiate three projects that successfully combatted the constraints that were in place, all the while delivering absolute quality and caliber.

Designercovery

Enhancing and encouraging creativity amongst youngsters has been a primary objective of The Rotaract Club of the University of Colombo, Faculty of Arts, and what better way to encourage fellowship and get those creative juices flowing than organizing a project to design T-shirts for the club. ‘Designercovery’, was this year’s take on the annual T-shirt designing competition conducted by the Club Service Avenue of the RCUOCFOA. The project which was spearheaded by Rtr Tharushika Sewmini was done with the objective of acknowledging creativity and engaging the newly appointed freshers in the activities of the club.

Unfortunately, thanks to the pandemic, this is the second consecutive year that the project had to go online.  However, despite its usual ability to limit the scope of any and all human activity, Designercovery was not severely affected as most aspects of the project, from designing to submitting would, even under ordinary circumstances, have been done online. According to Rtr Sulakshi Amarasinghe, Director of the Club Service Avenue, the online setting did not have a negative impact on the overall outcome of the project. All things considered though, we are told that several new designs have been submitted and to await the results of the competition.

The final decision as to which design will feature as this year’s club t-shirt, rests in the hands of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, (no simple feat in our eyes considering the immense creativity displayed by the new initiates!).  The rest of us wait in anticipation, eagerly awaiting the design to be brought to life as this year’s club t-shirt.

Mithudam

‘Mithudam’ is an ongoing initiative by the Community Service Avenue of Rotaract Arts along with the Leo club of the Faculty of Arts. The project is chaired by Rtr. Gethmi Adikari and Rtr. Oshini Hewawaduge. In a climate where the digital divide is evident with the closure of schools due to COVID-19, many students around the country had to face with the difficulty of accessing the internet to partake in online lessons. The initiative aims to provide mobile phones to students-in-need to join online lessons of their respective schools and by extension lending a hand in bridging the prevailing digital gap students face.

The project seeks to collect sufficient funds from those within the university and out to purchase the required number of reasonably priced and functional mobile phones. Information pertaining to the initiative was disseminated via social media posts on platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp which has thus far succeeded in garnering much traction. Part of this success is also credited to Hype Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka’s first and only Youth Empowerment Incubator) who is the project’s official outreach partner assisting with expanding reach island-wide to reach the goal. The project commenced in July of 2021 and hopes to reach completion by mid-August.

Bare Niceties

Bare Niceties is another ongoing initiative headed by the Professional Development avenue of the Rotaract Club of Faculty of Arts of University of Colombo. The main objective of the project is to educate the public on proper manners, decorum and etiquette that must be followed in public places, interviews and official events such as office dinners etc. Other objectives include promoting accepted norms of social behavior, promoting conduct that will help individuals build lasting inter-personal relationships in a professional space and to empower people to feel more comfortable and confident in their careers.

This project is being conducted in all three languages in the hopes of reaching a wider audience while also being inclusive. Spanning over 3 months commencing from the 16th of July, the trilingual flyers are made to be visually attractive with snippets of information that could be easily digested by the audience. This form also makes it much more effective in such mediums through which it is shared, namely in Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp stories. By promoting these behaviours and codes of conduct the team hopes to enable individuals to enhance their personal and professional images by eliminating unintentional discourteous conduct, aid effective networking and increase self-respect and self-confidence.

As a project that is being conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the project uses virtual platforms with a skillful understanding, serving as a quick guide to individuals seeking to improve themselves. The flyers are attractive, dynamic, and therefore attention grabbing while making full use of the 15 second time slots of the stories format. The project committee consists of 15 members and is jointly chaired by Rtr. Piyumini, Rtr. Chenadi and Rtr. Udani, with each chairperson being in-charge of the posts for the months of July, August and September respectively.

July has no doubt been a whirlwind of a month for Rotaract Arts. From the transition to the new Board for the Rotaract year 2021-22 to these original and innovative projects the club has since undertaken. It’s clear that the club continues to go from strength to strength and the pace at which the club improves doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. However, July was just the tip of the iceberg, a small taste of what’s to come. The Board for the Rotaract year of 2021-22 has big plans that they’ve envisioned for the current Rotaract year. We’re beyond excited for what’s in store and we can’t wait to share them with you all when the time is right. What we can say for sure right now though is that it sure is an exciting time to be a Rotaractor!

Till next time, everyone.

 – The Editorial