TEACHERS DAY CELEBRATIONS

Keeping with the tradition of SJOBA, and to make this year’s Teachers Day even more special, the executive team of the St. Johns Old Boys Association hosted a lunch at Kava, Sector 26, Chandigarh to honour the teachers.

Kava's owner, Old Boy Akaash Garg, very graciously supported this event. As all the teachers walked in with the same persona as ever, a cake cutting ceremony brought the celebration to life.

“The importance of a teacher in shaping up one’s life needs no rhetoric. A teacher forms the very foundation and bedrock of our very being and thus despite our best efforts to pay them back, we shall always remain indebted. A teacher is one who we idolize, who helps us discover our real being, who helps us hold our head high” said the President of SJOBA while welcoming the teachers.

With hearts full of respect and the air thick with laughs, cherished memories and nostalgic eyes, the ex-students and teachers got reminiscent of old times. Despite all the success achieved by the old boys in their respective lives, they were humbled by the presence of the teachers of their alma mater.

Ms. Kavita Dass, Principal, St. Johns High School, expressed her sentiment in the following words “A truly memorable get-together. The pains that had been taken, the thoughtfulness in inviting the senior teachers and the small acts of kindness (an egg and an eggless cake) made us feel so very special.”

Ms. Likhari, the Senior School Coordinator, added “Each teachers day is better and more enjoyable than the previous one”.

As all parted ways with a promise to honour our teachers for life, an emotional wave passed through with a hope to see them again, soon!

Greetings from the Desk of President SJOBA

Dear fellow Johnians,

I am humbled by the task before me, grateful for the trust you have bestowed in me and mindful of all the work done by previous teams in keeping the SJOBA flag flying high.

I thank the outgoing president Sanjiv Kumar and his team for giving us a wonderful year.

We have had an overwhelming response from Johnians wanting to be on this years team. It’s heartening to see how all of us feel for our Alma mater.  We have done our best to have as many of us as we could on the team this year, but my executive and I do look forward to having the support and cooperation of everyone.

This year is a significant year. Besides the silver jubilee batch this year we have the first batch of St John’s completing its 50 years. This is their Golden Jubilee year.  

This year also marks the Sester Centennial Anniversary which is the 250^th year of Edmund Rice, founder of the Order of the Irish Christian Brothers. SJOBA stands committed to provide its unstinted support to outreach events planned to mark these celebrations.

Please contribute with ideas, suggestions, work on the ground and any help that you can give to make the events better and more meaningful. I would welcome new out of the box ideas. I promise they will get my executive and my special attention as we would like to do things differently but do them well. I wish to generate more camaraderie and brotherhood, so do come together and make this year a roaring success with delivering events that are fun, interesting but more importantly meaningful and help make a difference both for Johnians in schools and the alumni. Old boy Sahil Sharma the Honorary Secretary of SJOBA would regularly update you with information in regard to the forthcoming events. A group of very talented Johnians are also working on developing a new SJOBA website which would be dynamic in nature as well as a SJOBA App so that communications and information could be provided more effectively.

Friends it is time to give back to your school and the Johnian community at large therefore I would urge you all who have made a success of their lives and careers to do come forward and help and mentor our young Johnians who are still finding their feet. Be the wind beneath their wings and help them fly through a programme my executive and I wish to put together this year.

If I could take away one big thing from this year for myself that will be to make our school not only No.1 in the city or in the region but No. 1 in India in time to come. I hope to work closely with the school, Mrs. Das and our alumina in pursuing and achieving this goal.

And finally to quote Mac Sir- ‘Do not think what SJOBA can do for you but think about what you can do for SJOBA’.  So Johnians hold that thought and do come forward and stand by your school and your mates to make this a year to remember.

Regards,

Ajay Thiara

President

St. John’s Old Boys Association 

SJOBA THUNDERBOLT RALLY

It’s the time of the year for which we all have been waiting, and guess what it’s the 26th year of the SJOBA Thunderbolt Rally.

The Extreme Rally will be open to jeeps/cars/bikes with the participants being required to cover approximately 300 kms over 3 days. The rally being extra special this year, so

we thought of making it more challenging and more over FAST, pushing the drivers skills to the test.

The TSD this year is going to be a rollercoaster ride for the novice and amateur participants. A special treat for all the off roaders for sure.

As always, the 4W/2W/TSD Rallies would be running concurrently. The tentative schedule is as follows:

Time: Friday, March 22, 2013 at 9:00am - March 24, 2013, at 6:00pm

Entries open – Monday, 25 Feburary, 2013

Closing Date for Standard Entries – Thursday , 14 March, 2013

Closing of late entries – Tuesday, 19 March, 2013

Scrutiny and SSS – 22nd March

Leg 1 (Chandigarh to Shimla) – 23 March, 2013

Leg 2 (Shimla to Chandigarh) - 24 March, 2013

Prize Distribution and Dinner - 25 March, 2013

So get ready and gear up!