Craig L. Hall, the U S Consul General in Kolkata along with his team visited DPS Ranchi, on July 8 for an interactive session with the students of DPS, Ranchi as well as other schools of the town.
The aim behind the move was to make students aware and give them a broad perspective of the opportunities available in the universities of the USA to pursue higher studies.
His team included Greg, Padro,Shivanti,Sonam Luthra and Nikhil Bhatnagar.
The entire school was geared up for the day and an air of thrill and excitement prevailed in the entire school campus especially among the students of classes XI and XII who were a part of the session.
The programme began with a welcome song ‘Swagatam’ and honouring the guests. The principal, Dr. Ram Singh, extended a warm welcome to Craig L, Hall and his team. He also welcomed other dignitaries, guests, principals, parents, teachers, students and all who had come to be a part of this momentous occasion.
The other guests who were present on Friday were Anurag Gupta, ADGP, Jharkhand Police, Dr. B. B. Agarwal, Pro- Vice- Chairman of DPS, Ranchi,K.B. Bhargav, Principal, DPS, Dhanbad,Abhishek Kumar, Principal,DPS, Gaya,K.D.Singh,Principal, DPS, Jamshedpur,other Principals from Ranchi Sahodaya School Complex like- Mr. Rajan Verghese, Mr. Manoharlal, Mr. S.D. Singh, Mr. S.K.Mishra, Mr. P.K.Thakur,etc.
Students were from almost 20 schools of Ranchi like- VVPS, Surendranath School, Sarala Birala, Loyola Convent, DAV Nageshwar, Kairali School, SSVM, etc. who had come to attend the programme along with their escort teachers.
Greg Padro, the Associate Public Affairs Office,gave a detailed profile of Craig L. Hall. He said, Hall took up his assignment as U.S Consul General in Kolkata on August 19. Initially he had served as the Deputy Political Counsellor in the US Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia; Seoul, Korea; Canberra, Australia, etc.
Then Hall felicitated 2 children ADITYA ABHISHEK who secured AIR 346 in JEE-ADVANCED and SHRISTY SARAWGI, the Commerce topper of the school in AISSCE-2016.
During the ‘Interactive Session’ the students asked several questions related to their career options available in the US, about scholarships, about Visas, whether going abroad will be beneficial before or after Graduation, and so on.
Animesh of Class XI asked about the process of acquiring visa, Anurag of class XII asked about the different courses offered in Biotech and subjects related to Biology. Yet other student asked about Ivy League Universities.
Each question of the students was answered satisfactorily by the US Consul General,Hall and Shivanti.
The whole idea of the programme was to give an insight to the students of the opportunities for higher studies in the US i.e, to provide a clear cut idea of the ranking of the universities, the funding scholarship options, the eligibility and the admission criterion, the cost involved, the kind of career options available, the ways to prepare for the qualifying exams and how to apply for the visas.
*Ratan Lal’s Picture shows Craig L. Hall, the U S Consul General in Kolkata,speaking at DPS Ranchi, on July 8,2016