Devesh Arora is a BA (Hons) Economics student of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, University of Delhi, who has been continuously involved in beyond the classroom activities.
Here, Devesh is sharing his experience being a Campus Ambassador of EthicCraft Club, a youth wing of Iskcon. His hard work has the potential to propel him ahead of the curve.
Go ahead and know what his story has to offer so that you can easily find a path of self-growth. Young Influxers go ahead and upgrade yourself!!!
What was your role? Briefly list the responsibilities associated with it.
I have worked with EthicCraft Club as their Campus Ambassador for my College. Campus Ambassadors play a significant role in engaging college students in the activities of the club. EthicCraft Club strives to inculcate values in the future pillars of tomorrow, many of which have digressed from the path of righteousness, truth, values to a path of haughtiness, addiction and untrustworthiness. As the portfolio bearer of EthicCraft Club, my duties were to ensure smooth conduct of club events that centred around leadership and nation-building along with creating a team of members that have what it takes to pull the society away from malice and inculcate morals.
What’s it like to juggle between leadership roles and academics? Pen down the challenges you faced.
This is the biggest dilemma for most students. This trade-off between leadership roles at various institutions and academics has grown in recent years because now we live in a world where academics is no longer the only criterion of success. Although, EthicCraft Club has always taught its members not to compromise on academics, yet the joy of working with EthicCraft is so much that I have often seen members prioritising EthicCraft activities over boring lectures. As a Campus Ambassador, I had to adhere to a strict timetable in order to maintain the balance and I consider even this as a learning opportunity as it allowed me to emerge as a meticulous and responsible person from a chaotic teen.
Did you also get a chance to connect with any other activity while working on this post?
I had got a chance to represent our club in various other colleges as well. EthicCraft also has chapters in other institutions like RKGIT, AKGEC, DME etc. The annual extravaganza of EthicCraft club —UDGAAR takes place at a humongous scale at IGI Stadium every year with more than 15000 youth participants. I got the advantage to get in contact with Dr Vivek Bindra, Mr Ramesh Pokhriyal and other prestigious personalities at UDGAAR. EthicCraft club also organises various seminars and events for its members, at one such seminar I got the golden opportunity to meet Mr Shubha Vilas, Mr Vilas is an international TED Speaker (Technology, Entertainment, Design Conferences) and visiting faculty at institutions like Amazon, Microsoft etc. I got an amazing opportunity to drink from his well of wisdom and get signed copies of his few best selling books.
What are the top learnings, skills and values that you acquired here?
The motto of EthicCraft Club is MARCHING TOWARDS VALUES. As a CA I have always observed that EthicCraft stands up to its motto and its biggest example is myself. From every opportunity that EthicCraft has served me, I have learnt to foster leadership, follow the path of truth, strive for nation-building, being respectful, responsible and also thrive to bring the youth of today on a correct path away from all negative virtues. Working with EthicCraft has completely changed my perception of leadership. I had always thought that leadership is all about giving the command and direct the whole vehicle known as your team. But, at EthicCraft we have been taught that it is more about service than the rule. Leadership is not just about speaking, but also listening. Rather, listening is the first principle of leadership.
Do you feel your current role fills you with pride and gratitude? Illustrate how the experience gained will help you going forward.
I take the utmost pride in telling that I am a Campus Ambassador of EthicCraft Club. As a member, I had the opportunity to head various national level competitions. Sharing an experience where I was the event head of a national level Essay Writing Competition, I had a made horrible mistake while declaring results, although it was brought out before the results officially published, yet I was feeling quite a remorse due to my callous attitude. Instead of chastising me for the mistake, our Vice-President sir, rather pacified me and taught me a timeless life lesson of forgiveness. As a CA, I have learnt time management, the art of negotiation, developed managerial skills and other professional and non-professional skills that will help me pave a better future for myself when I enter the workplace.
As when we talk about leadership we have a whole team with us. How do you persuade others to accept your ideas/ways?
I personally believe that as a leader it is really important to search for the right way than my way. I had seen many times that members have been providing better output than myself and I take no hesitation in adopting them. When it comes getting things done, then I think that ‘Realisation’ plays a tremendous role. As members are made to realise their importance in the organisation, they automatically extend their best foot forward. As a leader, I have never used the paradigm of negative motivation for my team. I think that it is more because of the team than it is the magic of my hands.
What is your message to students, aspiring the same or a similar role to do?
I would definitely like to bring out something really important. These days I see many students taking up things like internships, non-profit activism etc just for the sake certificate. I have always believed that a certificate is a mere paper that guarantees only your enrolment. Besides, such people hardly add to productivity and often don’t add to themselves with such work. I believe that it should be more about the joy of doing it than any piece of paper.
How can we (Friends, Family, YI Fraternity) encourage young students such as yourself to engage with co-curricular or extra-curricular activities?
I am glad to see that there is a change in mentality in the minds of people and they realise that being a mere parrot that can mug up text is not going to help. Still, much work has to be done. As a stalwart, I believe that Extra-Curricular activities play a crucial role in the holistic development of a person. Besides, the pragmatic application of what is given in textbooks can be done through extracurricular activities. It is the biggest foundation of being a successful and better human being.
Anything else would you like to say to the YI learners who’ll be reading your experience?
Lastly, I wish to convey to fellow readers to live life to its fullest, to dedicate every moment to self-building and learn the art of praise.
We at Young Influx would take this opportunity to thank Devesh for taking a leap of faith and sharing his impeccable story. We are humbled and grateful, your efforts mean a lot for the youth seeking growth and development.
And hello, dear readers, we welcome you to explore the platform with an open mind. Help yourself gain the most out of the experiences and opportunities listed here.
And before you bid us adieu, we would like you to know that you can read more such student stories here.
