The morning of
3rd November 2014, was a very busy one for the members of the GSC
aka Google Students’ Committee of Netaji Subhash Engineering College. At 8am in
the morning the deserted corridor by the DBMS Lab echoed with the voices of the
GSC members making the final arrangements and decorating the lab before the inception
of their very first event, Appfluence.
While Nilabhra and Avishek were busy loading the software into all the desktops and ensuring that all the machines were in proper running condition, Nishant, Sourav and Ashish were putting up posters inside the lab and Pritha, Iman and I were busy decorating the hallway. The only person who was earnestly trying to be in all these places at once was Meghna, the Google Student Ambassador, the person leading our team. Time seemed to be flying unnaturally fast. Around 9.30am the students from various departments like CSE, IT, ECE, BME and MCA etc. started arriving. Iman busied himself at the registration desk. Nilabhra, Avishek and Rajarshee started updating the software on the laptops of the students. Soon afterwards, the trainers from Ardent Computech Pvt. Ltd. arrived and the rest of us started putting up their posters while Meghna went around explaining the course of the event to the trainers, occasionally shouting words of encouragement to her team.
Around 10.30am we started our program. Meghna and I presented the slideshow we had prepared. We introduced the participants to our team, our plans for the year and chalked out the schedule for the one day interactive workshop on android app development, which the students got to attend absolutely free of cost. We updated the participants about the various cool products of Google, like Google glass and Google balloon which they immensely enjoyed. Following that, Amitava Sir, empanel trainer of Wipro and Cognizant, from Ardent, took over and introduced the students to the various aspects of android technology. After he was done, Dipanjan Sir, empanel trainer of Wipro, also from Ardent, began the practical workshop. Android technology, being a subject in high demand, attracted loads of enthusiastic students who wanted to make the most of this opportunity to learn the basics of android app development hands on.
However, like every great venture, ours too faced various hurdles. To begin with, most of the students were novices when it came to android technology. As a result, they panicked and tried to confine themselves into their limited knowledge on the subject. Also it turned out most of the laptops as well as desktops were rejecting the software due to lack of compatibility with the machine. But this did not lower our spirit. We insisted that this was an interactive session and communicating with the trainers and organizers were of utmost importance. Slowly the participants let go of their inhibitions and individually told us their problems. The trainers gave personal attention to each and every student. The members of GSC also went around attending to the needs of the participants. Rajmohan Sir, director of Ardent, personally went around giving every student a compatible version of the software being used.
The students initially had to develop a basic calculator app. Time was flying but progress was relatively standstill. Participants were getting restless. Meghna decided that it was time for a break as clearly everyone needed to get some fresh air and come back recharged and rejuvenated. Lunch break was declared and the students gladly left. The technical team stayed put and personally checked each and every machine to ensure that after recess everything should run smoothly like a well oiled machine. Their hard work paid off! After lunch was over the students returned more determined than ever to at least make one application. Everyone concentrated and toiled very hard and finally each and every person successfully built their very own Calculator app. It was a relief for everyone and the moment was celebrated by distributing KitKats to all the students and trainers. However, the plan for the day was to develop two apps. The second app was a media app and was definitely a more complicated one. We were unsure if there was enough time to implement it. Nevertheless, we began.
Already having made one app the participants by now had got the basic idea on how to go about it. And it was unbelievable when the students successfully built the music player app in a very short time compared to the previous app. The music player being a media app had a much more complex built. But the enthusiasm of the students and the relentless labor of the trainers made it possible. In fact, students who completed building their apps started helping the ones who still haven’t. By the end of the day a vast majority of the students had successfully built two basic apps whereas every single student definitely had built the calculator app. It was a proud moment for every single person in the lab.
The students were then instructed to upload their apps in the Google Drive by the following afternoon. They were promised that the three best calculator apps and the three best music player apps would be uploaded to the Google Playstore! In the end, the students were shown videos of various android technologies by Google, like Android Wear and Android Auto. They were informed about upcoming events like Hackathon and MOOC. Everyone enjoyed being a part of the workshop. They had come in as neophytes and were leaving with two apps to boast of. The GSC inspired everyone and showed great team work and organizing capabilities.
All in all, the first venture of GSC was a huge success. We maintained our schedule and managed to deliver on every single promise we made to the participants. We were thankful to the College for supporting us throughout the event. Our event was graced by the presence of our Principal, our Director, our Dean, our ex-Dean, Anupam Sir (the Head of Department of Computer Science Engineering), Saurav Sir and Runa Ma’am. We look forward to organizing many such events in the near future and to make latest technology available to the students.
-Oyndrila Majumder
GSC, NSEC.
