St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, has been a part of the Harvard College’s exchange programme with selected colleges across Asian nations since 2003. This programme was founded to foster a mutual interest and understanding between students from Harvard and other top universities across Asia.
It’s a platform for student exploration and development, connecting the world’s future leaders and strengthening international relationships of tomorrow. The theme for this year’s conference is “Embracing the Uknown: The Path Less Traveled”.
A delegation from Harvard will visit St Xavier’s from Mar 10th to 17th under this programme. It is the only Indian college participating in the exchange programme. As a result of which 10 students attended the Winter Conference in Boston in January 2024.
The students attended Speaker Sessions hosted by Harvard professionals, went on excursions around campus, and participated in social activities that helped them bond with the delegates from other countries. The topics discussed in the speaker sessions ranged from medicine to film and media. The students even got to watch the Grammy-winning Parker Quartet perform for them.
Their excursions included a vast array of activities such as watching stoneground chocolate get made from scratch at Taza Chocolate Factory, viewing glass flowers exhibit, and more at the Museum of Natural History & Sciences. They also got to visit almost every building on campus, learned about Harvard student traditions, and saw the iconic statue of John Harvard.
The activities began with a Talent Show performance— Dance Pe Chance—a night that ended with showing all the delegates Bollywood dance steps to familiarise them with Indian culture and heritage. The college also had HCAPx—a take on TedX— where the chosen topic was “Jugaad: The Indian Mindset”. The delegation explored the Indian audaciousness of innovation in various domains from finance to fashion, food to education, and space to sports, women, music, and more.
The exchange programme students in the U.S. | File
Vedika Bajpayi, president of the Hcap team at St Xavier’s, said, “ I’m so excited for the Spring Conference and hope we make the delegates’ experience worthwhile and fulfilling.” Sanaya Dastoor, a second-year arts student and events head for Hcap this year said this experience for lifechanging for her. She said, “I enjoyed bonding with people from various countries with diverse views and opinions. In my opinion, everyone should experience this once in their lifetime. This experience changes your perspective and changes you a lot for the better. I feel way more connected to the people I went with after the trip. I hope more colleges participate in programmes like this.”
Janhavi Raut, the vice president of Hcap, exclaimed, “It was nothing less than a dream!” “The whole week of our winter conference hosted by Harvard was way beyond anything I’d ever expected. All the speaker sessions planned out for us were very inspiring as they all talked about their life journeys leading to the success they had achieved in their respective diverse fields,” Raut added.
Gurmehar Singh, a second year art student and operations head of Hcap 2024, said, “The selection process for Hcap was very difficult but it was all rewarding in the end. The talent show was my favourite part about the tour was the talent show. Sanaya and I came up with the idea of Bollywood performances cause what better represents India than Bollywood? We also made so many friends whom I’ll cherish forever and I’ll always hold this experience close to my heart.”
