Apoorv Saxena, the CoStAAn from the Department of Controls, sat down with the APOGEE English Press right after an hour-long meet with the Department of Stage Controls. Apparently, this was one of many meets that he has had to attend and oversee since fest-related work began. ‘We’ve been slaving away for APOGEE’19 since last March,’ he stated.

The Department of Controls is responsible for dealing with the logistics of the fest and bridging the gap between the institute and other clubs/departments. They have various job streams with two to four members in each. First-years in the department are assigned to one among five job streams – Requisitions, Judge Sheets, Travels, Certificates, and Reprography. The more experienced second-years are responsible for scheduling, prize money, projects, and supervision of stage events. At the helm, Apoorv must oversee his subordinates’ work and coordinate with other CoStAAns to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

To deal with the waning quality of the fest and boost participation, the CoStAA has several new events and has revamped many aspects of the fest’s structure this time. Apoorv was particularly excited about the latest CoStAA initiative –”The Kind Store”. ‘Participants attending different events will accrue points. They can cash in their cumulated points in the Kind Store for whatever they want,’ he explained.

Furthermore, the entire structure of project presentation has been altered, in that all project categories were merged. The CoStAA has also the Entrepreneurship Conclave, in collaboration with EFA, in place of CEL’s BITS Business Conclave. The speaker line-up for the event has also improved significantly.

The CoStAA has also decided to dole out prize money as cash as opposed to depositing it into students’ SWD accounts. ‘Depositing a small amount of prize money into the student’s SWD account does not give them any sense of gratification. Moving towards a cash-based system seemed to be the logical solution,’ Apoorv said.

Since major events like BITSMUN, QED, and NSS Youth Con are to take place during APOGEE, event scheduling was a rather tough task. Apoorv was proud of the fact that the department was able to draft a schedule despite the constraints on available rooms and the lack of time.

Apoorv felt that the current CoStAA made a great team. ‘Everyone has been overwhelmingly positive. We’re constantly building upon each other’s ideas and offering constructive criticism,’ he said. Here’s wishing the CoStAAn a good run in the fest to come.