The APOGEE English Press, met with Visham Bagrodia, the coordinator of the Department of External Affairs (DExA), to gain insight into the department’s work for APOGEE. 

Vishwam elaborated on the department’s role, which entails outreach initiatives such as work trips targeting schools and colleges to engage them in APOGEE. He said that they conduct a mini-fest for those institutes in collaboration with the various clubs on campus, such as IFSA, IEEE, Postman Innovation Lab, Photography Club (Photog) and others. He added that this mini-fest mirrors the actual APOGEE events and garners outstation participants for the main event on campus. One such event was their ‘Mobile Photography’ event conducted in collaboration with Photog, which generated a lot of traction, mentioned Vishwam. 

Vishwam explained that DExA’s work began in August with outreach and the preparation of question papers for their pan-India Olympiad named Aarohan for high school students of grades 9 to 12. He said that the preliminary round was held in November 2023, with students attempting the Olympiad through the Aarohan online portal. Following this, he added that the top 27 performers have been invited to APOGEE on campus for the second round, including five students from Birla Balika Vidyapeeth and the winners of the event shall receive kind prizes. He also mentioned that their duties extend to scouting for sponsors for their events, and Brightchamps is stepping in as a sponsor for Aarohan. 

Vishwam described that his job as a coordinator entailed coordinating logistics, corresponding with the participants for their events, arranging for their accommodation, and answering queries of the guardians and school authorities of the high school students. However, he paid emphasis to the extensive task of setting up the questionnaire for Aarohan. He explained that the department had spent a lot of time making the questionnaire engaging as well as thought-provoking. 

Vishwam recalled his conversations with the former coordinator of the department about what his work as a coordinator would look like but described his experience as completely different than imagined. He stated that one of the major challenges that DExA came across was the scheduling of their events, as many colleges and schools have their examinations around this time period. He remarked that his journey as a member to becoming the coordinator had been a fun experience and that he anticipated the success of all events of the fest.