During the APOGEE English Press’s brief conversation with him, Shashwat Mahishi, CoStAAn of the Department of Reception and Accommodation (RecNAcc), gave an insight into the working of his department for APOGEE.

Shashwat explained that RecNAcc’s work is mainly divided into two streams—providing accommodation for outstation participants, sponsors, and other guests and arranging inventory for clubs and departments. The majority of the department’s work starts about two weeks before the fest and ends a week after. 

Shashwat revealed that RecNAcc was especially affected by the pandemic as it was one of the few major departments that had no work in an online fest. Talking about his experience of being a CoStAAn who had not seen an offline APOGEE, Shashwat mentioned that he had had to speak to multiple ex-CoStAAns and seniors to get an idea of the work for the technical fest. Although he had previously worked for BOSM and Oasis, he revealed that APOGEE work was slightly different and that it was only through talking to seniors that he was confident enough to lead two inexperienced batches.

Shashwat stated that one of the biggest issues faced by his department this year was the confusion surrounding the number of participants. As CoStAA was given permission to host an offline fest only at the end of February, PCr-APOGEE did not have enough time to call participants. He continued that the number of participants was still variable a week before the fest, while traditionally the list of participants used to be locked in two weeks before the fest began. This led to RecNAcc having to make special arrangements with vendors to supply mattresses and other goods on demand.

Talking about the CoStAA, Shashwat claimed that he had received no major troubles from other CoStAAns and that they are all on good terms this year. At the end of his interview, Shashwat urged all students to stay on campus and experience the fest.