The three- day annual fest of St Xavier’s College, Ranchi ‘Umeed- A ray of Hope’ commenced with great enthusiasm on Friday on the college premises. As many as 10,000 students will be part of the mega event which will end on February 9.

The chief guest for the occasion was Nitish Kumar Singh, IAS Jamtara, Jharkhand topper and all India ranker 23 and Vishal Kumar, Director IAS Catalyst. The dignitaries inaugurated the event along with Principal Emmanuel Barla, Father Robert Pradeep Kujur, DSW Marcus Barla, AK Sinha and other professors.

“College life is a sample of the circumstances that the future holds. Be what you are good at and be passionate about your talent,” said a nostalgic Singh who asked the students to consider him a friend and not the chief guest.

While addressing the gathering the Principal emphasised on the importance of success and said that it is the level of happiness you have no matter what level you reach in your life. Barla also asserted on the need of discipline that builds the personality of a student. The finals of VOXA- Voice of Xavier’s where students showcased their singing skills marked the beginning of the event. The prelims for it were conducted on January 31 where the college got its finalists Anjali Kumari, Apurva Dey, Ayush Agarwal, Rajdeep Chatterjee and others. In the finals, the students competed of retro, modern and semi- classical. The last round of the finals was the judge’s choice round. It was battle of being the best singer in college and Simar Kaur grabbed the trophy along with the title of Voice of Xavier’s 2020.

The Xavier Utsav also had an event on wall painting under the name Graffito’ where the participants had to paint on the theme ‘Ray of Hope’ in groups of three to six. The participants had to paint their masterpieces in just one hour and were judged by Professor Vijay Kumar Mehta, Professor Sandhya Bhengra and Professor Mabel Martha Toppo.

In the event Bad Singing, the participants raised the bar and made it difficult for the jury and audience to judge who was worse.

After a tough competition, Anmol Kujur was adjudged as the winner.

In the competition of folk dance, the finalist groups presented a six- minute performance which was judged by Dr UR Sen, Dr Ananya Bose and Profesor Shashi Prabja Ekka. The Rajasthani folk dance grabbed the gold medal while the folk dances of Jharkhand and Punjab won the second and third prizes.

About 36 students of the college presented their artistic skills on t-shirts in Tees- up and painted on the theme of festival mood.