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The June Catapult-Ed programme left 30 Delhi school students impassioned about their future. The programme ran for three days a week over three weeks with taught content taking place at the India Habitat Centre, and with site visits taking students to contemporary organisations across Delhi. Students were asked to reflect on their passions, their interests, and their abilities in order to consider the possible career fields that could be the most rewarding for them.
The taught content component involved facilitated discussion and activities with the students about concepts such as learning through reflection, team-work, and creative and critical thinking. The students engaged readily with such advanced subjects and were able to effectively discuss and practice these vital career competencies
From their visits, talks and activities with various industies, the students were able to gain a deeper insight into the attributes that are required for success, the challenges, the highlights and the work environments to expect in the real world! |
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Architecture
| Archohm |
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Week 3 students getting a tour of Archohm led by Sourabh Gupta.
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Archohm was truly a haven for the artistic and quite deliberately so. Not only did it prove to be a valuable case study for pioneering design but also provided some valuable HR lessons. A tour of the architecture firm revealed an inventive work space that would truly excite people to be creative, which was one of Sourabh Gupta’s goals as a leader of the firm. He responded to many of the students questions about study, work and life as an architect as well as what it meant to be a manager and an entrepreneur. The students were enlightened by the discussion of careers in such creative and |
rewarding industries and what they would involve on a day to day basis. The requirements of success in such a cool and current organisation were emphasised and teamwork, personal accountability and ingenuity were high up on the list! |
Entrepreneurship
| Mapmyindia |
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Week 3 students outside the mapmyIndia office in Okhla.
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The students caught the entrepreneurship bug during their visit to the Mapmyindia office and tried their own hand at breaking the boundaries to come up with business ideas on the spot. This session was supplemented by talk of who an entrepreneur is. Rohan Verma shared his story of studying at the entrepreneurial Stanford University and his involvement in the success of Mapmyindia, which helped shed further light on the theories of entrepreneurship. He also spoke of entrepreneurship as a way of work and a way of life. Other concerns of the students were also analysed such as their choices of tertiary institutes, their importance, their choice of degrees and interests! |
Fashion
| Aspirations |
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Week 1 students with Neha Rishi of Aspirations and Devanshi Garg.
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The fashion export house was an incredible insight into the backend of famous surfing and sport apparel brands, of which every student could identify as being a customer. The students toured the factory and watched the evolution of work in action. They saw an assembly line where dozens of tailors repetitively assembled components of a single shirt and they developed an understanding of the different stages of the supply chain. Issues around quality, communication and efficiencies were continuously reinforced. A lasting learning was that hard work, study and discipline are critical to success, even in the seemingly fun and creative world of fashion! |
Hospitality
| Crowne Plaza |
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Week 2 students making pizza in the Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon bakery.
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The Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon welcomed the students to explore the endless world of work that is responsible for all the chic charm and comfort of another successful symbol of the IHG brand. An overview of the industry and career progressions within the industry was presented by the Hotel Manager Barun Jolly himself. The seminar was followed by a tour of the industrial, housekeeping, security, human resources, front desk, luxury and culinary components of the hotel that enable it to function as a whole. The session was concluded by a fun pizza-making class led by Executive Sous Chef Amit. This visit led to an exhaustive exposure of all that goes into providing the experiences the students had each had as customers of such hotels. The day proved to be a priceless lesson in perceptiveness and looking beyond the obvious! |
Law
| Anand & Anand |
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Week 3 students at the Anand & Anand offices with Maanav Dev and Devanshi Garg. |
A visit to Anand & Anand, one of the most prestigious intellectual property rights law firms in the country satisfied the curiosity of the students but also created some further inquisitiveness. A tour of the bright and lively offices of this firm clarified many preconceptions that students harboured about working as a lawyer and confirmed others. Alok Jain, who has worked as a lawyer in the music industry globally, led a passionate debate amongst the students on the morality of music piracy. This engaging debate formed a bulk of the session and led to many realisations about the nature of work as a lawyer and the nature required to be happy working as a lawyer! |
Luxury Services
| Geetanjali Hair Salons |
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Week 2 students with Geetanjali Israni and Jamie Newth.
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The moment the students stepped into the luxurious Geetanjali Hair Salon in Shivalik, they discovered first-hand the customer-centric goals of the service industry. The salon is a namesake of Geetanjali, who led the session and narrated the story of its inception. Along with the discussion of the skills and attitude required to ensure success in the hair and make-up industry, Geetanjali narrated how her brother, Sumit Israni, imbibed these characteristics and contributed to the dizzying success of the salon their father started. Other issues that were examined included the need to balance parental and societal expectations with individual aspirations. |
Manufacturing
| DaBon |
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Week 1 students with Claude Bertrand, Cecile, Stephan from LeBon with Jamie Newth & Devanshi Garg
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The students’ visit to DaBon International Limited, Noida was initiated by wearing white coats and undergoing the mandatory health and safety guidelines. The tour of the factory was followed by a company overview, some insight into the food & beverage industry, a seminar with selected employees with diverse backgrounds that worked in diverse departments of the organisation and it concluded with a fun session of delicious cheese and chocolate tasting. One of the central themes at DaBon was that of reliable quality from ‘farm to fork’ and of continuous improvement. The students also discussed organisation values, |
competitive strategies, the balance of global and local customer demands and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. |
Media
| NewsX |
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Week 1 students with Karun Thakur of NewsX and Devanshi Garg. |
The wide-eyed students were taken through the swanky yellow and grey office of the news channel, NewsX. The students gained an understanding of the multiple parts of an organisation that come together to deliver the singular objective of providing up-to-date news. From the filming, producing, editing and storage of news to the glamour surrounding anchoring, ex-pilot, Karun Thakur provided the students with an in-depth peek into this aspect of media along with details of his own fascinating career journey. The traits required to ensure success in the industry were discussed and the value of hard work, in spite of possessing the ideal degree, was continuously emphasised. |
Music
| BeatFactory |
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Week 3 students at the Beat Factory Academy with Gaurav Dayal and Devanshi Garg. |
A common theme amongst the professionals that was almost infectious at the Beat Factory Academy was passion for work. Gaurav Dayal shared his stories of finishing his engineering degree but wanting to pursue music. From making music jingles for Rs.500 to becoming an entrepreneur and working internationally with the likes of Wclef Jean and Shakira, his story was a learning experience for all the students. He shared some trade secrets of the music industry and discussed in depth the role of technology in such contemporary careers and exhibited this technology with his mastery of state of the art music equipment. The students were also able to witness the stages of music production and got the chance to try it out for themselves! |
Sales & Marketing
| Cocoberry |
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Week 3 students listening to Deepa, Cocoberry talk about Marketing Principles. |
The lunch stop was a surprise visit to the student’s favourite Cocoberry store, a premium frozen yoghurt provider in Defence Colony. Not only was this a valuable insight into an entrepreneurial venture in the food and beverages industry, but it also covered the growth of the crucial BPO industry in India (which is the nature of Cocoberry’s parent company), sustainability and also discussed the challenges involved in the creation of a successful brand, right from market research to customer experience. The students got a chance to design some creative marketing campaigns of their own, keeping in mind classical marketing theories and they were also exposed to some very contemporary marketing techniques that are effective, relevant and enabled by technology, such as facebook! |
Software
| Google |
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Week 2 ‘Nooglers’ at the Google headquarters in Gurgaon, with Jamie Newth and Devanshi Garg. |
The students also had the privilege of visiting the organisation which’s name has become synonymous with the Internet itself, Google. Shwetambari Nath, flew in from Hyderabad to give students an insight into the careers created by technology, the entrepreneurship behind Google and the Google work culture. Koti delivered a cyber safety presentation while sitting all the way in Hyderabad, thus imparting very relevant information on cyber crimes, and in the process also providing exposure to contemporary modes of communication. The highlight of the day was the discussion of the kind of characteristics that organisations like Google look for in |
prospective employees, the importance of such colourful and caring work environments and of course the Google mantra of having healthy disregard for the impossible! |
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“The best things about the course was the industry experience, methods of thought processes, great discussions and opportunity to meet inspiring personalities”
-Avnish Anand, Class XII Birla Vidya Niketan
“The best thing about the course is that it makes you think differently… I have learnt a lot of things that I was earlier unaware of. Keep up the good work. This is awesome stuff!”
-Manasi Beriwala, Class XII Birla Vidya Niketan
“The trip and the activities actually had meaning which could not only be used in our careers, but also in our daily lives. Hope to be introduced to more workshops like this ahead.”
-Aishwarya Munjal, Class X Birla Vidya Niketan
“The course was perfect... Thank you. I really loved every single minute of it.
-Akshet Tiwari, Class XII DPS International
“It was fun. I made so many new friends. Had some awesome discussions. It helps you figure out what you really want to be. It has been the best experience ever. I am happy I joined it.”
-Sashank Luthra, Class XII, Head boy, DPS International
“I’ve learnt to work in a team and I’ve become more confident. Catapult-Ed rocks!!!”
-Gagan Bhatnagar, Class XII DPS Vasant Kunj
“I wish I’d had this experience when I was at school!”
-Priyamvada Lamba, Class XII pass out, G. D. Goenka Public School
“It was an extremely interesting way of learning. I had a great time!”
-Sahiba Puri, Class XII, Sanskriti School
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