PBW Activities – 2016 – 2017

Many events were held throughout the year 2016, especially between June and December 2016, in view of the schools’ 160th Jubilee Year Celebrations. It all started with the first Batch Representative Meet and the Inauguration of the Jubilee Celebrations, in the end of June and the concluded with a mega Reunion in December.

First Batch Rep Meet
12-June-2016

The new PBW Team conducted the First Batch Representative Meet, where all the boys met, ideated and chalked out a blue print for the betterment of our School and the Alumni.

The 160th Jubilee Celebration Inauguration
26-June-2016 to 29-June-2016

The 160th Year Jubilee Celebration was inaugurated and celebrations were held over 3 days, beginning 26th June 2016.

On Day One, the 26th of June, the “Fun Run,” was organised at 6:30 AM. Many present Paulites and ex-Paulites alike attended the event and made it grand. The next working day, on 28th June, the PBW and the school held an interfaith prayer service, and later inaugurated the PBW Memorial Monument, in school, in front of the Office Building. Later, on Day Three, there was a celebration of the feast of St. Paul’s, and this was followed by an inauguration of the Conference Room and the launch of the School Magazine (Student Magazine) for the 160th Year (2015-2016).

Media Launch of 160 Year Celebrations
1-July-2016

All the celebrations started with the media launch on 1st July 2016. A press conference detailed the planned events for the entire year, and set the platform ready for all the events that were to follow.

Blood Donation Camp
15-August-2016

The 5th Edition of the blood donation camp was organised by the PBW, at the school on Independence day 15th August 2016. The response was overwhelming as always, and many Paulites, parents, and teachers gave blood.

Teacher’s Day
3-September-2016

PBW organised Teachers Day in the School on 3rd September 2016.  The PBW and PTA together joined hands and made the event, one to remember. They also felicitated Tr. Rita for her retirement (on 31st August 2016).

Road Rally 1.0
23-November-2016

A Road Rally was organised on 23rd November 2016, at 9.30 AM, by the PBW to create awareness about St. Paul’s celebrating 160 years, by breaking the Guinness World Record Attempt for the largest school reunion. It saw around 500+ former students, from various age groups attend and make it grand with enthusiasm.

Road Rally 2.0
4-December-2016

A second Road Rally was organised on 4th December 2016, at 9.30 AM, by the PBW, to further promote the Guinness World Record Attempt. This one saw about 400+ participants.

Grand Reunion 2016
17-December-2016

The 160th Year Jubilee Celebration was ended by the Grand Reunion on 17th December 2016. Significant parts of this Reunion were the Guinness World Record Attempt, the Limca World Record Attempt, the School History Exhibition and the Grand Reunion Souvenir.

A few Paulites put in a lot of effort to register as many participants for the Renuion, as they could, thus playing a very important role in the success of the Reunion, and the Guinness Record as well. Among these are two Doctors, Dr, Madhav Prabhu and Dr. Anil Patil who kept time away from their practice, and went out of their way to move about from door to door in the streets of Camp during the last two weeks before the Grand Reunion, and they ensured that every Paulite from the area registered for the event. They were accompanied by Savio Dias, Francis D’Souza, Vishal Ambe and Pramod Sharma. While these boys went around registering ex-Paulites, Govind Kishor Kerkar ensured that he registered all the Teachers.

School History Exhibition
17-December-2016

The Grand Reunion 2016 was inaugurated with the opening of the Exhibition of the school history, at the School Hall. Significant landmarks and dates of history were carefully selected for the exhibition, and printed on Aluminum, so that they can add reminiscence to the hallways of the school buildings for many years to come. The entire exhibition took a lot of deliberation by the organizers, Aslam Sait (1977) and Praveen Kulkarni (1980), who were also assisted by Rajendra Belgaumkar (1980), S. Bandukwalla (2005) and Uday Kinjewadekar (1993) and was possible because of the batch of 1986-1987, who sponsored for and bore the huge expenses for Aluminium printing.

Guinness World Record Achievement
17-December-2016

The PBW attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the “Largest School Reunion”. The record was previously held by former pupils of “Stadium High School, Tacoma, Washington, United States.” They achieved the Guinness record title on 16th September 2006, by having 3,299 Alumni attending their Centennial event. It stood unbroken for over 10 years, after repeated attempts by different schools, the world over. But the PBW team, along with support from the Batch Representatives and school Management, Teachers and Staff, attempted and successfully achieved a bigger number, with 3,638 Alumni attending the Grand Reunion, on 17th December 2016.

The team has broken the world record after getting Official Recognition after their deliberate and cautious checks, and re-checks.

Some of the other institutes that tried to break this record over the years have been “Exmouth Community College,” in November 2010; “Dover High School” from Dower, Delaware, USA, in 2014; “El-Paso High School,” Texas, USA in October 2016.

The link to the Official Record is http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-school-reunion/

Limca World Record Achievement
17-December-2016

The Limca Book of Records had acknowledged the 2010 Grand Reunion organized by the former OBA between 4th and 5th December 2010, to be the largest National Reunion, with a gathering of around 1,350 participants.

The record was broken on 9th of January 2016 by “Alumni of South Point Ex-Students Association” (ASPEXS, Kolkata), when they held their annual get-together, “Rendezvous 2016,” with a participation of 1,859 Alumni.

The PBW successfully Re-Claimed this record along with the Guinness Record Attempt, and St. Paul’s swept through with 3,638 participants, almost double of the number of attendees of the record held by South Point Ex-Students Association, Kolkata.

Grand Reunion 2016 Souvenir
17-December-2016

The Grand Reunion would not have been possible in all its fervour, in spite of all the hard work put in by the team and the batch representatives, had it not been for the many well-wishers who sponsored the event and took a burden off the enormous expenses. They were contributors whose role in the entire event was equally of importance. And these generous people were thanked in a small way, by featuring them in the “Grand Reunion 2016 Souvenir,” amidst some significant and important articles about the school and the celebrations.

The Souvenir was a product of the hard work of its two editors Praveen Kulkarni (1980) and S. Bandukwalla (2005), along with the two Souvenir Committee members, Aslam Sait (1977) and Yogendrasingh Bhati (1990). And not to forget, the all time generous Mr. Rafiq Hirani and Mrs. Sabiha Hirani, (both Alumni of St. Pauls) owners of Omega Offset (Belgaum), who left no stone unturned, in making sure that the Souvenir was printed and delivered at a very short notice.

Membership to JAAI
27-January-2017 to 29-January-2017

Soon after the Guinness World Record Attempt by the present PBW Team, which saw a whopping 3638 Alumni from across over 6 decades participate, the offer came up once again, and the post of “Governing Council Member – West Zone” for the tenure of 2017-2020 was offered to the PBW President, Manoj Michael.

He was Nominated to the Council by the Provincial of Goa, and the he took Office at the 8th JAAI National Congress, organized between 27th to 29th January 2017, at St. Xavier’s School (Doranda, Ranchi, Jharkhand), during the last week of January 2017. The school was represented at the JAAI event by the present Principal Fr. Basil Vago (1990), Manoj Michael (1990) and Yogendra Singh Bhati (1990). They were felicitated by POSA (Provincial South East Asia) & the President of JAAI.

Passing out Parade
22-February-2017

The Passing out Parade of the Batch of 2017 was on the 22nd of February 2017. The PBW wished all the boys a great future and welcomed the batch of 2017 to the PBW family. It is interesting to note that they will be remembered as the batch which witnessed the Guinness World Record.

For Continued / Immediate Updates: Connect with the PBW on:

Click here to see the PBW Activities for the year 2017 – 2018.

Click here to see the PBW Activities for the year 2018 – 2019.

Click here to see the PBW Activities for the year 2019 – 2020.