Student Leader Interview - Niveditha Arjun from IIM Indore

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1. Tell us more about your role & responsibilities at your college.

Currently, I am the Coordinator of the IPM Sports Committee of IIM Indore (also the first female coordinator). Along with my senior core and junior core team, it is my responsibility to envision and conduct events for the IPM community. My team and I are responsible for ensuring that participants have a healthy and fun experience in whatever sport they are playing.

My position also entails me being a member of the SAC EC (Executive Council). The EC is responsible for all decision making with respect to activities of the IPM community.

2. How did you rise to your position, and how can a student aspiring the same, approach it?

To be honest, I had applied for a position in the IPM Sports Committee in both my first and second year too. In the first year, I was hardly serious about it, but it was then that I realised that someday I wanted to get to play a significant role in the committee. I reapplied in the second year with much more fervour only to be bitterly disappointed. By the time I had to apply for the position of Coordinator in the third year, I had figured out that the first and most important thing for me to do was to talk to people. So, I did exactly that - I spoke to as many people I could, I gathered as much information as I could, and I put all I had into applying for the post. And finally, I made it.

For aspirants like me, I have one simple message - you have to be willing to break free off whatever inhibitions hold you back from reaching your goal. In my case, it was something as basic as talking to people. So, find your inhibition and push it right out the door!

3. What's it like to juggle between a leadership role and normal college life?

To me, normal college life itself means to juggle between multiple activities, including your academics. That’s the beauty of IPM - it keeps you on your toes. This additional responsibility only adds to the number of things that I have to juggle, but I know I’ll be thankful for the experience much later. Perhaps I’ll become an expert juggler!

4. What have been some of your biggest challenges and learnings from what you do?

To be honest, I’ve only just been elected to my post and being away from campus due to the pandemic, I haven’t had the opportunity to execute a lot of my responsibilities. However, I can anticipate some of the challenges that I may face. Being the first female coordinator of the committee, I am sure that I’ll have to work hard to prove that I am no less capable than my male counterparts. However, I would not call this a huge challenge. One of the major problems that the committee faces is a lack of female participation in sports. So, being a female coordinator, I will work relentlessly to ensure that more girls participate.

5. What did you do in your current role that makes you feel proud of yourself?

As I already said, we have not done a lot as of now owing to us being away from the campus. But I shall mention a few of the things that I hope to do this year. As mentioned already, I definitely want to increase female participation. Other than that, I have always felt that several of the matches turn out quite ugly in terms of people slandering each other. I hope to reduce this kind of behaviour and create an ideal sports environment with the right touch of healthy competition.

And of course, if all goes according to plan, and with God’s grace, Sports Comm does a commendable job this year, I would be very proud to have been the first girl coordinator to lead such and able team.

6. What are your career goals, and how is what you are doing going to help you with that?

I haven’t really decided on what I want to streamline into. Being in an IIM, I will be looking for a managerial position. As of now, I haven’t thought of the field that I would want to specifically end up in. Regardless of my career goals, I am positive that not only this role but all the roles that I have taken up in the past and will take up in future will teach me valuable lessons. My mother has always told me that there is not a single experience that you will not learn something from. And being the coordinator of the IPM Sports Committee, some may say, has nothing to do with what I am studying. But I will argue day and night and tell them that the experiences I will gain from organising events and managing my team are unparalleled.

7. What's your message to encourage students to do internships and attend conferences?

I don’t have a message to encourage students to attend conferences as of now. But for internships, I definitely have one. Your degree - whether it be from a top-notch college or from a small college - at the end of the day is just a tangible proof of the fact that you have completed so and so level of education. What is much more valuable than this, however, are the intangible experiences you gain from the numerous positions you hold. This hands-on experience is something you can never gain from any of your books. So yes, go ahead and skip a few classes if you have to - do what you love and do it well. If you do that much, you don’t have to look further, whatever you are looking for will come seeking you!

Interview by - Geetika Bali