Chennai: The 1969 batch of the PS High school recently celebrated their Golden Jubilee of their leaving the school after SSLC. Nearly 100 students of the batch came together for the event.
It is said that all the friends were out of touch since 2017 and it was the social media which made their reunion a possibility. According to the core committee of the Alumni association, “Three of our friends met each other during December 2017 and they decided to use the power of social media and created a whatsapp group that brought together all the alumni friends. Over the next nine months it reached over 80 plus members. Since most of us have not met each other, we decided to organise series of meetings and also published news about our meetings in local newspapers and magazines in the hope of catching the attention of our batchmates.”
“In the month of December 2018, we had our first meeting, where 50 members met in MCC Club. Then in the month of February we organised a teacher’s honouring function, where we honoured 14 of our teachers. We then decided to organise the Golden Jubilee function,” said the members of the core committee of PSHS 1969 batch alumni.
During the reunion, the chief guests were their batchmate R Krishnan, working as a professor in USA, President, PS Educational Society, V Vaidhyanathan and secretary, PS Educational Society & PHSS, KVS Gopalakrishnan.
They also honoured the students of the batch who excelled in academics, sports, arts and cinema. The ‘Rare gem in academics’ was given to R Krishnan, currently a professor at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. He secured the school and state first ranking in SSLC in the year 1969 and went on to secure doctorate in chemistry and has published more than 400 scientific publications, 70,000 citations and has given more than 200 lectures in 15 countries. He was also the guest of honour for the event.
The ‘Rare gem in cricket’ awards was given to V Krishnaswamy, former Tamilnadu cricketer who has captained the school team and went on to represent the state and South Zone. He was also the reserve member of the Indian team.
‘Rare gem in service to mankind’ as a doctor was given to Gastroenterologist Dr. Jyotheeswaran, practicing in California and the ‘Rare gem in Arts and Cinema’ was given to actor and director Santhana Bharathi. Two alumni Pichumani and Marthandam were also given special recognition for their service to the society as a caterer and security.
They have also donated 10 lacs towards the school which includes a new audio system from the principal’s room to the 40 class rooms, smart class rooms with computers apart from a cheque of Rupees one lakh.