Presidentofthe StudentCouncilof St.AloysiusCollege

(Autonomous)

Letitia Dcosta, Cordel, Mangaluru

prestigious institute, St Aloysius, and continued his further studies in Mumbai and had an illustrious career with SCHLUMBERGER, a French Company dealing with oilfieldservices.Hebeganhiscareer with the same company and continuedfor28 years until he took hisretirement.HebeganatBombay High and was posted in various countries with his last base in Kazakhstan. Presently he is

My name is Letitia Nathalia Dcosta, but everybody calls me Lia, born on 23rd July 2002. My parents have their roots in Mangalore, but my mother Nora D’Costa grew up and completed her formal education in Mumbai and early on had the opportunity to work with the South African Consulate, Mumbai as a Political Secretary. My father Mr. Leslie D'Costa studied in our developingafarmatBelman,Karkal, named Costa Meadows, and is into animal husbandry and dairy. After 10 years of my birth , i was blessed with a brother Luke D'Costa who is currently studying in 5th grade at Cambridge School, Mangalore.

My parents were married in 1998 and since my father was transferred to China from Mumbai, my mother gave up her job and joined him in his sojourn. I was born in Mumbai and moved to China. As a toddler, having lived across Southeast Asian countries during my father’s transferrable positions I learnt quite a bit. I guess it was a wonderful experience being exposed to various cultures at such a young age, in a way it did shape my personalityat a very young age. For myformal education, me mother moved back to India and settled in Mangalore at Kulshekar. Both my parents are deeply connected to their roots and have a strongbondwiththeirfamily.Itwas a transition period for me as I started adjusting to a different setuphere.Ataveryyoungage,my parents instilled basic values of respectingourMangaloreanculture and tradition, especially learning Konkani. I began myschooling at St Agnes but changed over to Cambridgeschool,Mangaloreinmy fifthgrade.Ihadbecometheyellow housedeputyCaptaininschooland that's when i started my journey towards leadership. Overall, I had great experiences in both schools andearlyongotintoextracurricular activities as also took up basketball as a sport.

For junior college, I opted for St AloysiusanddecidedtotakeupArts and after the 12th I'm currently pursuing my degree with Journalism, Psychology, and English Literature as my core subjects as I was deeply interested in learning more about these fields. After my twelfth grade, I wanted to move to Mumbai or Bangalore to pursue my degree, but life had some different plansfor me.

The Covid pandemic set in and unfortunatelyImetwithanaccident on August 9th, 2020. I sustained a head injury and suffered an internal bleed which almost cost me my life. I had just celebrated my eighteenth birthday in July with my parents surprising me with a great party withfamily,thisIcansaywithallthe picturesthatIhadonmyphone.But destinyhadotherplansforme,Ilost a part of my memory due to the trauma, I was immobile and barely able to walk for some time, and life was a real struggle as I dealt with PTSD. I wondered whether it was worth survivingorjust givingup. As I lay on the hospital bed, with my clean-shavenheadwonderingwhyI was there in the first place, as I couldn’t remember what happened to me, I felt a surge of emotions, anger and frustration being confined and wondering what had happened. The recovery phase was ajourneyofallsorts,Iventedoutall myemotionsonmyparentsandmy younger brother who stood by me like a rock, never giving up. Family truly sticks is what i witnessed and love conquers all is what i felt. Love is a very broad term from the love you recieve from your family to being able to love oneself and that was an integral part of my recovery. Today, mylife is a testimony of love and hope and above all faith and prayer that my family held on to despite all odds. My father and mother didn’t give up and pushed me to my limits to get out of that hospital bed and lead a normal life.

I questioned my existence then and wondered if there is a God, but in timedidIrealizethatitwasapartof the divine plan. Today when I look back at my life I see myself not as a survivor but as a fighter who took on everything in my stride, just like aphoenixrisingfromtheashes.Life has its way of teaching your things in different ways, it may be good or bad instances but what matters is what you make of it. I am indebted to the management and medical teamatFrMullers,wholeftnostone unturned to help me through the situation,renderingassistancewhen needed. I have deep gratitude for my institution, especially my superiors who encouraged me to bring out the best in myself. Knowing my condition, they helped me in all the ways possible to tide through those weak moments academically. Although my parents asked me to take a year sabbatical from college, post-surgery, I insistedoncontinuing,andCovidin a way proved to be a blessing as I could continue with online studies and complete my semesters. As I started leading a normal student life, I got enrolled in the Konkani and English toastmasters club, which was a boon, considering my fledgling memory post-accident. Initially, it was difficult to memorize orretainanysortofinformationasI hadtroublewithmymemory.Butas

I interacted and participated in the various club activities, it just helped me improve daily. It is said, one can rewire your brain as one wants it to, andit’ssotrueconsideringmycase. I guess it’s all in our minds, we are what we think to be. Slowly and steadily,Igotintothenormalmode of life, and in my final year, I was elected student President of our college.Itwasadefiningmomentin my life, considering that I was the usedtotellmestoriesandincidents about the same and I used to be very amused by it and when I became President, he was beaming with pride when he got to hear about it and Indeed my backbone has been my family and I can never thank the Almighty enough for all the love and support they have givenme. second lady President in the history of the 142-year-old institution. It wasafeatIfoundsurreal,butmyjoy knew no bounds. As tears welled down my face, I just couldn’t thank the Almighty enough for the opportunity. With great power comes great responsibility, and that’s what I was prepared for. I remember, my uncle Confred Goveas who was an ex-President of KPTCollegeMangalore.UncleCony

My college too has given me opportunities that have shaped me into the person I am today. Our motto is etched in my heart, and it will be my guiding source all through. St Aloysius has been my formative ground, apart from my home where values for life have beenimbibedbyme.Iwouldlike to share all that I have learned and received and take it forward because I strongly believe we can only give what we have.

My life story has just begun, and I still have a lot to achieve. When I look back, especially the last two years, it has been my learning ground and steppingstone. What seemed to be a hurdle, was a blessing in disguise. It’s hard to comprehend and accept knowing that the scar on my head is lifelong, but I guess it’s the way one looks at it. For me today, it defines my personality and who I am. It has taught me the value of life and given me a strong essence of gratitude. I look at things very differently now and all i can say is live and let live because life is way too short.

-Letitia Dcosta, Cordel, Mangaluru