When I walked into NIAT NRI University as part of the first batch, there was no playbook. No seniors telling us how things work. No traditions to follow. No old stories about legendary events or campus legends. Everything we see now at this campus -- every club, every event, every piece of culture -- we had to build it. That's what being in the first batch actually means.
No Seniors. No Roadmap. Just Us.
The first few weeks were surreal. You'd walk around campus and realize nobody really knew what came next. There was no senior batch to lean on, no "this is how we do things here" mentality. In a way, that was terrifying. But it was also liberating.
Every club that exists now, someone had to start it. Every event on the calendar, someone had to organize it for the first time. That responsibility sits differently when you know you're laying the foundation for everyone who comes after you.
The Entrepreneurship Club Moment
As Vice President of the Entrepreneurship Club, I got a front-row seat to this. We weren't inheriting some well-oiled machine. We were literally creating the culture of the club from scratch. What events do we run? How do we engage students? What does entrepreneurship even mean in the context of NIAT?
I've seen students here who are genuinely willing to step forward, throw ideas out there, and build things that don't exist yet. That energy is contagious. And I know that years from now, students will join this club because of what we started. They'll attend events we created. They'll follow traditions we established. That realization hits you hard.
Being the first batch is not always easy. But it's rare. Because not everyone gets the chance to say they were there when the story began.
What We're Actually Building
It's not just about clubs or events. It's about setting a tone. When you're first, you decide what matters. You decide what gets celebrated. You decide what becomes tradition. That's power. That's also responsibility.
I think about students who will come to NIAT five years from now. They'll see the clubs we built, participate in the events we started, inherit the culture we created. Maybe they won't even know it was us who started it. Maybe it'll just feel like "the way things are done here." And honestly, that's the whole point.
The Real Test
Every effort, every late night organizing something, every time someone steps up to lead -- it all becomes foundation. Not just for next year's batch. But for the entire identity of this campus. That's the weight. And that's why being in the first batch matters.