Mumbai University students impress Michelle Obama with their idea

"I looked a lot younger then,” said the first lady of the United States when a bunch of ecstatic Mumbai University students presented Michelle Obama with their award-winning idea, an “eco-binder” book which had a picture of her and US president Barack Obama.

Impressed with the students' project, the first lady advised the students to take their idea to the global level.

Eighteen university students met her on Saturday at the Fort campus.

“Eco-binder” was the project which was adjudged the best idea at the recently launched initiative, “Mumbai University initiative for joint action now (MUNIJAN)”, which marked Gandhi Jayanti.

Students of Sydenham Institute of Management Studies and Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE) have mooted an idea on “eco binding” that will convert unused blank pages in notebooks into a usable notebook, to be donated to less privileged school children. This idea among others are under consideration for implementation by a university-appointed committee.

University officials said that a briefing on the 'MUNIJAN' initiative had been sent to the White House, after which came the confirmation that Michelle Obama wants to come to the university and meet the students.

“Our project reminded her of her early days when she was involved with social work and had worked on many social issues. She said she could relate to it and had done similar projects after she graduated from Harvard Law School,” said Akanksha Bhalla, SIMSREE student.

“Ours was initially supposed to be a five-minute meet with her, which later turned into a 15-20 minutes interaction. Her enthusiasm for our project was evident and made us very proud. Our project was based on a simple idea and she showed a lot of interest in it. She questioned us about how and when we plan to implement it, the cost-effectiveness and scale,” said Bhalla.

The five-member team from SIMSREE included Pratik Mittal, Upasana Koul, Michelle Rodrigues, Akanksha Bhalla and Akanksha Sharma. They presented the first lady a 200-page bound notebook, which was part of their project. The demo-copy, one of the first which the students had prepared to check on the feasibility of their idea, few quotes from Gandhain literature, literature on environment and a picture of the Barack Obama and her among others. She was also given a report on the eco-binder project.

“Our idea not just provides a solution to deforestation, but also promotes education. She loved our idea and told us that since it is an important project and is relevant globally, so we must take take it to a global level,” said Rodrigues.

“She told us to keep her posted regularly on the progress we are making (on implementing the project). She said we must keep her updated via the US consulate here. The name of the contact person has been given to the university vice chancellor,” said Koul.

So how would they sum up their interaction with Michelle Obama? Three words-“overwhelming”, “super-fabulous” and “touching” is what the students said in unison.

“She was impressed not just by the fact that young minds are participating in a project of social relevance, but also by the fact that the steering committee members are also students,” said Samarth Salgaonkar, student and steering committee member.

Visitor book

What she wrote in the university's visitor book: “Thank you for investing in the next generation of leaders around the world”.

Visit details

Michelle Obama came Mumbai University at 4.50 pm on Saturday and was received by vice chancellor, Rajan Welukar, among others. Besides interacting with the university students, she also met 30 children from an NGO, “NGO "Make A Difference (MAD)”. She visited the university library and was presented with two books-”University of Mumbai, Ornament of this City” and Gandhi CEO”.

She was also presented with a necklace made by tribal women. The vice-chancellor said that the university is looking at collaborations with US universities and she was positive about the idea.