On March 6, 2025, the North East Centre for Community Impact and Engagement (NE-CCIE), IIM Shillong’s dedicated centre for social impact and outreach, along with the Nurturing Minds student association, played a pivotal role in “A Festival in Nurturing Young Minds for the 21st Century Learning Skills,” organized by the North East Regional Institute of Education (NERIE), a constituent unit of NCERT. The event brought together young students from across the region, equipping them with essential critical thinking, leadership, and entrepreneurial skills through interactive and experiential learning.
As the primary point of contact for this initiative, NE-CCIE facilitated IIM Shillong’s participation, with a team led by the Nurturing Minds student association. The team designed and delivered engaging activities focused on leadership, problem-solving, and innovation, ensuring students had a hands-on learning experience.
In the STEM & Innovation Zone, IIM Shillong conducted:
- Entrepreneurship Challenge – A real-world simulation where students stepped into the role of startup founders, making strategic business decisions.
- Design Thinking Workshop – A hands-on session introducing creative problem-solving approaches for real-world challenges.
- Business Pitch Competition – A high-energy challenge where students developed and pitched their business ideas in just five minutes.
In addition to these structured sessions, IIM Shillong’s Nurturing Minds student association led interactive group activities to enhance leadership, teamwork, and strategic thinking. Highlights included:
- Project Runway: Build a Cause Campaign, where students creatively addressed social issues through posters, skits, and videos.
- Human Knot Race, an engaging problem-solving activity emphasizing teamwork and communication.
The enthusiastic participation of students underscored the festival’s success in fostering innovation, leadership, and collaboration. Through this initiative, IIM Shillong and NE-CCIE reaffirmed their commitment to empowering young minds, nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset, and inspiring students to think beyond the classroom.
