The Roller Coaster of SIMS Olympiad 2013 - Hira Shaheen, Hassan Nawaz (Batch of '17)

Services Institute Of medical Sciences (SIMS) is considered third-best medical institution all over Punjab and in a very short time, it has earned its name not only in academic but also in extra-curricular and co-curricular activities. Under the supervision of brilliant faculty and administration, Simsonians have shown that they are shining stars of academic as well as non-academic world of Pakistan. Every year, many inter-class events are organized in SIMS, including drama festival, movie night, sports week, Arts and Photography competition, debates and quiz contests under the flag of respective societies but this year unrolled something extremely fantastic and it was none other than SIMS Olympiad 2013, the first SIMS Olympiad ever. It was a series of four mega All Pakistan events with never-ending fun, thrilling show of talents from institutions all over the country and lavish cash prizes for the winners.

Starting from All Pakistan Bilingual Declamation and Parliamentary Debating Competition and Filmesta- All Pakistan Short Movie Competition, to ending at Athena-All Pakistan Quiz and Zephyr- All Pakistan Singing, Arts and Photography contest, SIMS Olympiad had a unique level of flamboyance and grandiosity. All the four societies of SIMS consolidated to organize this two days event series and institutions from all over Pakistan showed up to make it a success.

Let’s begin from the short movie competition.

“Lights”, “Camera”…“Backup”..A noticeable movie at SIMS All Pakistan Short movie competition, Filmesta, started with these words but it wasn't the case with the event. It was all “Action”, “Action”, and “Action” there. SIMS Dramatics Society had previously arranged the Inter-class events this year and depicted a nice example of team work but the management of All Pakistan Short Movie Competition proved that SIMS dramatics society holds talents which can give you goose-bumps. Under the supervision of Usman Mushtaq, Mohsin Ali and Verdah Baig, society did a marvelous job and everything from decor to HD resolution movies, was fabulous  The personalities judging the movies were experts in the Show business, and they ensured the fair marking for the title and money prize of Rs.15,000. Jury included some famous names like “Hafeez Tahir” the director of the ‘’Ainak Wala Jin’’ and “Haseeb Khan”, a renowned actor, director and comedy writer.  Moreover, special guest appearance by Mrs. Rukhsana Noor, wife of famous director Syed Noor and writer and co-producer of many Noor movies, increased the thrill of the show by many folds. Talking about the movies, there were all the way from NUST, AMC, AIMC, LUMS, KEMU and many other colleges. Some had electrifying effect on houseful crowd at SIMS Auditorium, because of the peak of their concept, ideas, scripts and camera work! One of the best production of SIMS Dramatics Society, “Husna” was also played as non-competing movie and it served as a treat for the audience along with some musical performances from talented simsonians including Sheikh Eizaz, Faheem Khan and others. All in all, the event was success and owing to the fact that SIMS dramatics society arranged first event of this kind, the whole team deserves a salute!

Now coming towards Athena, it was second time Sims Quiz Society (SQS) conducted All Pakistan competition and it holds the credit of setting trend for such events in SIMS. For this Gauhar Mehmood Azeem and Safwan Muhammad along with their team deserve a big-time appreciation. 

The occasion was highly organized and every member represented SIMS in a unique way. The panda (of course that famous soft toy :p) placed along with the trophies and shields was radiating positive energy without any doubt ( Now Simsonians know the reason why SQS cares so much for that panda, Thanks to Gauhar bhai for telling me this :p).

Entirely different from the traditional quizzes, the competition felt like a game show with many breathtaking moments in it. Refreshment was available for faculty and the participants. Despite the fact that it was a literary event, audience enjoyed it thoroughly. Compares and jury did a great job and ensured fair judging. Moreover, University of Texas made this event international this year and SIMS is definitely proud of it. 

SIMS Debating and Literary society is famous for having most endowed writers and rhetoric speakers. It has earned so many moments of proud for SIMS and another one was All Pakistan Bilingual Debating competition.

An awe-inspiring scenario was seen in Declamation competition when SIMS auditorium echoed with voices of debaters from various institutions. Every participant was ambitious to get his hands on splendid trophy and worked hard for it.

 President SIMS Debates And Literary Society, Hafiz Muhammad Wasif along with his team worked hard to make this event possible first time ever in SIMS and undoubtedly, they succeeded because of their team work and effort. Those trophies and shields were LEVEL!! They were awarded to winner and runner-up teams from both categories, English and Urdu. Moreover, there were shields for three best speakers as well ( Wohoo!! bunch of rewards, thumbs up for this!!)

This event was itself a series of contests including Parliamentary debates and declamation and both were bilingual. It continued for six whole days making it one of the most expensive events of the Olympiad. 130+ participants made their way to this event and accommodating them all was one challenging thing for the society members. However, they did it excellently and participants were satisfied with the judgement and arrangements of the whole event. The reviews on event page made SIMSONIANS proud.  We pray SDLS keeps on flourishing more and more each day!

This roller coaster of SIMS Olympiad ended with another thrilling event of All Pakistan Singing, Art and Photography competition. Until last two years, Zephyr (SIMS Arts and Photography Society) organized only Arts and Photography events but this year, Eizaz Ahmed took an awesome initiative and arranged an inter-class singing competition. It was undoubtedly one of the most ordered events SIMS had ever seen. Now, zephyr holds the honor of arranging rare singing competition in any medical institution. This event contained all the colorful paintings, sweet melodies and expressive photographs from all over the country. Singers from many institutions showed up and entertained the audience with their sweet voices. Sheikh Eizaz Ahmed, president Zephyr, along with his

creative team made this event worth-remembering, and the last performance by the president himself was undoubtedly heart-touching. Special guest appearance by ‘’Haroon Shahid’’ of SYMT band multiplied the charm of the show. Decor added an impressive flamboyance to the occasion and all in all, this event was another feather in Zephyr’s cap. Above all, considering the fact that Zephyr is the youngest society of SIMS which got birth only a few years ago, it has earned a huge name in such a short time. Well done Zephyr team! You gave an amazingly memorable halt to SIMS Olympiad coaster and we love you for this.

Summarizing everything, SIMS Olympiad 2013 was a whole package of fun, creativeness, hard work, dedication and bunch of glorious trophies and shields. We hope SIMS will be arranging it every year, giving an opportunity to other institutions to come and see the gems and treasures hidden in this small but eagle like building of SIMS!

Written by:
Hira Shaheen and Hassan Nawaz
Class of 2017
On behalf of:
SimSpeaks- The Services Institute of Medical Sciences blog (www.simsspeaks.blogspot.com)

Note: This article was written for hospital magazine of FJMC.
PS Thanks to Presidents of all societies for cooperation and of course pictures of the events. Wasif Bhai I stalked your profile to get them, Sorry for that :p