DCM Guatam Rana Visits St. Stanislav’s Institution

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Mr Rana enganed in discussion with the DCG students

St. Stanislav’s Institution was honoured by the visit of Deputy Chief of Mission Mr. Gautam Rana from the Embassy of the United States in Slovenia. He paid a visit on 31st January 2018 and firstly addressed the pupils of Alojzij Šuštar Primary School and afterwards engaged in the panel discussion with the students of the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium. The topics considered were wide-ranging and complex. To start with, he presented his job of Deputy Chief of Mission and daily work schedule and then we moved to the article by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times which we were advised to read and was connected thematically with St. Stanislav’s Institution annual slogan “Where are you going?”. After that, it was time for students’ questions, which were well prepared and pertinent, as Mr. Rana pointed out. Some of them were actually tough to answer. The conversation went on about world politics, the rise and dangers of AI and robots, relations between the US and rest of the world, migration issues, the EU policy. What positively surprised me mostly was his optimistic view that humankind has never had it so good and only our pessimism or ignorance are holding us back. That is why Mr Rana accentuated the utmost importance of education and knowledge, as two key elements that constantly change the world we live in. It seemed this interesting conversation could continue on and on, but we were sadly time limited. All in all, we enjoyed the good atmosphere brought about by Mr. Rana’s nice, relaxed and knowledgeable attitude. The students were definitely not left empty-handed. /Amadej Pavšič, year 4/