Kids think out of the box

Winners all

One would like the present generation to grow up and be smart professionals, fend for themselves and be self-sufficient.

   

The South-Asian finals of the ‘Horlicks Wizkids’, held at Jnana Jyothi Auditorium recently, was a competition among students that explored much beyond these lines.  It tried to send a message across that being smart and useful is not just scoring great grades.

The finals of the 10th year of ‘Horlicks Wizkids’ witnessed a diverse group. Forty-eight students from 24 cities in five countries participated in the event.   The finalists competed in over 20 different competitions which tested their talents, strengths, skills and creativity in more than 50 parameters.  Commenting on this year’s performances and the talent displayed, Syed Sultan Ahmed, managing director of Edumedia, says, “We train ourselves and our kids to talk of topics that are obvious and out there. But this competition helped to open up venues for kids to explore projects that have not been done yet.

Syed added, “In the cultural evening that we had, the children brought food and snacks from their respective places, and it was wonderful to see the passion with which they represented their culture.” 

Utkarsh Chorararia, a 11th grader from Bethany High School in the City, and a winner of the competition, says, “I was lucky to be a winner, and it just shows that I fared a bit better than the others. The experience of being  part of a competition like this, where not much preparation can be done, was challenging. But leadership is about how you go about it, and not what you do and ‘Wizkids’ taught us just that.”  Rituja Ravikrishna Rao, another winner, from Pune, says, “Wizkids is a collection of memories for each one of us. We just had to put whatever we’ve learnt throughout our lives into practice.”

The five winners of the competition were Navidu Samarakkodi from Colombo, Sri Lanka; Rituja Ravikrishna Rao from Pune, Utkarsh Chorararia from Bangalore, Shivani Mishra from Nepal and Aishwarya Jeyakumar from Chennai.

Their prize comprised a scholarship of Rs 1 lakh each, along with a five-day educational trip to South Africa.  The judges of the event included actress Soundarya; General Prasad, former Army General, Nirupa Shankar and Shankar S V, an industrialist.