Honours at the National Psycholympiad

Never fear failing, never fear falling.

Psychology and mental wellbeing are rapidly emerging as dialogues of the 21stcentury involving the scientific studies of brain, mind and behaviour. It encompasses a vision of promoting positive mental health and addressing specific concerns to benefit the wellbeing of schools and society at large. Those who dedicate themselves to the study of this discipline will have the potential toproactively develop and enrich the art and science of human thinking, emotionsand behaviour.

With respect to the thought mentioned above, Expressions India organised thepioneering National Psycholympiad to celebrate the Mysteries of the HumanMind and Behaviour. The event was spread over two days i.e. 22 and 23 August2019 at the auditorium and conference room of theNational Science Centre in PragatiMaidan, for the students of classes XI and XII.

From our School Anshika Sharma,Tanya Aswani, Arshi Sareen and Sai Pratyaksh Epari of XII-C, Aashna Khanna,Mehul Tandon, Saumya Mishra and Gracie of XII-A, Saksham Batra from XII-B and Anushree Dutta ofbXI-D took part in the event. As many as teams from 38 other schools across the nation participated in the event. The competition wasfurther divided into 5 events namely Utopia ( theme based on-the-spot paintingcompetition), Poster exhibition, National Psyquizard ( written and stage rounds quiz), Eloquence ( extempore speech), Yuva Manch ( Nukkad Natak).

On the first day, the event began with a brainstorming session and discussion bythe chief guests and judges on the emerging concepts related to the discipline. Prof.J. L. Pandey ( Advisor, Expressions India and former leader of AdolescentProgramme NCERT), Prof. Ritu Sharma ( Amity University), Dr. Asha Bakshi( Neurosurgeon at Moolchand Medicity) and Dr. Rushi ( HOD Psychology, RMLHospital) were some of the guests present on the occasion. All these persons of great standing in the field,appreciatedthe innovative idea of planning an Olympiad in Psychology and discussed theemerging need of the subject not only to spread awareness, but also to deal with theconcerns of people in todays world.

Though everyone talked about the stigmaattached with mental health issues, Dr. Bakshi also mentioned her experiences as aneurosurgeon and the techniques used by her to operate on the brain.

After the short discussion the students participating in Utopia were asked to assemble in the conference hall. They were required to present their interpretations of the topics given to them through art. Anushree and Mehul took part in this event and the topic givento them was School safety and mental health. They were given 2 hours to complete the task. After presenting the creative poster, our quiz team comprising Aashna Khanna, Tanya Aswani and Anshika Sharma headed towards the auditorium to attend the written round of the quiz. They had to attempt 100 MCQs in 90 minutes!

The day ended with a moment of happiness as it was announced that our quiz teamhad qualified for the stage round along with 5 other teams. Our students wereexcited and waited anxiously for the next day.

On the second day, our quiz team along with the team for Yuva Manch and participants for Eloquence reached the venue. The day began by welcoming the guest and judges for the Nukkad Natak- Ms Abhipsa Satapathy (Clinical Psychologist) and for Eloquence- Ms. Aprajita Dixit (Counselling Psychologist). The participantfrom our School in Eloquence was Anshika Sharma and she spoke on the topic Culture and Emotional Expression.

Simultaneously, teams for Yuva Manch began with their acts. The topic given toour team was Identification of depression in daily life. After this event was overthe stage round of the quiz began where the participants had to answer the questions asked to them.

The day ended with the awards ceremony. All the participants were acknowledgedfor their efforts and were given school citation, participation medals and certificates. Also, our quiz team comprising Anshika Sharma (XII-C), Tanya Aswani (XII-C) and Aashna Khanna (XII-A) were awarded the Second Prize in their event.

Tanya Aswani, XII-C