Top honours in inter school competitions at Singapore International School, Mumbai and BK Birla Public School, Kalyan

A team of 12 students from classes XI and XII participated in 2 prestigious events hosted by Singapore International School, Dahisar and B.K Birla Public School, Kalyan. The back to back events were held at Mumbai from 6 to 9 September, 2018.

On 6 September, Shrey Gogia(XI) and Utkarsh Pandey(XII) took part in an event titled -INERTIA. In this event both participants were required to explain the significance of two important dates in Indian history - 2 October and 30 January, in a verbal presentation and using either props or a white board. Since the topic had been communicated to the participants, two weeks in advance, they came prepared. Both our participants took turns to speak, as well as, use props for effect.

The next day commenced with an opening ceremony followed by the prelims of the debate, the participants for which were Aatif Husain(XII), Avantika Chodha(XII) and Shrey Gogia. Meanwhile, Anoushka Basu(XI), Mirambika Mukherjee(XII), Nipunh Kothari(XII) and Mehar Saxena(XI) participated in creative writing, Incubation, and Innuendo- the events being held simultaneously. Upon completion of these events, the preliminary round of the quiz - Inquisition was conducted. The team of Gauri Awasthi(XI), Aatif Husain, and Utkarsh Pandey ably represented our School in this round.

Our seasoned debaters team defeated the team from Dhirubhai Ambani School, Mumbai in the semi final! The two teams sparred with vigour and confidence on the motion This house believes that the scrapping of Section 377 is vastly different from a change in the socio-religious mindset'. The final round was a face off with Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer on the motion, This house believes that the onus of financing has made democracy of the poor an illusion.'

After the finals of the debate and the quiz, the closing ceremony of the event began. Here, our School was named the winner of the debate.

At 6 a.m. on the morning of 8 September, we proceeded to B.K. Birla Public School, Kalyan for the next round of competitions.

The proceedings of the day began with a short briefing about all the events. The art installation and creative writing were a combined event, followed by a quiz and the multi-format debate. The topic for Art Installation was Line of Control. Sehaj Kaur Bedi and Prabhsimran Kaur worked on a piece and Gauri Awasthi and Krithi Bajaj(XI) wrote the creative content. All four worked together for over an hour to produce an enticing and thought-provoking installation, flanked by two wonderful pieces of imaginative writing.

Concurrently, the prelims for the debate concluded and we qualified for the semi-finals and had to engage in a fierce war of words with Emerald Heights School, Indore, which we trounced convincingly. The topic for the semifinals was - 'This house believes that the spirit of the RTI is being eroded by those who should strengthen it. Our team, fresh from their recent victory displayed fine wit and elan as they tore into the arguments of the team from Mayo College Girls School on the motion, This house believes that we should change from We the People to We the Corporates. After two very exciting block and tackle rounds, the event concluded with our team emerging as winner!

While the art installation was still being adjudged, the preliminary round of the quiz continued in the school library. Our team qualified there as well. However, we lost in the next round to St. Michaels School, Siliguri, who went on to win the quiz.

Prahsimran Kaur(XII), Gauri Awasthi, Sehaj Bedi(XII), and Krithi Bajaj, took the third position in the Art Installation category, while Aatif Husain, Utkarsh Pandey and Avantika Chodha won the first position in the debate.

The two events were an absolute pleasure to attend and a wonderful experience for all of us.

Avantika Chodha, XII-D.