Suzzanne Zerin with her Teen of the Year trophy. Telegraph picture

Jorhat, Nov. 18: Suzzanne Zerin, a Class IX student of Carmel School here, thinks way ahead of her peers.

Winner of this year’s Teen of the Year competition held in Mumbai recently, Suzzanne decimated 18 other contestants from seven zones of India in the question-answer round, getting an impressive nine out of 10 points.

The first Assamese to win the contest in its 18th edition, the precocious teenager also scored over the boys and girls in an individual project for betterment of the community, the ice-breaker round, group discussion, a talent round and the question-answer round before being selected the winner.

Asked how she would promote India if she was made the country’s ambassador, Suzzanne said she would promote its vast culture, its languages and the love and care of its people.

“I told them that India is a vast country having diverse cultures and 240 languages — so many languages cannot be found together in any other country in the world — and the love and care of the people for each other. I told them about the great people of India who have lived together despite such diversity,” she told The Telegraph over phone.

Regarding the project, she said this year’s theme of the contest was: Youths, Harbingers of a Media Revolution.

“I used the social media Facebook to create awareness about cyber crime. I created a community named Lifeline Media and listed links of episodes of (television shows) Gumraah and Crime Patrol which deal with such crimes. I also wrote two blogs and the site has got 99 likes till now. I also did a survey in school with the help of our principal, where the students had to answer a questionnaire on cyber crime, to test their awareness,” she said.

Organised by Teenagers Today, a magazine subscribed to by her school, Suzzanne read about the competition in the library and applied for participating in the pre-zonal contest held in Guwahati.

Here, in the question-answer round, she was asked: “If you had a choice, which Asian would you like to be?”

Rani Lakshmibai, was her answer. “She was valiant and a great freedom fighter. More than that she fought for the country at a time when women were considered to be only homemakers. I admire her and would like to be like her.”

Another girl from Jorhat and a boy from Siliguri had been selected from the Northeast zone, along with 18 others from the other six zones.

Suzanne won a gold-plated trophy, a sash, a certificate and mementoes like a large number of books, video CDs and Rs 10,000.

As for her dreams for the future, Suzzanne said she would like to pursue a career in mass communication and make documentaries highlighting India’s problems, such as harassment of women, poverty and illiteracy, for the country’s improvement.