Students of Sai International School, Bhubaneswar, hold placards bearing tips on how to beat the heat this summer. Telegraph picture

Quiz wizards

A team from DAV Public School (Pokhariput), Bhubaneswar, won the second Aditya Memorial Quiz-2012 held on April 14. The quiz was conducted by Inquizitors, an event management group of eight engineering students, and was hosted by Loyola School in association with Aditya Memorial Foundation. Twenty-five schools from Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Paradip, Jajpur, Dhenkanal and Jamshedpur participated in the event. Of the 92 teams that appeared for the preliminary round, eight made it to the final round.

While DAV (Pokhariput) emerged champions and received a cash award of Rs 12,000, Loyola School, Jamshedpur, and St. Joseph's High School, Bhubaneswar, finished second and third, respectively. The other finalists were DAV (Kalinganagar), DAV (Unit-VIII), DAV (Chandrasekharpur) and Ruchika High School (all from Bhubaneswar).

The runners-up walked away with Rs 8,000 and the second runners-up won Rs 5,000.

Odia film actor Akash Das Nayak, Prof. Ajit Srivastav and Shikha Verma from the Institute of Physics were the guests on the occasion.

Young scientists

In order to popularise science, particularly chemical sciences, a two-day Uranium Talent Search Camp was organised last week at the DAV Public School, Chandrasekharpur, in the capital. The annual event is held separately for English medium and Odia medium schools. The top 100 students shortlisted from different schools of Odisha were exposed to a rigorous training session conducted by president of Uranium group, S.S. Tripathy and other resource persons.

Sriyanka Mohapatra of Ispat English Medium School, Rourkela, was adjudged topper. The second and third prizes went to Aditya Mishra of the host school and Roshni Gadnaik of Delhi Public School, Rourkela, respectively. Director of IIT-Bhubaneswar, Madhusudan Chakraborty, who was the chief guest for the valedictory ceremony, launched an e-book on the basic concepts of chemistry on Uranium group’s website.

Shilpi Sampad

Service with a smile

Service to mankind is service to God. Whenever one hears of this age-old saying, the first person that comes to mind is Mother Teresa, the epitome of compassion and love. She is a true inspiration for people across the world and my role model.

Through her dedication and selfless service to those considered the children of a lesser god, she earned everyone’s respect and received many laurels for her work. Mother’s intention was to bring a smile to the poor, sick, orphaned and homeless.
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu into a humble family in Albania, Mother left home when she was barely 12 and committed herself to a religious life. She came to India and spent her adulthood serving the less privileged. Later, she founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.

Her urge to help the less privileged inspired her to start the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday). She treated the sick and the ailing. At times, like a true mother, she even took care of leprosy and HIV-AIDS patients, who had been shunned by their families and society at large. She breathed her last in 1997 and it was the end of an era.
After her death, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta”. She has touched me in such a way that whenever I spot an ailing man begging on the streets or a hungry child picking rags, I feel Mother Teresa’s presence around me. She whispers in my ears, “Go take care of them, make them smile.”

Swosti Sikha Patnaik
Class VII,
Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1,
Bhubaneswar

MY TAKE

My Feathered Friends
When I look up at the blue sky
And find my feathered friends fly,
It fills me with immense joy, like every little girl or boy. As I hear them happily chirp,the sounds of vehicles disturb. How I wish, I were a bird,
And happily spread the word
To plant more and more trees, for the lovely cool breeze, for some more
beautiful birds, and forests full of
animals and herds.

Trayambak Rath
Class VII,
Ruchika High School,
Bhubaneswar

Down The Memory Lane
I stepped into this school of mine,
Having the desire to make friends
And earn knowledge,
All of us unknown to each other
Soon became best of friends, and the
teachers taught us
The biggest lessons of life…Days and years passed by, I became a part of this school,
An obedient student to the teachers
And a friend to all my classmates…
But in no time, we all grew up
And now it’s time to leave
This temple of knowledge, with memories of my early days,
The future worries me,
And memories saddens me, as I have a few days in this school… The
examinations are over, And my heart is beating faster than ever,
For I would be leaving my school forever,
But with fond memories Of all my friends and teachers, who have made my school life
The most cherished
experience.

Pankaj Kumar Senapati,
Class X,
Loyola School,
Bhubaneswar