A fair quest

Kids sure are getting more enterprising these days. Give them a competition and they are sure to come up with very innovative methods of ...

Kids sure are getting more enterprising these days. Give them a competition and they are sure to come up with very innovative methods of ensuring a win. Like the Quest Milestones in Science8217; organised by the The Indian Express, two years ago. It not only opened up information and knowledge banks, but also enabled children to give a vent to their creativity. Which is one reason why there were so many interesting entries.

The quiz was started on November 14, 1998, and was directed at children from Pune8217;s English Medium schools, and required them to carefully record and research about the 200 scientists whose thumbnail sketches were carefully prepared by scientists at BARC. The students were expected to cut these sketches, published in the newspaper everyday, excepting Sundays and stick them in a scrap book. The students were also expected to collect as much additional information on all the scientists covered in the quiz series and how creatively they would present the information.

About 7000 scrap books were received from Pune city itself including the Pimpri Chinchwad area, and about 3000 were received from other districts as well. It was evident that these kids took an active interest in the preparation of these. Some of the entries were painstakingly compiled and written in hand, and bound together in innovative styles. There were many encyclopedias, and bound books. Some used other eye-catching methods, like a scrapbook in the form of a bright yellow sunflower, whose petals opened to show a painstaking compilation of knowledge. Another entry came in the form of a box, whose insides lit up every time the lid was opened; another had beautiful hand painted illustrations8230; The list was endless.

Sometimes however, it was evident that some of these kids had received a lot of parental help; nevertheless, the fact that their interest never flagged and the evidence of their meticulous compilation of Quest entries and equivalent research was a monumental endeavour in itself. The competition was intense, so also was the judging that entailed four rounds of elimination. On August 22, prizes were distributed to the 103 winners of the Quest Quiz. The first three prizes comprised of a personal computer, a Sunny Zip and a Colour TV. Trophies were also given to the three winners.

The first three prize winners were Ritwik Ghosh of St Jude8217;s, Megha Upadhyay of K.V. Ganeshkhind and Munira Dhariwala of St. Anne8217;s. The prizes were handed over at a function at Chandrashekar auditorium, IUCAA. Dr ArvindParanjapae, senior scientist at IUCAA was one of the speakers and Dr Paul Ratnasamy was the chief guest. On behalf of the judges, Mrs Sheikh addressed the gathering and briefed it on the criteria of selection, mentioning that the judges did indeed face a very tough time choosing the winners as the competition was so fierce.

The ceremony was marked by the screening of a short film The Power of Ten, courtesy IUCAA, and later, Dr Paranjape gave details of the science park, encouraging children to go there and witness for themselves the various treats in store. The function was attended by all the 103 winners, who had also brought their parents, relatives and other friends along. Dr Paranjapae especially encouraged the parents, and urged them to bring out the child in them.

The function ended with a sense of accomplishment and the satisfactory knowledge that the kids of today are definitely interested in learning and exploring other avenues of education. Well, Quest has certainly opened up information portals for these enterprising and inquisitive kids.