More than 90 innovative projects were exhibited by students from various schools in the ‘Budding Scientist Contest’ organised at S.N.R. Sons College here on Thursday. The event was to remember former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on his 84{+t}{+h}birth anniversary. The event was jointly organised by Lead India 2020, S.N.R. Sons College, The Hindu In School and Ratio City FM.
“Students could choose from three topics that included Reclamation of water bodies in Coimbatore, Resources of Renewable Energy and Community Health and Hygiene. The topics were handpicked from the 10-point oath frequently administered by the late former President,” said J. Sathish Kumar, State Coordinator of Lead India 2020.
Forty-six schools took part in the competition in the junior category (Class V to VII) and 44 in the senior category (Class VIII to X).
Among the projects that grabbed the attention of visitors was the Eco Bike designed by students B. Yogeshvaran and K. Anbirkinian, of BVB School. The students fitted magnets to a bicycle’s wheel and mudguard to make the vehicle cover more distance with less effort. The bicycle also has a provision to store energy generated from the wheels, which could be used later.
C. Mahalakshmi and Bharath Varier of K’SIRS International School extracted oil from pungai tree seeds. While a portion of the extract could be used as motor and vehicle fuel, the students also made degradable plastic covers and soap from the extracted oil. Fuel from water hyacinth was another innovation which they displayed at the contest.
An expert panel of judges comprising retired Tangedco Superintending Engineer D. Thirumoorthi, leading power consultant P.A. Subramaian, Dean of Sri Ramakrishna Hospital K. Sukumaran and Public Works Department Assistant Engineers R. Sriram, T.N. Prabhaharan, H.L. Meeraben and N. Prabha selected the winning projects.
Winners in the senior category: first prize – K. Anbirkiniyan and B. Yogeshveran of Bharathiya Vidya Bhavan, second prize – S. Raghul and V.N. Shrikrishnaa of Lisieux Matriculation Higher Secondary School and third prize – H.M. Nathram and M. Rishi of Amirtha Vidhyalayam.
Winners in the junior category: first prize – Nandhana Santhosh and K. Sharadha of Vidhya Vikas, second prize – Harish Adhithya and Vikas Shivam from Kovai Public School and third prize – Sakhityan Prakash and A. Inya of Yellow Train School. The winning teams bagged a cash prize of Rs. 10,000, Rs. 7,500 and Rs. 5,000 along with trophies and certificates. Participation certificate was given to all students.
As part of the event, 24 NSS volunteers from Rajasthan, Manipur, Assam, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu who performed in the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi performed various cultural programmes of their States.
S. Sabarivenkat (12), a visually impaired student who had impressed Kalam with his oratorical skills, gave a motivational speech for school and college students on the lessons to be learnt from Kalam and Swami Vivekananda.
Earlier, District Collector Archana Patnaik inaugurated the competition. Managing trustee of SNR Sons Charitable Trust R. Vijayakumhar, Chief Education Officer N. Arul Murugan, and Commandant of the 105 RAF Battalion R. Jayakumar were present at the event. At the valedictory, prizes were distributed to winners by Passport Officer S. Sasi Kumar.
