A project on application of a solution prepared from wild gauva to kill termites developed by Stuthi M.S. and Sandhya Prabhu, Class 10 students from Sudhana High School in Puttur, has earned them a place to participate in the International Genius Olympiad 2019. The Olympiad will be held at the State University of New York, Oswego, in the U.S., between June 17 and 21.
This project on aqueous solution prepared out of Careya arborea (wild gauva), locally called Kaadu Perale, earned the two a gold medal at a regional-level competition held in Moodbidri on November 18, 2018. They were among the four gold medal-winning team in a national-level competition held in Rajkot on January 19, 2019, which earned them the chance to participate in the international competition. The regional and national-level competitions were organised by Indian Science and Engineering Fair (INSEF) of the Science Society of India.
The two students left here for the U.S. on Friday.
Sadhana P. Hebbar, science teacher who guided the two students, told The Hindu that Ms. Stuthi got curious seeing wild gauva tree near her house in Puttur not getting attacked by termites unlike other trees in the vicinity.
Ms. Stuthi and her classmate Ms. Prabhu collected the bark of the tree and boiled it to prepare a concentration. This concentration was tested and it was found having tannin, which is effective against termites. “The two have worked on the characters of tannin and its effectiveness against termites, which will be presented at the international fair,” Ms. Hebbar said. The two students have been doing science projects together for the last few years. A board prepared using arecanut husk got the two a silver medal in the regional round of INSEF last year. The two love classical music. While Ms. Stuthi has been learning Carnatic music, Ms. Prabhu is learning Hindustani music.
Ms. Stuthi is the daughter of Krishna Ganaraja Bhat and Sowmya Bhat. Ms. Prabhu’s parents are Ramesh Prabhu and Ranjani Prabhu.
