Young geographers give message of environment protection through Debate, Web Designing, Model Display and Cartoon making contests

The second day of the four-day International Geography Olympiad ‘Geofest International-2011′ organized by City Montessori School, Mahanagar (Campus III) was very interesting. Over 500 students came from Mauritius, Bulgaria, Nepal and several states of India contested for various competitions in Geofest and also gave the message of environment protection through the events. The young geographers came from India and abroad raised their voices to keep the earth clean and green and conserve natural resources through Geotalk (Debate) and mesmerized one and all by preparing colourful drawing in Geotoon (Cartoon making contest). Similarly, their talents reflected in model display, geotech etc. The students showed their tremendous knowledge of geography and showed that our thinking must not be restrained to our own nation rather it should be international.
The second day started today with prayer assembly and audio-visual talk on the topic ‘Purpose of today’s education’. The events today commenced with second selection round of National Geography Olympiad. This event is held for Indian students only and the top 3 winners of the final round will participate in Mega Final Round in the year 2012 together with top 3 winners of National Geography Olympiad 2012. The third round of this competition will be held tomorrow.
‘Geotalk (Debate) was the main attraction today in which 20 teams of India and aborad spoke in a power packed voice on the topic ‘Do Benefits of Tourism Outweigh the Costs’ and left the audience, teachers and judges captivated with their meaningful thoughts and powerful and empowering presentation. Principal of CMS Rajendra Nagar (Campus II), Ms Archanaa Pande was the moderator of debate. The participants of this event not only put forth their views nature and human relation rather they also highlighted the economic and social order of nations. Chand Kapoor of Bal Bharti Public School, New Delhi put up her views for the motion as tourism is a great source of cultural exchange that promotes world fraternity and it can not be compared with cost effects. M. Chitrangada of Sunbeam School, Varanasi spoke against the motion and said that tourism generates environmental pollution, unemployment and financial loss because the hard earned money of tourists go in the pockets of sellers. Tanya Gambhir of St. Marks Se. Sec. School, Janakpuri, New Delhi spoke for the motion and said that tourism gives employment and local inhabitants are benefitted with it. Shruti Sharma of Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ School, Jaipur, Rajasthan said against the topic that tourism is a temporary phase of moving away from home and work place that gives temporary pleasure but increases pollution. Garvita of CMS Aliganj Campus spoke for the motion that tourism facilitates the exchange of world brotherhood, love and compassion and gives benefit to hosts and tourists both. Vikhyat of Sunbeam School, Varanasi spoke against the motion and said that tourism had always been most important and oldest need of mankind but it incurs severe cost in infrastructure of tourist spots as parks, ponds etc. and the treasury of Government bears all that. The judges of this event were Mrs Aruna Naidu, Principal of CMS Rajajipuram (Campus II) and Mrs Vera Hajela, Principal of CMS Asharfabad.
Another main attraction of today’s events was Geotoon (Cartoon Making) competition which the viewers thoroughly enjoyed. In this competition the competitors poured out their creative talent, imaginative ability and humor through the cartoons on the topic ‘Human Cloning’. The judges in this contest were Mr H. Rehman, Commercial Artist; Mr Anand Krishna, Media Consultant, Lucknow; Mrs Ranjana Deane, Asstt. Prof., Fine Arts, Amity University. In Geotech Competition, 34 teams participated on the topic ‘Piezo Electricity’. The students displayed a wonderful balance between man and machine in this contest and won the praise of all.
In the Model Display contest for juniors and seniors, students from various counties put forth their best talents in the form of creative models. They made socially useful models in a  sand tray using clay, plaster of Paris, water and other material and left the spectators amazed with with their creation. As many as 50 students teams participated in the junior category on the topic ‘City of My Dreams’ and 34 students teams participated in the senior category on the topic ‘e-Waste Management’. The judges of the junior category contest were Dr S. Majumdar, Asst. Director, Regional Science Center, Lucknow; Dr Mallika Saxena, Reader, Lucknow University and Dr Nirmala Upadhyay, Asst. Prof., Lucknow University.
Mrs Prema Subramaniam, Convenor of Geofest International-2011 and Principal of CMS Mahanagar (Campus III) said that this unique event not only promotes environmental conservation, world peace and unity rather we are also endeavouring to the protection of wild life. In this context, she said, that CMS Mahanagar (Campus III) had adopted white peacock and Macau  from Lucknow zoo for one year and we use less electricity and plastic is used in even lesser number. Chief Public Relations Officer of CMS, Mr Hari Om Sharma informed that the competitions at Geofest will continue tomorrow. Main competitions to be held tomorrow include the third round of National Geography Olympiad, Create Your Taste (Junior and Senior) and Voice and Vision. The competitions would begin at 10.00 am. Mr Sharma informed that the student participants of Geofest 2011 seem so enthusiastic about the competitions and so eager to learn various aspects of Geography that there is hardly any doubt that they would make new discoveries in the field and succeed in creating history for the humanity.

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