More than just brains

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you talk of 'wizkids'? Well, whatever you may think, one thing is certain. Being a 'wizkid' involves a whole lot more than just brains.

And that, by the way, is what Vihanga Perera (18) from Royal College and Aselia Gunaratne (17) from St. Lawrence's discovered when they represented Sri Lanka at the recently concluded 'Horlicks Wizkids' in Bangalore, India.

Aselia Gunaratne	Vihanga Perera

An annual literary and cultural festival and competition organised by Activity, India, Horlicks Wizkids provides a platform for school children to showcase their talents and skills. For the first time, this year's competition featured students from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal, in addition to those from cities across India. The South Asian finals of Horlicks Wizkids 2008 were held at the School of Ancient Wisdom in Bangalore with 64 contestants from the four countries last month.

The competition, designed to test a range of skills and abilities of school children, seeks out students who have a good balance of character and competence. Students also have the opportunity to participate at various workshops on child rights and discussions during the competition. What's more, at the finals, students are judged at every step, meaning the judges take into account even the way students present themselves at dinner.

But, that's not all either. An even more interesting or important aspect of this competition is that students are required to do a project based on the theme 'child rights' which would benefit their school, students and society. And mind you, it's not a matter of just submitting a neatly typed project proposal, the participants are required to carry it out.

"This competition taught us such a lot," says Vihanga, adding that the activities were designed in such a way that you had to question various issues rather than just providing answers. "When it came to judging, it was not just about skills, they even looked at how and what we did during our leisure time, the way we communicated with people, our behaviour and a whole lot more," he says.

"We also gained a lot of confidence through these," says Aselia, adding that certain activities even tested their physical skills and abilities. "It was challenging, but very interesting and fun. It was a great learning experience. We met a lot of different people and made new friends. We were like one big family out there. I didn't feel like a foreigner."

On his project, 'A Family Affair', Vihanga says, "If you take a look at the people around you - your friends and all those other people you meet everyday in your life - they are like our family. There's a lot you can do for them".

Through his project Vihanga plans to renovate a playground in Colombo and to introduce a welfare fund in school – a token system which will benefit students from low income families. "This particular playground is not in a proper condition, although it is used by several schools and an orphanage nearby. So once this is renovated, it would help the schools which use this ground to develop their sports activities. Maintaining the ground is not a big deal compared to its benefits to those around it," Vihanga says, adding that with the help of some friends he managed to clean up the playground.

Vihanga's project and his skills helped him become one of the four winners of Horlicks Wizkids 2008 and as a winner he would be competing at a youth initiative to be held in England next April. Vihanga adds, "My parents, family, friends, teachers and our school principal helped me a lot in all this".

Through her project, Aselia aims to improve the standards of the school library. "We don't have proper library facilities in school. What I hope to do through this project is to improve the facilities we have, because I think the library is vital to a child's education. I also hope to introduce a media center in the library," she says, and a section of a new building, being built in school would be used for this purpose.
Aselia won the award for 'best cultural knowledge'. "Yes, we were also tested on our cultural knowledge," she says, adding that she is especially grateful to her family, friends, school and in particular to Ms. Jacintha Wickramasinghe who took care of them in India.