VT Seva Houston Celebrates Earth Day

By Ranganath Kandala

HOUSTON: On Sunday April 21st the Houston Chapter of VT SEVA celebrated its second annual Earth Day Science Fair.

Spearheaded by VT Seva Co-Branch Director Swetha Sirivolu, over 85 registrants enrolled to participate in this multifaceted program designed in a competitive format. The fair was open to students from pre-school to 10th grade.

There was a costume contest for pre-school to 2nd grade students, tri-fold poster competition for 3rd through 8th grade, a power point demonstration for 9th and 10th grade high school students, and an impromptu speech contest on Earth Day-related topics. An esteemed panel of judges presided over the contest.

VT Seva focuses on promoting youth leadership and involvement in community service and philanthropic activities. The VT Seva youth volunteer team assisted in program arrangements and some took to the stage as emcees for the Earth Day program.

 

The Earth Day program began with a poignant skit presented by Prajna students. This was followed by the costume contest, a delight to the audience with a colorful display on a myriad of topics related to the Earth Day. An outstanding feature of the contest was that most costumes were made from recycled material. One of the most creative costumes was that of “Plastic Yamraj”, who, to the amazement of the audience, said “If you use plastic, I will take you to my world!”.
During the impromptu speech contest, students boldly stood up to express their views on various Earth Day-related topics given by the judges.

This was followed by an awards ceremony with awards for each category presented by the event’s special guests, who then gave a message to the audience and complimented the youth for their commitment to such an important cause.

The Event Sponsors and Partners were recognized for their support of this program. Under the able guidance of event lead Swetha Sirivolu and her team comprised of Mr. Krishna Chokkarapu, Swathi Suryawanshi, Swetha Khade, Praveen Sirivolu, Prasanna Vaishnava, Dr. Renu Tamirisa and Dr. Aparna Tamirisa, it took the work of numerous volunteers to make this event possible. The commitment of these volunteers was truly the key to the success of this event.

VT SEVA, spearheaded by His Holiness Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji, has as one of its focus areas Environmental Awareness and Protection of Mother Earth.

As part of this, the VT SEVA SEVA Houston Earth Day event is an annual program and now looks forward to a great event in 2020!