Houston Hosts North South Foundation’s 25th Anniversary of Academic Contests

North South Foundation (NSF) Founder and President Dr Chitturi recognizing Sai and Lalitha Rachakonda for their extraordinary service.

North South Foundation (NSF) Founder and President Dr Chitturi recognizing Sai and Lalitha Rachakonda for their extraordinary service.

By Pramod Kulkarni

HOUSTON: The Houston Chapter of North South Foundation (NSF) hosted the 2017 National Finals contests on August 12-13 at the University of Houston. This is a historic year for NSF, which celebrates its 25th anniversary of highly successful academic contests.

All of the recent winners of the Scripps, Natonal Geographic and other national academic contests got their start with the NSF bees.

North South Foundation 2017 National Finals Organizing Committee.

North South Foundation 2017 National Finals Organizing Committee.

About 1,250 children from grades K-12 participated in the finals of multiple competitions such as Spelling Bee, Vocabulary Bee, Geography Bee, Math Bee, Science Bee, Brain Bee, Essay Writing, and Public Speaking.

The children were selected based on their performance from 92 centers located all over the USA where regional contests were held. Academic excellence was on full display as children competed to secure top ranks.

Junior Science Bee winners proudly displaying their hard earned trophies.

Junior Science Bee winners proudly displaying their hard earned trophies.

NSF is a non-profit organization established in 1989 under the vision and leadership of Dr. Ratnam Chitturi to provide merit-cum-means scholarships for poor talented children in India. In 1992, the foundation expanded its mission to achieving academic excellence among Indo-American children as well.

The competitions on both the days were supported by more than 400 volunteers that included numerous Houstonians, past NSF children, High School students and UH Graduate students. The event also helped raise more than $100,000 towards scholarships for poor students in India.

North South Foundation volunteers enjoying a light moment at the Photo Booth.

North South Foundation volunteers enjoying a light moment at the Photo Booth.

The first day’s events concluded with an award ceremony at the UH Cullen Performance Hall, which was highlighted by a Proclamation from Mayor Sylvester Turner declaring August 12 as NSF Day in Houston.
The awards ceremony was attended by distinguished guests including Dr. Anupam Ray, Consul General of India and Paige Kimble, Executive Director of Scripps National Spelling Bee. Ms. Kimble commended the children for their competitive spirit and encouraged them to dream high.

Dr. Ray explained to the children how India invested heavily in education since independence and developed a culture where education is valued. Dr Ray suggested that these choices benefitted India and allowed Indians to excel in education, and urged all to follow the beacon of hope set by NSF by volunteering in its activities.

The speeches were followed by a presentation of awards to the participants and trophies for the top winners.

The second day of the academic fest on August 13th featured Geography, Math and Brain Bees – each similarly categorized based by grade level and supported by past national level champions.

Dr. Latha Ramchand, Dean of the Bauer College of Business at UH, addressed the children at the awards ceremony. She commented that children need both talent and perseverance to be successful in life.

The academic competitions on both days were interspersed by “Meet the Pro” sessions, where national champions in math, science, geography and spelling shared their study strategies and personal experiences with the younger audience and by self development seminars such as, “Confidence Building and Public Speaking”, “Universal Values” and “Unlock your Potential”.

The academic contests including Awards ceremony can be watched at http://www.yupptv.com/nsf-live.html or on YouTube by using the link http://tiny.cc /2017nsfcontests. To learn more about NSF’s mission and its India Scholarships Program, please visit www.northsouth.org. To donate for this cause please visit  http://tiny.cc/donateforkids.