Birla High School (Senior Section)

Investiture Ceremony

The Investiture Ceremony, a crucial event in the school calendar was solemnized with great pomp and fanfare on 8^th of July, when the Student Council members of 2015-16 were formally given their badges. The present council members are as follows:

            School President                              Pujeet Manot

            Vice President                                  Agneesh Dutta

            Head Boy                                           Umang Saraogi

            Cultural Secretary                            Naman Madhogardhia

            Joint Cultural Secretary                  Arhaan Dasgupta

            Secretary for Discipline                  Rahul Agarwal

            Joint Secretary Discipline              Akhshit Bagla

 

 

L. N. Birla Memorial Debate  

The 16^th L. N. Birla Memorial Debate was held on 11^th of July amidst a lot of excitement and élan. Like every year, there was a preliminary session on 10^th of July, where sixteen renowned city schools were engaged in an incisive battle of words and wit as they debated on the motion, which read, :The Internet should be subjected to censorship” . Eight best schools were selected for the debate in the Final Round held on the 11^th of July. The schools that qualified were:

            La Martiniere for Boys

            Shri Shikshayatan School

            Loreto House

            The Heritage School

            Calcutta Boys High School

            Sushila Birla Girls School

            St.James School and

            Birla High School

The debate which has always been set apart for its distinctive stature, had as its motion, “Colonial India would be preferable to a corrupt India”. Dr. Kunal Sarkar, a renowned cardiothoracic Surgeon, an avid debator graced the day as chairperson. The jury comprised, Mr. Amitabha Dutta, Director of Calcutta Media Institute and the first Business Head of the Telegraph, Dr. Sandeep Chatterjee, an eminent neurosurgeon, Ms. Karuna Singh, who heads the Indian Operations for Earth Day Network and Ms. Ramanjit Kaur, celebrated theatre and film actor.

The Best Speaker Trophy was lifted by Aastha Agarwal of Shri Shikshayatan School.  She also won a cash prize of Rs. 10,000/- and a Dell Laptop. The runner up in the same category was Rajarshi Mukherjee of Calcutta Boys School receiving a cash prize of Rs. 5000/-. The Best Team was Calcutta Boys School and both Rajarhi and Abhigyan Saha received a trophy, Rs. 7000/- cash each and an Apple I-pad each. All participants received a certificate, an Adidas Backpack, Linc Pen hampers, Book Coupons from Oxford and Starmark of Rs. 1000/- each, a BHS Platinum gift hamper and a cheque of Rs. 1000/- each.

 

Felicitation Ceremony 

The Felicitation Ceremony to appreciate and honour the boys of Class XII for their outstanding performance in the AISSCE and competitive examinations was held in the Vidya Mandir Auditorium on the 21^st of July. Nine students were selected for this prestigious award of which seven students were from Science stream. The two others were the toppers from the Commerce and the Humanities stream. The table below give a fair idea of their achievements:

 

 

 

 

Extempore 

Abhirup Manna participated in the Derozio Memorial Extempore Competition at Frank Anthony Public School and did the school proud. Abhirup made a magnificent delivery speaking on “If you had a chance, what would you choose – fame, money or health” and was declared the best speaker. He was awarded a trophy, certificate and a set of 8 books.

 

Sudoku Championship 

Shambo Debnath, a student of Class IX, participated in World Junior Sudoku Championship 2015 at Beijing from 23^rd to 25^th July 2015. He reached the pinnacle of glory when he was placed in the first position among all Indian participants and was judged fifth in the world. 

 

IT Fest 

The school participated in Exe.Bit2015, the only IT fest in Kolkata, organized by Lakshmipat Singhania Academy. The school bagged the overall second position with the combined efforts  of the Senior and Junior. The school won the first position in Nxtgen City (3D Model of next generation city)  and in the events like, E-palette (photoshop), Eldorado (treasure hunt), Website designing, FAQ (Tech Quiz).  The school received a DELL Desktop as second prize and the students received ILead gift vouchers of Rs. 500/- each and certificates.

 

Odyssey  

The Tenth Odyssey turned out to be one of the best fests the city has seen this year. Students of the +2 section of Birla High School presented this interschool cultural fest to the city of Kolkata after months of elaborate preparations. This year the fest broke all barriers and transcended all expectations. Eleven reputed schools of Kolkata participated in the festival that extended from 23^rd July to 1^st August 2015. There were 9 offstage events and 11 onstage events that took place.

This year, the star attractions were the famous quizmaster Barry O’Brien, Master of Ceremony Shane Hyrapiet and to top it all, the Indian Pop Band Sanam who proved to be a hit with the audience.

In the off stage events, Birla High School secured the first position in Treasure Hunt, Pool, Basketball, Rock Climbing and Tug of War. The school was placed second in Table Tennis, Lawn Tennis and Bowling and bagged the third place in the Carrom competition.

In the onstage events too, Birla High School was placed first in most of the events like Western Dance, Groove, Band, No Strings Attached, Turncoat Debate, Half A Minute, Sixty Seconds To Fame and Spreading Smiles. Birla High School bagged the second position in Fashion Show and Quiz. The special prizes were as follows:

 

Ayushi Saraogi (Modern High School)                                  - Best Representative

Ritwik Bhawsinghka (Birla High School)                               - Best Representative

Aditya Pathak and Ayush Agarwal (Birla High School)       - Star of Odyssey

(On the basis of winning in the maximum number of events)

Naman Madhogarhia (Birla High School)                             - Star of Odyssey

(On the basis of organisational and leadership skills)

The overall winners in the fest were:

Birla High School       -- First Position

Modern High School -- Second Position

Sushila Birla Girls’ School and Shri Shikshayatan School (tie) -- Third Position           

 

International Visit  

Two teachers from China, Ms. Li Jin and Ms. Dou along with fourteen students visited the school from 18^th to 25^th July 2016 enjoying the classes and the culture and hospitality extended to them by the school and the parents. This healthy exchange started a year ago is successfully fostering a very warm bond between BHS and Kunming NO 8 school contributing to a lot of learning both in academic and non academic fields. The Indian group now looks forward to visit Kunming in October 2015.