A sixth standard student of SBOA School in Coimbatore made the city proud and received a cash reward of Rs 25,000 from the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India.
Introducing A Priyadarshini, a girl with a vivid imagination that made her a winner from among 16 lakh contestants representing 23,475 schools from across the nation for a painting on the theme, “Role of children in Water Conservation for the future.”
Such achievements are not new to the talented Priyadarshini. She’s also won the first prize in the State and second prize in the National Stamp Designing contest held by the Postal Department and received the award from President Pratibha Patil herself.
Her mom, Mrs Chandragandhi, says, “She’s won more than two awards for painting and sketching, and 50 more in general proficiency, sports and other cultural activities. I noticed her talent at an early age, and enrolled her in art classes to develop her skills.
However, accomplishments of this nature have surprised me and her father, Mr Arul Mani. We ensure that she practices regularly and support her as much as we can.”
Priyadarshini is excited about her awards and says, “I have to thank my teacher and parents for constantly encouraging me. My favourite themes are forests and portraits.
For the stamp design, I focused on the dwindling number of tigers in India and tried to shed light on their probable extinction.
To conserve water, I emphasized on the need for everyone to grow more trees and use water with care.” She goes adds, “I want to be an astronaut one day, but painting shall always be close to my heart!”
Mr V. Chandra Sekhar of the Chitrakala Academy, and Priya’s art tutor comments, “She’s a hard working kid with luck on her side. I hope to motivate her to scale greater heights; I didn’t get many opportunities in my day, at least my prize students should!”
