APNA Foundation promotes charitable activities primarily in US and in India. These activities include educational, scientific, cultural, healthcare fields and other focus areas. As a part of this philanthropic endeavor, APNA has been actively working on many projects to help needy and meritorious children in India for several years.
Under the chairmanship of Shri Adisesha Reddy and President Bala Indurti and other dedicated leaders, APNA is committed to foster the spirit of excellence and to provide the environment for the spirit to sustain. After providing several venues for help and support in India and elsewhere, APNA received several requests to help the meritorious students in USA also. APNA whiz kid competitions in USA is one of the activities that has been conceptualized by these leaders, to help identify the “whiz kid” of Indian Origin in USA. The goal of the competition is to select the top students in two categories based on merit alone and provide them with scholarships and recognition awards.
There were two categories of students. Category 1 was for Grades 3rd through 5th and Category 2 was for Grades 6th through 8th. Participation was open to students of Indian Origin across USA based on their grade level.
APNA Whiz Kid preliminary competition was held in November in 14 locations across USA. Out of the several hundred that participated, the top five from each category were selected for the finals on Saturday, January 12 th, 2013. His Excellency, Shri Ajit Kumar, Hon. Consulate General of India was the chief guest for an evening filled with dazzling quiz competition, enthralling musical entertainment and above all, an inspiring display of sportsman spirit. In his dignified way, Shri Ajith Kumar shared that though attending cultural events is a part of his busy lifestyle, charitable events such as the APNA whizkid will always retain a special place in heart. It was touching to note that in spite of his extremely busy scedule, Shri Ajit Kumar took the time to select and personally bring a special set of books to be awarded to the finalists.
Madhav Durbha and Hari Pothukuchi hosted the nail biting finals for the two categories, which saw a keenly fought nerve wracking finish. There were 25 questions in all for each category, with 5 questions each from Science, Math, Vocabulary, India and Social Studies. All questions were multiple-choice timed questions and the audience were warmly surprised to see that time was not a constraint to the contestants. It was also interesting to note that the list of ten finalists had only one contestant from the host city of Atlanta. Category 2 competitions saw a tie for the third place requiring an extra round of 10 tie breaker questions.
The audience were also regaled by a very enjoyable musical interlude conducted ably by Venkat chennubotla along with his cultural team of Phani, Ram, Sneha, Bhanu & Keerthana. Many songs were presented by this team, which took the definition of musical entertainment to dizzying heights.
Photo Link: https://picasaweb.google.com/apnafoundation/January142013
The APNA Whiz kid winners for Category 1 and Category 2 are as follows:
Category1 (3rd – 5th grade):
Rohan Nagabhairav, Dallas, TX ($1000 award)
Sraavya Pinjala, Salt Lake City, UT($500 award)
Arnav Singh, Tampa, FL ($250 award)
Category2 (6th – 8th grade):
Ujwal Punyamurthula, Austin, TX ($1000 award)
Sumedh Surya Garimella, Atlanta, GA ($500 award)
Sairisheek Muthukuru, San Jose, CA ($250 award)
All out of state participants received $500 travel compensation.
In an evening which demonstrated the brilliant acumen of the young contestants, melodious musical entertainment, Inspiring speeches from leaders, three lifetime achievement awards were presented. The APNA Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented to
- Late Dr P.V.Rao garu, a father figure to Atlantans and an eminently respectable leader in USA and India.
- Dr Narasimhulu Neela garu
- Mr Narender Reddy garu
Mr Phani Dokka accepted the award on behalf of Late Dr P.V.Rao garu. One of the highlights of the evening was the soul stirring eulogy from Phani to Dr Rao. There was not a dry eye in the audience to the moving tribute by Phani that was blended with sincere praise and marked respect to Dr Rao.
- APNA Executive committee members President elect Dr V.K.Raju, Vice President Dr Bellamkonda Kishore, Secretary Raju Pusapati, & Executive Director Ramesh Chapparala were recognized for their yeoman service and leadership.
- Mr Narsi Narsimhan was recognized for his help in coordinating the visit of the chief guest, Mr Ajith Kumar.
- APNA Core team Madhav Durbha, Ravi Kandimalla, Hari Pothukuchi, Srini Vangimalla, Venkat Chennubhotla and Siva Gaddamanugu were recognized for their valuable contributions and teamwork. APNA Sponsors and Volunteers were recognized for their diligence and tireless support in all APNA activities
- As Atlanta was hosting the finals, Executive Director Ramesh Chaparala recognized all the Atlanta finalists from the Regional competition.
- APNA recognized Apoorva Gangavelli , a perfect 2400 scorer in the SAT examination.
- Bytegraph helped in Photography and captured several golden moments from the evening.
- APNA was grateful to Sridhar Vakiti for his help in co-ordinating the videography for the event.
- It was a privilege to see Jyothi Reddy in the audience, who had to come all the way from Phoneix, Arizona to lend her support to this event.
- During his recognition, Ravi Ponnagi shared with the audience that he had seen the growth of APNA over the last five years and the tremendous impact that came out of them.
At the end of the program, President Bala Indurti expressed his gratitude for family and friends who were pillars of strength providing the much needed moral and emotional support during this successful and at times difficult journey. He also shared his resolve to let new blood infuse into the APNA strategic initiatives after leading at the helm for five years. His firm belief was that periodical change in leadership, helps every organization in getting a fresh perspective and seek measures to adapt to change in the external environment. Bala expressed confidence that under the stewardship of President-elect Dr V.K.Raju, APNA will continue smoothly in fulfilling its goals and objectives. The thunderous applause to the impromptu speech clearly reflected the support and goodwill that the leader enjoyed. Above all, this would not have been possible without the heartfelt support from Dr. Prem Reddy & Dr. Malla Reddy.
Media members from IndiaTribune, NRI Pulse, Khabar, Great Andhra were recognized for their partnership and support in APNA activities. Media has an important role to play in disseminating the relevant news to the general population and APNA appreciated the keen sense of responsibility and professional acumen that the distinguished journalists displayed in ensuring that all the important facts are meaningfully conveyed.
