What is NatCon?
On the 16th, 17th and 18th of July, Indus International School held a three-day conference regarding Climate change called the NatCon. Unlike most conferences, it consisted of group activities, expert sessions, and debates and more. The aim of NatCon was- a discussion for change, focusing on what each of us can do rather than what we can’t and what others should do.
How did we handle the process?
This was the first event the five of us handled after being appointed as Prefects so naturally, all of us were very excited and wanted the whole process to go as smoothly as possible. From the very beginning, we had decided to be neat, organised and efficient in our work.
Nomination of the participants, discussion with teachers and contacting them took us some time and effort but it came along with a truck load of fun. It all seemed straight and simple but we did face our hurdles as well. Drafting out mails to be sent, holding a meeting to brief everyone and even having internal meetings to check our progress really tested our patience but we fared well and kept working. I especially remember waking up in the morning to see our inboxes flooded with queries from students and guidelines from the NatCon Organisers. It was a complete mess that had to be sorted out every day.
Then came the last minute hurdles that no amount of planning would have prepared us for. Eleventh hour questions, confirmation of teams and even making emergency replacements. All of this just made us work even harder as we were determined to make this programme a success
Let me tell you- We reaped what we had sown
The Event and our Experience
Activity Presentations
The event was a blast. Vidya Valley swept all awards and prizes at NatCon. Our school had the maximum participation and we won both the debates and the activity. The children interacted well with all the speakers and we felt proud to represent our school. Three of us participated in the debate but we were knocked out in the first round itself. We did feel disheartened but we kept cheering for the other teams.
Every time when a student from our school was speaking we felt proud and at the same time, we felt a little scared of what they might say and how the others would respond to it. Finally, we understood how the teachers feel at every inter-school event where they trust us to keep up our school’s respect and reputation. We truly understood the meaning of responsibility and leadership.
When the awards were announced we were ecstatic and delighted. All of us knew that we had contributed to the success of our fellow students and it warmed our hearts. Seeing the dedication and commitment of the other students really made all our efforts worth it.
Finally, we would like to thank Nalini ma’am, Ipsita ma’am, Nilima ma’am and Jayashree ma’am for giving us the opportunity of taking charge and making this conference a student-led event. The support and guidance provided by them made all the difference to us.
We look forward to many more such inter-school and intra-school events this year and hope that we can make all of them a success.
Debate Final 1 Debate Final 2
Activity winners:
First place – 1. Sophie Momin
2. Atharva Lele
3. Anika Musale
First place – 1. Isha Kulkarni
2. Antara Kulkarni
3. Kanyaka Pai
Enjoy the NatCon videos on below Youtube channel!
Rubai Mushtaq
Sahil Joshi
Aniya Mulay
Romir Mukherjee
Gaargi Jamkar
