Udhagamandalam :

A student of Class 12 of Crescent Castle Matric Higher Secondary School in Ooty bagged the first place in the state level elocution competition in English conducted by the forest department as part of their Wildlife Week Celebrations, held on Thursday in Chennai.

Having won the district level elocution competition held in Ooty earlier, Hanu Priya, a Badaga girl, was selected to represent the Nilgiris district in the state level competition held in Chennai.

“For the second time, Hanu Priya, has won the first prize in a state level competition. We are proud that she competed in the Wildlife week competition conducted by the forest department and won the elocution competition,” said Farouk Ummar, corespondent of the school.

Nurturing young minds to pay heed to the global issue of ‘deforestation’, Hanu Priya said, “The nature of man’s future depends on the future of our nature”. She said, only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, will man realize that he cannot substitute money for sustenance. “The guidance I received from my English teacher, Rukhia, helped me deliver a winning performance at the state level for the second time”, she said.

Her prize-winning speech had some thought provoking moments with ” man did not inherit earth from his ancestors, he, in fact, borrowed it from his children” and “a greedy man grabs more than what nature offers him.” On Friday, Hanu Priya met Nilgiris collector P Sankar. As a token of his appreciation for her achievement, the collector presented her with a small memento.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / October 11th, 2014