We are about the start the Academic Competition for 2009-10 on December 06, 2009 at 12:30PM at the temple. Details are given further down on this page. Prior to this year, HTCC (Hindu Temple & Cultural Center of Iowa) conducted Academic Competitions 2 times in 2007-08 and in 2008-09 for kids between 5 and 15 years of age. The total participation was about 90 kids each year from Ames-Des Moines Indian community. Many kids participated in multiple categories excelling in most of them. The parents encouraged their kids to take part with full enthusiasm and interest and the kids in turn didn't disappoint them. In May 2009, HTCC conducted an experiment based Science Competition where kids got opportunity to present scientific concepts. They amazed the audience and the judges with their excellent demonstrations.

All these activities were conducted by volunteers and graded by independent panel of judges. The competitions were aimed at giving kids a chance to develop skills such as competitiveness, public speaking, on-stage presentation etc. Finally the fun of participation was always there. Here is a summary of all competitions held so far and details of this year's competition.

1) Academic Competition 2007-08

• Speech
• Drawing
• Essay
• Spelling

2) Academic Competition 2008-09

• Speech (Videos of individual perfomances is in "Video" tab above)
• Drawing
• Essay
• Spelling
• Math

3) Science Competition - May 2009

• Photos for this competition is at http://picasaweb. google.com/ ssrivasz/ ScienceCompetiti on2009#

4) Academic Competition - 2009-10

We are pleased to announce the details of Academic Competition for 2009-10. Last year 93 kids participated in Speech, Essay, Spelling Bee, Math Bee and Drawing and won various prizes. The feedback was very positive both from parents and kids. We hope to have many more kids this year as the competition offers excellent opportunities for kids to perform on stage and compete with other smart kids. We have tried to select topics of various competitions in line with our moral values for long-term success. Here are the details with dates of the events.

1)      Fee: $10 per competition per kid (all money goes towards organizing the event)

2)      All competition will be held at the Madrid Temple at respective dates as given below

3)      Instead of Drawing we are introducing a new competitions this year - "I Got Talent" – which will be judged by audience and a panel of judges. Kids can perform any talent on stage - sky is the only limit. For example, play voilin while hoola hooping (tough but that will be really cool :)

4)      The awards will be distributed in a function on January 30th by the University of Iowa President Sally Mason.

 

Sub-Junior – Kids in 2^nd grade or lower

Junior – Kids in 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th grades

Senior (for all but Math Bee) – Kids in 6^th grade and up

(Exception to the above definition: Although Math Bee is only for Seniors but we will add 5^th graders to join the Senior group. We will further divide the Senior group into 2 subgroups for Math Bee – 1) kids in 5^thand 6^th grades and 2) kids in 7^th grade and up.)

 

1)       12/06/2009 12:30 PM - Speech (All groups) - See Rules below (***DONE***)

a.        Sub-Junior (2^nd grade and lower)

i.                    I love my DAD

ii.                  My favorite teacher

iii.                My best friend

b.       Junior (3^rd, 4^th and 5th grades)

i.                    Cleanliness is next to Godliness

ii.                  When I grow up, I would be…

iii.                If I were the President

c.        Senior (6^th grade and up)

i.                    Terrorism in your view

ii.                  Perseverance, a great quality

iii.                Failure – a step stone to success

2)       12/13/2009 1:00 PM - Essay (All groups) (***DONE***) (Click here to read essays)

a.       Sub-Junior (2^nd grade and lower)

i.                    My beloved grand-parents

ii.                  Listen to your parents

iii.                Sharing

b.      Junior (3^rd,  4^th and 5^th grades)

i.                    All that glitters is not gold

ii.                  Parents are your guide

iii.                Brotherhood

c.       Senior (6^th grade and up)

i.                    Health care reform

ii.                  Best invention of modern time

iii.                Texting – boon or bane

3)       12/20/2009 1:00 PM - Math Bee (Senior groups –  5^th& 6^th ; and 7^th & above grades)

4)       1/3/2010 1:00 PM - Spelling Bee (all groups) 

5)       1/10/2010 1:00 PM- “I Got Talent” (All groups, audience/judge voted)

6)       1/30/2009 5:00 PM– Award Ceremony (chief guest Sally Mason, President, University of IA)

 

OFFICIAL RULES

        1) Speech

• Aids such as hand written notes, cues etc. will be judged negatively
• Time limit is 5 minutes
• Face the audience while speaking

         2) Essay

• Participants should bring pencils/erasers/pens etc. Paper will be provided.
• Time limit is 2 hours
• No notes are allowed

        3) Spelling Bee

• No paper is allowed
• Answers must be given within 2 minutes
• A total silence is expected at all time during performances
• No prompting

         4) I Got Talent

• There is no limit to what you can do
• The floor space will be limited and hence the performance should consider the space restriction
• Make sure no body in the audience is hurt during the performace
• Time limit is 5 minutes

        5) Math Bee

• No calculator is allowed
• Problems can be solved on the scratch paper provided
• No prompting