Newsletter of Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO

May 2004 Volume 7, Issue 2

T his issue marks both the end of another year of Bal Sandesh and

the culmination of all the hard work put forth by Bal Sabha students.

Classes both at the University and Columbia schools are finally coming to a close, and with this publication we celebrate that successful end and encourage an even better beginning this fall for the youth of Columbia. The editors hope that both students and parents alike will enjoy the contributions of this issue and find the descriptions of

s t u d e n t a c t i v i t i e s useful. It is our hope that the level of achievement goes nowhere but up in the years to come, and that those still young in the Bal Sabha community will find their niche easily. Have a wonderful and exciting summer, and don't dread the upcoming school year too much!

Indu, Arthi, and Meghna

EDITORS’ NOTE

A ryabhatta was one of the greatest astronomers and

mathematicians in ancient India. His work had a tremendous impact on astronomy. Aryabhatta was a teacher, researcher and genius. His accomplishments are too many to even list a fraction of them in this article. In order to do so, one would need a book an inch thick! Aryabhatta founded a school and taught many other brilliant people, like Brahmagupta.

Aryabhatta was born in 476 AD in India. The place of his birth is disputed, the most common assertion is however that he was born in Kerala. We know his date of birth since he tells us that he was twenty-three years old when he wrote his book, Aryabhatiya which he finished in the year 499 AD. Aryabhatta studied in the Nalanda University, which is near the modern city of New Delhi in India.

Aryabhatta later became the head of the university. Aryabhatta lived during the Gupta Period, which is known as the golden age of Ancient India. Aryabhatta made many achievements in astronomy and mathematics.

One of these was his knowledge that the Earth rotated around the

sun. This predated Copernicus by close to one thousand years. He also computed the orbits of the planets and showed that they were ellipses.

Another accomplishment was that he knew that the planets shine due to reflected sunlight. Later commentators did not believe this and changed the text to save him from silly mistakes! Aryabhatta also knew that the Earth was round and gave the excellent approximation of sixty two thousand eight hundred thirty two miles as the circumference of Earth.

Aryabhatta saw that the orbit of the moon was an ellipse and knew how long it would take for the planets to be aligned. He also knew that eclipses happened because the Earth cast a shadow on the moon and knew that days and nights were caused by the Earth rotating on its axis. He knew how to determine a

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2003-04 OFFICERS

President: Pramod Kantha Vice President: Sunder Lal

Secretary/Treasurer: Kavita Katti Cultural Secretary: Leena Pattarkine Bal Sandesh: Meera Chandrasekhar

This Issue’s Editors: Indu Chandrasekhar

Meghna Srinath Arthi Vellore

Previous issues of Bal Sandesh may be

viewed on our website www.missouri.edu/~physmc/balsabha/

Aryabhatta - Mathematician and Astronomer from Ancient India by Ashok Cutkosky

Seventh Grade, Smithton Middle School

2 Bal Sandesh Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO

π π π π PI FACTS π π π π from the Exploratorium site

http://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/pi/

..If the first billon decimal places

of pi were typed in ordinary type, the line would stretch from New York to Kansas.

..Using computers, pi has been calculated to over six billion places of decimals.

..National Pi Day is March 14 (3.14). It is also Albert Einstein’s birthday.

..Truly, for many of us, pi = 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280348253421170679… is plenty good!

planet’s distance from Earth as well as its velocity.

Aryabhatta’s contributions to society include his work on Astronomy and his founding of a great school of Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient India. His book, the Aryabhatiya, which encompasses most of his knowledge was translated into Latin in the thirteenth century and helped shape the development of western astronomy in the renaissance.

In Mathematics, Aryabhatta’s is most significant accomplishment is the closest approximation for pi -his approximation was 3.1416- and he was the first one to pronounce that it is an approximation. In his works, he preferred to use square root of 10 for pi, although he had a much closer decimal approximation! In his book, there are formulas and algorithms for finding square roots, cube roots and areas of polygons. Aryabhatta is also famous for his sine tables.

Something unique about Aryabhatta is that even without a telescope, he performed almost perfect calculations.

I find it inspiring that so much science can be discovered with no instruments and just abstract thinking.

Aryabhatta made numerous contributions to mathematics and did many great things for society. I hope you agree with me that Aryabhatta was one of the most ingenious astronomers to ever walk the Earth. ☯

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B al Sabha students were active in competitions and performances

throughout the school year. Here is the 2003-04 Kudos list. Submis-sions that arrive after the BalSan-desh publication deadline will be in-cluded on our website.

Math Competitions MCTM (Missouri Council of Teach-

ers of Mathematics) runs competi-tions for fourth through sixth grade problem solving and concepts, sev-enth grade team and individual com-petitions, and seventh and eighth grade algebra competitions.

Ashok participated from the Smithton team and individual com-petitions in MCTM. Ashok won a second place trophy in the regional individual competition and advanced to the state level.

Arjun, Amit, and Aditya from Ridgeway Elementary, Sajal from Fairview Elementary, and Sachin from CIS Schools were chosen to represent their schools in the MCTM regional competitions. Sajal won the fifth place ribbon in fourth grade Concepts in the regional competi-tion. Aditya won the fourth place ribbon in fourth grade problem-solving and second place ribbon in fourth grade concepts in the region-als and advanced to the state level. Arjun won the fourth place ribbon in fifth grade Concepts and fifth place ribbon in fifth grade Problem Solv-ing in the regional competition.

In the MathCounts competition, Ashok and Adithi participated in the MathCounts team and individual competitions. Their Smithton team won fourth place in the region-als. Ashok qualified in the top ten to go to the state level. Ashok placed seventh in the state MathCounts fi-nals in the individual level.

ACT College Entrance

Examination Arthi earned a perfect composite

score of 36 in the American College Testing (ACT) examination, a college entrance examination used by many US universities.

DECA

Arthi placed first place at DECA District competition, first place at DECA State competition, and second place at DECA International competi-

tion at Nashville, TN, Apparel and Accessories Marketing, Management Level. She received an award plaque and a check for $500. Also at the DECA Internationals at Nash-ville, Arthi received the Event High Score Award in Management.

Debate Arthi received the Outstanding

Varsity Debater of the Year, Out-standing (Lincoln-Douglass) LD De-bater of the Year, and Outstanding Congressperson of the Year Awards from the Hickman Debate Club. She is also the East Missouri National Forensic League District’s fist alter-nate to National Congress from the Senate.

Arthi’s other Debate Tournament awards during the year include sec-ond, fourth, and fourth place awards in Varsity/Champ LD debate (Clayton, Pattonville, and Parkway Central, respectively); Congress Outstanding Speaker Award (Parkway Central); second place in Poetry and third place in Radio (Mexico and Jeff City, respectively); first place LD Debate and first place Radio, (both MSHSAA Districts Com-petition, State Qualifier).

Arthi was First Alternate to Na-tionals from the Senate at the East MO National Forensic League District Competition.

Science Olympiad

Hickman High school won first place in the regional competition in Rolla (Feb 04) and fifth place in the state-level competition at the Uni-versity of Missouri-Columbia. The 15-person team included seven stu-dents of Indian origin; Aditya, Anita, Arthi, Indu, Rajni, Sunny and Swathi. In the regional competition, the team won first place medals for Disease Detectives (Arthi and Indu), Mission Possible (Indu, Rajni and Anita), Experimental Design (Arthi Rajni, and Sunny), Science of Fit-ness (Arthi), Astronomy (Aditya and Rajni), second place for Sounds of Music (Indu and Sunny), fourth in Qualitative Analysis (Aditya and Indu).

In the state competition, Hickman won second place for Science of Fit-ness (Arthi), third place for Mission Possible (Indu, Rajni and Anita), third place for Astronomy (Aditya

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Bal Sabha Kudos 2003-2004

Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO Bal Sandesh 3

and Rajni), and fourth place in Ex-perimental Design (Arthi and Anita).

The West Junior High School team, which included Meghna, won fourth place in regionals. Meghna won second place in Science of Fit-ness and 4th in Road Scholar.

The Jeff Junior High team in-cluded Vidya.

The Smithton Middle School team included Adithi and Ashok. Adithi took first place in Picture This, sec-ond place in Experimental Design and fourth place in Bridge Building at the Regional Science Olympiad. Ashok won the first place medal in Write It Do It.

As part of the Columbia Inde-pendent School team, Ajay won sec-ond place in Picture This and second place in Reach for the Stars in the Regional competition.

Mock Trial Arthi, Indu, and Rajni were part

of Hickman High School’s seven-member Mock Trial competition team that took first place in the Central Region Mock Trial (State qualifier).

Girls State

Arthi was one of four students selected from Hickman to participate in the Girls State Program, a one-week summer Government Leader-ship Academy sponsored by the American Legion. The simulation of local, county and state governments, including judicial, legislative and ex-ecutive branch operations brings to-gether girls from all parts of Mis-souri for leadership training.

National History Day

Meghna, along with two other group members, made an exhibit in the Senior Division of the competi-tion. The title of their project was "Harlem Jazz: The Encounter and Exchange of People and Music." In the regional competition, Meghna's group placed first, advanc-ing to State. At the State level, their group got 1st place again. They will be going to Maryland in June for the National Competition. Out of the 2,000 students in Missouri who com-peted in regional competitions around the state, Meghna is one of 48 delegates going to the national competition.

NCTE Writing Competition This year, Anita Sadhu and Indu

Chandrasekhar were two of five among the five students chosen to represent Hickman in the national NCTE competition.

National Language Exams

Vidya placed first in the State in Level I for Spanish. Arthi placed third in the State in Level IV for Spanish. Indu and Rajni both placed 11th in the State in Level V for French.

Music Competitions

Ajay was in a choir ensemble that achieved a superior rating at the MSHAA district competition, qualified for state, and achieved a superior rating at state. Meghna is one of six students who was selected from

West Junior High for the 2004 MCDA Missouri Youth Honor Summer Choir, an All-State Youth Honor Choir.

Rajni and Indu both participated in the District and State Music Festi-vals for high school students with violin solos and a string quartet. Both received “Superior” ratings at Districts and “Excellent” ratings at State.

Sargam The Sargam classical music and

dance event was held in Whitmore Hall on March 14, 2004. Bal Sabha members who performed included Sumidha and Rijutha (Bharata Nat-yam), Ashok (piano), Sahana (Carnatic vocal) Meghna (Carnatic vocal and Bharata Natyam), and Indu and Rajni (violin and Bharata Natyam). ☯

Bal Sabha Kudos 2003-2004

N ational History Day is a national com-

petition open to students in grades 6-12 in all states. It is sponsored mainly by The History Channel. Every year, a new contest theme is set forth, upon which the competitors base their pro-jects. This year's theme is "Exploration, Encounter and Exchange in His-tory". Each individual or group must pick a topic that relates to the theme in some way- the actual project is about the topic, but it must clearly ad-here to the theme. There are two divisions, a Junior (grades 6-8) and Sen-ior (grades 9-12). Each competing individual or group can choose to do his or her presentation in one of four formats: Exhibit, Performance, Documen-tary, and Historical Paper. ☯

National History Day by Meghna Srinath

Ninth Grade West Junior High School

H ickman Speech and Debate is open to

anyone, regardless of their enrollment or prior experience in a debate class. The main events featured in the tourna-ments are Cross Examination (policy) Debate, Lincoln-Douglas (value) De-bate, and Public Forum (current events-centered) Debate. Other events in-clude mock student congress, poetry, prose, humorous/dramatic interpreta-tion, radio, foreign and domestic extemporaneous speaking, and duo inter-pretation. Over the course of the year in debate, L-D and Public Forum de-baters prepare cases on a variety of resolutions, while Cross Examination debaters retain the same topic all year; all debaters must argue both sides at any given tournament. Research for cases is often time-consuming for those not enrolled in a debate class, and the time commitment for debate is great, as tournaments occur on average once or twice a month. The team travels together to St. Louis for tournaments lasting almost an entire week-end, with events starting Friday and wrapping up late Saturday evening. Hickman Debate participates in both the MSHSAA (state activities) organiza-tion and the Eastern Missouri NFL District. As members of the National Fo-rensics League, over the course of their debating career, students accumu-late points conferring upon them different degrees of merit. ☯

Debate By Arthi Vellore Eleventh Grade

Hickman High School

4 Bal Sandesh Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO

I f you are an aspiring lawyer, Mock Trial is for you. Even if you

do not want to go into law, Mock Trial is a great experience for those that want to improve their arguing, acting, or public speaking skills. You can begin competing in Mock Trial in junior high.

Teams must have both lawyers and witnesses to participate. Each year, the St. Louis Bar Association publishes a “mock” case for Missouri teams to prepare. The case consists of various depositions from wit-nesses, pieces of evidence, and vari-ous court statements and regula-tions. Each team needs at least three lawyers and three witnesses to prepare both the defense and plain-tiff sides of the case. The lawyers must prepare opening and closing statements, as well as direct and cross examinations of all of the wit-nesses. The witnesses must memo-rize their statements and take on the role of their character.

Most mock trial competitions take place in a real courtroom, and each team plays the role of both the de-fense and the plaintiff on different days. In the high school division, the best teams in the region go on to compete at the state level. The top state level team goes on to the national competition.

Overall, mock trail is a genuinely fun and challenging experience. If you are seriously interested in com-peting well, there are many law pro-fessors at the University who are willing to help you. With the right connections and a strong, supportive team, you will go far. ☯

Sample Case (Personal Injury,

2000): O’Riley v. Happy Daze Day-care Center, Inc. and Jay(e) Weaver; Case involved a child in daycare who began having difficulty breathing and was admitted to the hospital. The parent/guardian for the child is claiming negligence on be-half of the daycare provider. http://www.nationalmocktrial.org/

Your Honor….. by Rajni Chandrasekhar

Eleventh Grade Hickman High School

D ECA is an international associa-tion of marketing, manage-

ment, and entrepreneurship stu-dents. To be a member of DECA, one must be currently enrolled in a marketing or management class. The organization undertakes a num-

ber of social and volunteer activities in the community, including many fundraisers with its national partner, the Muscular Dystrophy Association. One of the key elements in DECA is the competitive events, held at Leader-ship Development Conferences on the district, state, and international level. There are a number of different competitive events students may prepare for, ranging from E-Commerce to written Promotional Plans, to individual series events like Food Marketing and Apparel and Accessories Marketing to team events such as Sports and Entertainment Marketing and Hospitality Services Management. DECA provides enriching experiences in teamwork and leadership, as well as an opportunity to compete at these various lev-els. Preparation for these competitive events is extensive, and the State and International competitions both involve travel and about a week’s worth of competition. Chapter meetings occur on a regular basis, and there are many other opportunities for leadership development in the form of regional lead-ership conferences and camps. ☯

DECA by Arthi Vellore Eleventh Grade

Hickman High School

T he NCTE Writing Competition is an event that takes place in 11th grade. Students are chosen from each high school to write impromptu

on a chosen prompt, and that manuscript along with a portfolio of ten pages is sent to the national competition. National winners are chosen in Novem-ber of the students’ senior year. Because both Hickman and Rock Bridge are so large and have so many talented writers, preliminary competitions are held to narrow down a group of about thirty people to the four or five students the schools are allowed to send. The impromptu topics they wrote about this past year were the following: • Decide which is better: watching a film adaptation of a book or reading

the actual book • Write a speech discussing why high school students are stressed and pro-

vide solutions • Defend or contest the policies at work against illegal downloading of music • Write an argument about the effectiveness of the legislation Brown v.

Board of Education in today’s schools The best way to prepare yourself for contests like these and school in

general is to write as often as possible, even if it’s about nothing at all. The more experience you have with writing, the more you will enjoy it, and the more prepared you will be for the 6- to 10-page papers often requested in English class. Never be afraid of your potential as a writer. ☯

NCTE Writing Competition by Indu Chandrasekhar

Eleventh Grade Hickman High School

Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO Bal Sandesh 5

M athcounts and MCTM are two very good math competitions

open to students in Missouri. Math-counts is for students in grades six to eight. MCTM is for students in grades four to eight. Both have re-gional and state levels, although Mathcounts also goes on to national.

Mathcounts has two rounds, the sprint and target. The sprint round gives you forty minutes to complete thirty problems without the use of a calculator. Target round questions are given in sets of two, with six minutes to complete each set, and calculators are allowed. There are four total sets in the target round. Mathcounts questions are in general a little more difficult that MCTM. In Mathcounts, in order to advance to state from regional, the scores from Columbia and Kirksville are com-bined, and the top ten out of that list go. At state, the top four people advance to the nationals. There is also a team round in Mathcounts. This round gives a team of four peo-ple a limited amount of time to do ten questions, with the use of a cal-culator. The top three teams from Kirksville and Columbia combined go to state. The top four individual fin-ishers at state make the national team. The coach from the top team in state is the national team’s coach. There is also one other round in Mathcounts; the countdown round. Only the top ten individuals compete in this round. Two people go head to head in a race to finish a problem. Three problems are given, one at a time. The person who gets two out of three right wins. If there is a tie (meaning that at least one question was missed by both people), prob-lems are given until someone gets one right. The person who wins stays and goes against the next per-son. In Mathcounts, there is no dif-ferentiation between grades and all students compete on equal footing regardless of the grade.

MCTM stands for Missouri Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The

contestants take a test, which is scored and the placing is determined by the scores. The contest for grade four to six has two divisions: Con-cepts and Problem Solving. The Con-cepts test requires contestants to utilize mathematical theory, while problem solving is based on execut-ing correct calculations. Placing is given for each individual division. The top three in each division in re-gional level are advanced to the state, where they compete in only those divisions that they qualified in. For seventh and eighth grades, the contestants are split into two groups; the group that has not had algebra and the group that has. Each group is given a different test, and placing is found for each group, with the top three in regional going on to state. In seventh and eighth grade there is also a team test. In this contest, there is no differentia-tion between seventh grade, eighth grade, algebra or non-algebra. Teams have up to four people. Questions are given one at a time, and each question has its own time limit. The team with the most cor-rect answers wins. Only the first place team in the region goes to state. For the last 4 years, the state finals were in Columbia, Missouri which is very convenient for our par-ents.

To prepare for these contests a very good thing to do is to work the sample tests that may be found on the internet. In MCTM it is a good idea to do the tests from your grade and even some of the ones for higher grades. Make sure you are comfortable with whatever calculator you are going to use. It is important that you understand how to do the problems. While these steps may not guarantee victory in the contest, the knowledge gained from them will stay with you. ☯

More info? Visit

http://mathcounts.org/ and http://www.moctm.org/

GOT MATH? by Ashok Cutkosky

Seventh Grade, Smithton Middle School

O nce a student begins learning a foreign language in sixth or sev-

enth grade, he or she has the oppor-tunity to compete with other stu-dents across the nation for language awards. These famous exams are called the National Spanish, German, and French exams. This year, sev-eral Bal Sabha competed success-fully in these national contests. Stu-dents competing in Level 3 and higher have an even greater oppor-tunity ahead of them, because most often the national winners are re-warded with trips around the world and scholarships for college. The winner for the Level 5 National French Contest, for example, is guaranteed a scholarship, and the last Columbia winner was given free tuition for one year at the American University of Paris. This year, Hick-man High School had another na-tional winner, Ryan McNeil.

Nearly all of the Bal Sabha stu-dents in seventh grade and higher participate in French and Spanish, but keep in mind that German is also an available language and one less widely studied. As with all three lan-guages, hard work and an interest in the language can take you far, not only in competitions but also in over-all fluency in another language. The grammatical and verbal experience you gain from learning a foreign lan-guage through school has definite benefits that extend far beyond those of any award. ☯

Parlez-vous Français? by Indu Chandrasekhar

Eleventh Grade, Hickman High School

6 Bal Sandesh Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO

B al Puja literally means "Youth Prayer". Youth and parents in the Co-lumbia area have been regularly meeting bimonthly at Panda Pals

(graciously provided by Dr. and Mrs. Shukla) to educate/inform Hindu youth in the community of their cultural and religious heritage. Bal Puja was founded in September 1998. The first meeting focused on Ganesh Chaturthi with Dr. Nagar leading the prayers; interestingly, it is auspicious to initiate all activities with a prayer to Lord Ganesh.

At each meeting we have different kids perform puja and bhajans, pro-duce short presentations and enactments about festivals, epics, and gods of Hinduism. These are followed by stories from Hindu epics by adults. Drs. Hema Srinivasan and H.R. Chandrasekhar have been regularly regaling the group with their stories and insightful morals since the inception of Bal Puja. Dr. Chandrasekhar has published a book entitled Tales from Indian Epics, which contains several of his Bal Puja stories. Dr. Inder Khurana also had children perform episodes from the Ramayana, a Hindu holy book, since September 1998. The enactment of the book was completed via about 30 episodes over a five-year period. These short skits were performed by the children themselves, and they learned and enjoyed the epic by direct par-ticipation. The finale of the Ramayana was celebrated in a grand manner at Dr. Shukla's residence. Dr. Khurana now conducts skits from the Krishna Leela. We now hold Bal Puja meetings in the Rock Quarry House off of Grindstone Parkway. The entire community participates and contributes in many ways to Bal Puja including providing delicious food. Summaries of all meetings have been documented and distributed to the groups by Drs. Nair and Khurana. Families interested in joining the group can email me at aj_ay_nair@hotmail.com.

Bal Puja March 2004

Bal Puja by Ajay Nair

Eighth Grade, Columbia Independent School S cience Olympiad is a team-based

science competition. Each school building has its own team. In Colum-bia, each team is allowed to have 15 members. Columbia schools compete at two different levels: Division B for Middle and Junior High Schools, and Division C for the High Schools. In some schools there is a shortage of students who want to be on the team. In other schools, such as Hickman, a pre-screening is held to choose school members.

Teams compete in several events (see the listing at the end of this ar-ticle). Students do events in pairs or as a trio. Each event lasts 50 mini-utes. Individual students can do 2 to 5 events. Students get individual rankings; first–fifth place are recog-nized with medals or ribbons. These rankings are combined to determine a team’s overall ranking in the com-petition. It is the team’s overall ranking that determines whether the team as a whole proceeds to the next level of competition.

Events at Science Olympiad are varied. Some involve knowing a lot of content that one learns in school – for example, Physics Lab or Qualita-tive Analysis. Others involve know-ing content one might not learn in school, for example, Astronomy or Disease Detectives. Yet others in-volve unusual combinations of skills, like Write It, Do It, where one mem-ber of a team examines a weird gadget made of a variety of materi-als and write a description. The other team member then must con-struct the gadget from the descrip-tion. Still other events involve build-ing a gadget in advance following given guidelines. Examples include a bottle rocket, a catapult, or a battery buggy. Other building events re-quire building a robot that performs particular tasks or a Rube-Goldberg-like machine for Mission Possible that does certain specific tasks within guidelines. This year’s Mission Possi-ble for the C division consisted of a machine where a maximum of 15 energy transfers were allowed to take place (3 each of mechanical, chemical, electromagnetic spectrum, thermal and electrical). The ma-

SCIENCE OLYMPIAD by Meera Chandrasekhar

Professor of Physics

Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO Bal Sandesh 7

chine had to be started by dropping a playing card through a slot. Dur-ing the time it ran, a candle had to be lit then extinguished. The opti-mum run time was 60 seconds, and several bonus points were specified.

The regional-level competition is held at the University of Missouri-Rolla. The top four teams go on to the state-level competition. The state-level competition is held at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The top two teams then go on to the national-level competition.

Since there are several events in the competition, it is an advantage to have a “full” team, and for the team to compete in as many events as possible. If students are unpre-pared for an event, it is still of value to show up at the event location and gain “participation” points – which are more than “no-show” points.

Science Olympiad must be spon-sored by a teacher in the school building. That person is usually a science teacher. However, it is al-most impossible for a single teacher to coach students for 20+ events. Other teachers help, and parent coaches can form a powerful force in helping coach a team.

More info? Visit www.soinc.org

Science Olympiad Events

(Divisions B and C )

Bottle Rocket (B/C): Participants will design, construct and test rock-ets made of plastic pop bottles, which will remain aloft for a maxi-mum period of time. Bridge Building (B): Given certain parameters of length, width, height, and material, each team is to de-sign, build and test the lightest bridge to carry a maximum standard load. Can’t Judge a Powder by Its Color (B): Various powders’ charac-teristics will be identified. Cell Biology (C): Contestants will answer questions on cell structures and functions. Chemistry Lab (C): Teams will

demonstrate chemistry laboratory skills related to selected topics. Designer Genes (C): Students will solve problems using their knowl-edge of genetics. Disease Detective (C): This event requires students to apply principles of epidemiology to a published re-port of a real-life health situation or problem. Dynamic Planet (B/C): Teams will work at stations that display a vari-ety of earth science materials and related earth science questions. Naked Egg Drop/Eng. Design (B): Teams construct a package on-site to catch and protect an egg from breaking. Experimental Design (B/C): Given a set of unknown objects, teams will design, conduct, analyze and write-up an experiment. Forestry (B/C): Students will dem-onstrate knowledge of taxonomic keys, habitats, life history and geo-graphic distribution. Fossils (B/C): Students will identify, describe, and classify various fossil specimens. Meteorology (B): This event in-volves the use of process skills as applied to the science of meteorol-ogy. Metric Estimation (B): Students will demonstrate an intuitive feeling for estimating and later for measur-ing different events/objects using S.I. metric units. Mission Possible (B/C): Partici-pants will design and build a Rube Goldberg like device, which demon-strates a series of energy transfers to accomplish a specific task. Physics Lab (C): Teams will dem-onstrate physics laboratory skills related to selected topics. Picture This (B): A team member draws a representation of a particu-lar scientific term or concept for team members who must guess the term while watching it being drawn. Polymer Detective (C): Students will separate and demonstrate an understanding of polymers. Practical Data Gathering (C): Stu-dents will solve practical science problems. Process Skills for Life Science (B): Students will answer a series of questions designed to test life-science lab skills such as measure-ment, observation and interpreta-tion. Qualitative Analysis (C): Teams will identify eight solutes on the ba-

sis of their reactions with each other and able to answer questions about qualitative analysis concepts. Reach for the Stars/Astronomy (B/C): Teams identify constellations and solve astronomy problems. Remote Sensing (C): Teams use maps and remote sensing technol-ogy to explain human land use pat-terns and the relationship of a re-gion’s physical environment to the cultural landscape. Road Scholar/Map Reading (B): Requires the accurate interpretation and understanding of various map features using a variety of road and topographic maps. Robo-Billiards (B): Teams will de-sign and build a robot capable of placing billiard balls into containers Robot Ramble (C): Students will de-sign and build a robot capable of performing certain tasks. Science Crime Busters (B): A fo-rensics event where students will correctly identify liquids, solids and other materials in a crime scenario. Science of Fitness (B/C): Students will be tested on their knowledge of fitness concepts. Sounds of Music (C): A team will build musical instruments, describe the scientific principles behind their operation and perform a musical selection on them. Storm the Castle (B/C): Teams will design, construct, calibrate and op-erate a device capable of launching a projectile as far and as accurately as possible using only the energy of a falling counterweight. Tower Building (C):Teams will de-sign, build & test the lightest tower to carry a maximum load. Water Quality (B): Students will demonstrate an appreciation and understanding of aquatic ecology, water resource management, water treatment practices and aquatic chemical processes. Wheeled Vehicle (B): The contest-ants will construct and bring a “vehicle” to the event that uses some sort of non-metallic elastic means of propulsion. Wright Stuff (B/C): Students will design and build a propeller pro-pelled aerodynamic device for great-est time aloft. Write It/Do It (B/C): A technical writing exercise where students write a description of a contraption and other students will attempt to recreate it using only the written description. ☯

8 Bal Sandesh Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO

Editorial Staff Phone E-Mail Vellore S. Arthi 446-0663 vsarthi@aol.com Indu Chandrasekhar 446-6143 indumania@hotmail.com Anand Palaniappan 446-1962 anandp87@hotmail.com Aditya Srinath 446-8403 adityasrinath@hotmail.com Meghna Srinath 446-8403 meghna022@hotmail.com Parent Advisors Meera Chandrasekhar 446-6143 meerac@missouri.edu Vellore S. Gopalaratnam 446-0663 vsgopal@aol.com

This past academic year has been tremendously successful for the newly created Desi Club at Hickman High School.

Over the school year, Desi Club has sponsored many events, such as film screenings, Gandhi Day, and a guest lecture by Dr. Paul Wallace on terrorism in India. Our various meetings have showcased South Asian food, music, dance, and tradi-tion. One of our most successful events this year took place in Janu-ary. Desi Club sponsored an over-night lock-in for our members that featured dance lessons, Indian food, a lecture on South Asian religions, mehendi, and other group activities.

In May, Desi Club hosted the most popular booth at Hickman’s World Fair event, presenting classical Indian dance, music, and henna. The final event of the year was a Holi celebration, where many mem-bers and non-members came to Cosmo Park for a spring celebration that included water balloons and col-ored powder.

Over the year, Desi Club has ce-mented itself into Hickman tradition, becoming widely known to all for its diversity and enthusiasm. Our fu-ture plans include more widespread events where both Hickman and Rock Bridge High Schools will be jointly involved in Desi Club activi-ties.

On behalf of all of the current Desi Club officers, I would like to personally thank the Bal-Sabha com-munity for their support and finan-

cial contributions to our club. We would greatly appreciate your con-tinuing support as our club grows. With your support, Desi Club will be strong enough to prosper into the future when perhaps today’s elementary school chil-dren will become lead-ers in their high schools.

Next year’s Desi Club officers will be: President: Rajni

Chandrasekhar Social Chair: Amy Trae Educational Chair: Indu Chandrasek-

har Treasurer: Arthi Vellore Secretary: Anita Sadhu ☯

Published Tri-Yearly Republic Day Issue– January Summer Issue – May India Nite Issue (Fall, Section of India Nite Booklet) http://www.missouri.edu/~physmc/balsabha/

THANK YOU!THANK YOU! This issue of Bal Sandesh has been made

possible through the financial sponsorship of: Days Inn/Travelodge

Howard Johnson/Panda Pals India’s Rasoi Taj Emporium

Bal Sandesh needs your help! We welcome submissions of all types (reports, poetry, short stories, artwork,

puzzles, jokes etc.). Work can be submitted to the Editors or Parent Advisors, preferably in electronic format (e-mail or diskette). Artwork can be submitted on paper. Older students interested in serving on the editorial/production team should contact the Editorial Staff or the Parent Advisors.

WELCOME TO THE NEW BAL SABHA OFFICERS

Bal Sabha conducted its elections in April 2004. The 2004-2005 slate is:

President: Leena Pattarkine

Vice President: Bharat Srinivasan Cultural Secretary: Surya Mantrala

Secretary/Treasurer: Sudha Garimella

Bal Sandesh Coordinator: Hema Srinivasan

Bal Sandesh welcomes the new team!

Desi Club By Rajni Chandrasekhar

Eleventh Grade Hickman High School

Arthi Vellore Indu Chandrasekhar

An Indian-American goes back home to bargain