RI student wins second place in Mondialogo contest

Kurniawan Hari , The Jakarta Post , Beijing | Fri, 10/03/2008 11:33 AM | National

SECOND PRIZE: Indonesian student Angela Wu (right) and her teammate Anastasiya Onyshko from Ukraine pose in front of their work at the Jade Garden Hotel in Beijing. The team came second at the Mondialogo School Contest. (JP/Kurniawan Hari)

Indonesian student Angela Wu and Ukrainian teammate Anastasiya Onyshko won second place at the prestigious Mondialogo School Contest, the world's largest intercultural dialog and exchange contest for high school students.

Angela, a student at Indonesia's British International School (BIS) and Anastasiya each received a trophy and 1,000 euro (US$1400) for their mobile bike library project at the contest which was held in Beijing from Sept. 25 to Sept. 29.

"The self-written and illustrated story books are intended to promote reading," the panel of judges said in a statement.

The magnitude of the mobile library project had been a topic of discussion among journalists covering the event before the official announcement. Some journalists had even bet that the Indonesian-Ukrainian team would win.

However, the jury picked Lebanese student Michelle Karam and Serbian teammate Kristina Jaukovic for first place.

The Lebanon-Serbia team had designed a playground for disabled children, which was meant to be a safe place to play and to learn about each other's culture.

Two teams shared third place, the Germany-Mexico team and the Syria-United States team.

The Russia-Turkey team was awarded a special prize for sustainability while the Benin-United States team took the award for cultural diversity.

"We came in first last year. I think it's OK to win second place this year," BIS teacher Adrian Marcus Thirkell told The Jakarta Post.

The Mondialogo School Contest was first introduced in 2003 by German carmaker Daimler and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It serves as a forum for dialog between high school students from various cultural backgrounds and continents. The students work together on a joint project.

Through this intercultural initiative, students are expected to develop understanding, solidarity, tolerance and respect for people with different cultures, religions, languages and origins.

A total of 36,000 students from 140 countries had applied to compete. Only 2,740 teams passed the qualifying round and then they worked together on joint projects across the continents.

From this group, the top 25 teams were selected to attend the contest. Team members met their respective partners for the first time in Beijing, as all previous communication was done through the Internet.

Ulrich Walker, CEO of Daimler North East Asia, said the event was an important forum for young people to understand different cultures. He said he had been deeply impressed by the students' work and presentations.

"The task to promote cultural dialog cannot be carried out alone. That is why we look to the younger generation. This forum is an example of how to build a cultural dialog," said Hans d'Orville from UNESCO.

Source : www.thejakartapost.com