Page 6 - NEW_News letter_2018 JAN

AP II T S RI LANKA N EW SLETTER VOLUME 5 | ISSUE 1
APRIL 2018

APIIT and SAITM Clash at the she worked on honing her photography skills. “Working for the disabled
Annual Basketball Encounter elder’s home was one of the hardest things I have ever done” says
Tharindra. Also speaking about her interest in photography, she goes
on to say “I never realized that there was so much wonder and
APIIT and SAITM went head on at the annual basketball encounter
between the two institutions, which was held in August 2017. The APIIT potential in the art of speaking through images”.
Girls Basketball team emerged victorious with a score of 49 to 23. Tharindra started on her Gold award, which is the 3rd and final level of the
Natali de Silva was declared the Best Offensive Player of the girls’ youth achievement programme whilst studying for the last qualifying test
event while Taahera Cuttilan was declared the Most Valuable Player. of the Prime Minister’s Award as a Senior Girl Guide. Through her years
as a Girl Guide, particularly during the Silver Award, she learnt to balance
However, the SAITM Boys team outdid the corresponding APIIT team.
It is noteworthy though that Ramal Hettiarachchi, the Captain of the all the work that she was required to do with her studies.
APIIT team was deemed to be the Best Offensive Player of the boys
round of Basketball.

APIIT Shines at Codefest 2017

Organized by SLIIT, CODEFEST is a nationwide software
competition held with the patronage of the Ministry of Education. It
features competitions in a combined 9 categories under “School”
and “Tertiary” subcategories, the finals of which was held at the
SLIIT Malabe Campus in September 2017. APIIT participated and
performed well in 3 of the 5 Tertiary categories on offer. “Team Concurrently, she trained to become an award leader herself, where
96Four” of the BEng (Hons) Software Engineering Degree she offered the programme to the children of the School for the Visually
Programme won the Gold Medal in the Overnight Hackathon Impaired at Ratmalana. By the time she walked on stage to collect her
category for their Disruptive Platform for the Tourist Industry. “Team Gold award, she had 8 children to mentor, including 3 vision impaired
Knights” were the 1st Runners-up in the NetCom Competition, while Bronze Awardees receiving their own awards.
“Team Vikings” picked up a merit award in the same category.
In October 2017, Tharindra was granted a full scholarship to attend the
“Team Suicide Squad” secured the 2nd Runners-up position at the Capture tri-annual Gold Award holders gathering namely, the International Gold
the Flag competition where “Team Defsec” were merit award winners. Event (IGE), which was held in Prague, Czech Republic. The event,
which was held under the theme “Engaging a Younger Generation in
Students from the Software Engineering and Computer Networks &
Security streams of the Computing School at APIIT participated in Our Sustainable Future”, was a gathering of over 90 delegates, and the
the CODEFEST, and were among the more than 80 teams that event was chaired by HRH the Earl of Wessex on behalf of the Duke of
participated from all over the country. Edinburgh. Eight Emerging Leaders from the 4 regions of the world
were elected to the International Council of The Duke of Edinburgh’s
APIIT is proud that its students are actively participating in a range of Award Foundation. Tharindra was one of the two leaders elected to this
internal and external competitions and congratulates all winners of prestigious position from the Asia Pacific Region. This is the first time a
the NBQSA and CODEFEST events for their brilliant achievements. Sri Lankan was elected to this position in the 37 years long history of
the programme in Sri Lanka.
Tharindra Does APIIT Proud by Being an Emerging Leader of the Asia Pacific Region, she was the
Putting Sri Lanka on the Map! Project Chairperson of the 'Beyond Limits 2018', which was an
exhibition for the differently abled Award Participants to display their
She is only 22 years old, but has already done more for her community skillset developed through the Award Scheme and the talents of
than most people do in their entire lifetimes. When Tharindra differently abled Girl Guides. The event took place in February 2018 at
Arumapperuma was a Senior Girl Guide in school, she got to know the School for the Blind, Ratmalana in a glamours manner under the
about the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Programme. Royal Patronage of Their Royal Highnesses The Earl and The
Countess of Wessex as part of their visit to Sri Lanka to take part in the
Launched over 60 years ago, the Duke of Edinburgh’s International
award, is the world’s leading youth achievement award and is celebration of Sri Lanka’s 70th anniversary of Independence.
available to all 14 -24 year olds. Doing the award is a personal She, along with her fellow Emerging Leaders will contribute to the
challenge and not a competition against others. Young people are growth of the Award over the next 3 years. She will be attending to the
expected to push their personal limits for which they are recognized. tri annual Forum held in Accra, Ghana 2018 which enables award
Tharindra began her 3 months long Bronze Award while being a operators of all countries to discuss the development of the Award, and
Senior Girl Guide in 2012, where she challenged herself to teach to consult with them on new policies and plan.
young novice monks the English language. She then embarked upon
the Silver Award, which is of 6 months duration. Here she served in a Tharindra is a 2nd year student at APIIT following the BA (Hons)
disabled elders’ home located outside of Colombo. During this time, International Business Management degree.

.
. . .
06 A P I I T S RI LANKA NEW S LETTER