That's the spirit boys...

By Ruhanie Perera

The birth anniversary of Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the scout movement fell on the 22nd of February. In order to commemorate this day a cryptic trail was organised for all scouts and cub scouts . It was held on Saturday, March 4, so that all the boys could participate without having to miss school. The cryptic trail, a sort of treasure hunt was everything an active young boy could ask for - fun and physically challenging. But it wasn't all just fun and games, the trail was interwoven with a community service project, which required the boys to clean up the environment around them in whatever way possible as they went from place to place on their trail.

The turnout was great. Almost 3000 scouts and cub scouts were present to show their dedication to their great master Lord Baden Powell without whom there would be no scout movement and to the cause they all believed in - to serve their community at all times. Scouts from Ananda College, Nalanda College, Zahira College, D.S. Senanyake M.V, Wesley College, St. Benedict's College, St. Josephs College, Veluwana M.V, Henry Olcott Vidyalaya, St. Thomas' College Mt. Lavinia, Alethea International School, Science College, Lumbini M.V, St. Thomas' Prep School, St. John's Nugegoda and Sri Jayawardenapura M.V along with some open troops and the cub scouts of some of the schools joined together for this project.

The boys set out to work with great enthusiasm. As the troops assembled, the older boys took the lead giving the younger boys a lesson in leadership. One better than any lesson learnt in a classroom or lecture hall. The trail began at 9.00 a.m. and the boys walked briskly, picking up the pieces of paper they found on the way. This project, which was originally an experiment turned out to be a great success, despite a few hitches. And after a further evaluation, it just may become an annual event. At the end of the day everybody was a winner, as certificates of participation were handed out at the end of the trail.

"We want to teach the boys to cultivate a sense of civic responsibility," says Mr. Rohan Wirasekara (District Commissioner), "and also to teach them the importance of doing their bit to keep the environment clean." By the looks of it they learned just that, since, along the way every manhole was cleaned, litter was cleared and garbage was dumped where it belonged. It was a collective effort to make the city a nicer place to live in, while having a lot of fun. This simple effort lived up to Lord Baden Powell's message, 'try to make the world a little better place than when you found it' - one that would certainly have made him very proud.

Vut's on the air!

Man's best friend - the radio. It doesn't matter whether we feel happy, sad or even angry, it has become almost a natural reaction to reach out for the radio. At home, at work or in the car, music has become a companion. And the number of radio stations that have come up, have taken on the task of providing people with much needed, much loved music. The latest radio station to be 'on the scene' is one called 'Vut?' FM, which stands for 'voices under training', on the frequency 96.1 FM. This radio station will be handled by dynamic youngsters belonging to the Interact Clubs of Royal College and Asian International School. Going on air on the 17th, 18th and 19th of March the station will provide regular radio shows and special request programmes, hosted by the students themselves. As a special feature the listeners will be treated to live updates of the Royal-Thomian one day match. The music will cater mainly to the younger crowd and it will be mostly party music. So for those of you who are in the mood to kick off your shoes and party - this station is just for you. There are 28 students involved in this community service project for the schools' Interact Clubs. They intend to donate whatever profits they make from this project to charity.

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