The annual cultural events is an integral part of any senior student’s final years in schools across the city. But the restrictions brought about COVID-19 pandemic meant many students in Class 12 this year will have to forsake hosting and participating in cultural programmes and competitions.
“We didn’t want our batch to miss out on hosting or organising competitions which is why we came up with ‘Creed 2020’, a cultural festival organised completely online,” said Adhershya Vijay, a Class 12 student. She along with her friends Arhaam Atiq and Namritha Yokesh are the chief organisers of the online cultural festival, which has a host of competitions from July 24 to 30.
The online cultural festival has attracted nearly 350 students from schools across the city to participate in Shipwreck, meme making, block and tackle, dance, art therapy and other competitions.
“While we’ve retained a few conventional events that find a place in most school culturals, we’ve added a few competitions which work well online. Several participants had fun in a competition we had called ‘You laugh you lose’, which was a one-on-one comedy battle of sorts,” said Arhaam.
The students got the word out about the events through Instagram and have been using Google Meet and Zoom to host the events. The student organisers said that since many of them have online classes to attend to during the day, the events are scheduled in the evenings.
The response to the events has been overwhelming, say the students who have planned and conducted the festival all by themselves. “The participants have been enthusiastic and have helped us learn more about what we can do better since this was the first time we were putting together an event like this,” said Adhershya.
As is the norm with cultural events on campuses, Creed 2020 will conclude with a closing ceremony in which winners and participants will be given awards and online certificates.
Dance and music showcases by students through videos will be part of the valedictory.