Quiz Contest On U.S. Elections Engages Chennai Youth

Consul General Hopper with the participants of quiz contest

On July 18, 2008, the U.S. Consulate, Chennai conducted a quiz contest on “U.S. Elections: History, Politics and the Democratic Process.” There is a great deal of interest and excitement this year about the U.S. elections in India.  The 2008 U.S. Presidential election is historic for a number of reasons – first, this is the first time in 80 years that a sitting president or vice president is not seeking the presidency.  Additionally, Barack Obama has made history by being the first African-American presumed candidate of a major political party.

56 high school students from 28 schools across Chennai participated in the contest held at the MCC Higher Secondary School.  The students were directed to browse through the USG website http://uspolitics.america.gov/uspolitics/elections/index.html for the study material on U.S. elections.  Some of the students visited the American Library to collect information for their preparation.  Quiz masters, Cultural Affairs Officer Ragini Gupta and Consular Officer Damon Kitterman asked questions in several rounds, including written, oral, and audio/visual, covering various aspects of U.S. elections, past and present, American politics, and the democratic process in the United States.  Consul General David Hopper commended the students for their excellent performance and distributed the trophies and prizes to the winners, along with a representative of Landmark books, the “Presenting Sponsor” of the program.  In a very close competition, Chettinad Vidyashram won the first prize, St. Johns Senior Secondary School the second, P.S. Senior Secondary School the third, PSBB, KK Nagar the forth and Sishya the fifth place.  About 400 students, parents and teachers of the various schools watched the event enthusiastically and excitingly.