The Massachusetts chapter of the North South Foundation (NSF) will be holding workshops on Feb. 11 and 12 at Fitchburg State University to help participants prepare for NSF’s annual contests in the areas of Science, Essay Writing, Geography, Spelling, Public Speaking, Math and Vocabulary. The regional educational contests this year will be held on April 21 and 22 in Fitchburg State University for the Worcester Chapter and on May 12 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the Cambridge Chapter.
The NSF, founded in 1989 in Illinois to raise funds to help deserving students from disadvantaged communities in India, is a national nonprofit organization that has awarded over 7,500 scholarships thus far. As part of its mission, the NSF has also been organizing the educational contests since 1993 for students of Indian origin in the United States. The contests have been designed to aid students from kindergarten through high school in enhancing academic potential and gaining entry into top universities. A number of NSF participants have gone on to compete for the top spots in national competitions such as Mathcounts and the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Sukanya Roy, last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee winner, is an example.
Participants are categorized into junior, intermediate and senior levels based on their ages. Students who receive the highest scores at the regional competitions will be invited to participate in the national finals to be held in the fall of 2012. Winners of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places in each category receive cash awards that they can use after enrolling in college.
The NSF is expecting over 400 participants to attend the contests this year. The workshops are held in advance in order to provide input on the syllabus for the regional contests and to help students identify helpful strategies to prepare themselves for the competitions. The two-hour long workshops on Feb. 11 will focus on science, spelling and vocabulary, and those on Feb. 12 will deal with geography and math.
For more information about the workshops, email nsfworcesterma@gmail.com. Registration for the Massachusetts contests is open and can be completed online at www.northsouth.org.
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