On Thursday, 18th June, in Oswego, NY, USA, Hope Academy Rwanda student Derrick Kanyonya, Grade 10, was awarded the Silver Medal for his entry in the music category.
The song, entitled ‘Masters of War’, beat off competition from all over the world but narrowly lost out on the top place. The song spoke of the horrors of war and how it affects everyone and everything. Derrick was also offered a scholarship by State University of New York, the university hosting the event in its Oswego campus.
Mr. Andrew Kanyonya, Derrick’s father, said: “We pass our gratitude to Hope Academy Rwanda for their support for Derrick’s talent to be known internationally. We are grateful for the support by the school, its teachers and administration, for him to attend the olympiad, grateful to the school for the support on the chaperoning during the travel. We are very happy for the medal and scholarship that Derrick got from the university through this olympiad. Our appreciation is really credited to Hope Academy Rwanda and its administration.”
Additionally, Kaia Stengel, Grade 8, achieved an Honourable Mention with a creative writing piece on the plight of polar bears.
GENIUS is an environmental-themed Olympiad which promotes a global understanding of environmental issues and the achievement of sustainability through basic science, arts, creative writing, engineering, design, and policy development. This year, 1200 projects from 65 countries and 40 US states were entered and 720 finalists were invited to Oswego to decide who would take home the medals.
Students from all over the globe presented their traditional artefacts, clothes and handicrafts at the end of the event.
Please visit http://www.geniusolympiad.org/ for more information on GENIUS USA.
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