Region opens up to 'smart' winners of Asean Expo
Many of the winners at the Four Regions and Bangkok Asean Expo, which kicked off on July 12, now have a new reason to get excited - they will finally get to travel to countries that they had previously only read about.
The top prizes were won by a team from Chantaburi’s Benchamarachuthit School, who won the Asean Quiz, and students from the Sukhothai College of Dramatic Arts, who won the Asean Smart Teens, a performing arts competition inspired by the slogan: “Asean: One Vision, One Identity, One Community”.
Sixty-four teams from the four regions of the Kingdom participated in the Asean Quiz, which was conducted in the English language. In the final round, Chantaburi’s Benchamara-chuthit, representing the Central region, beat Uttaradit School from the North, Mahavajiravudh Changwat Songkhla School from the South and Demonstration School of Khon Kaen University from the Northeast. Mahavajiravudh was the second runners-up, followed by the Uttaradit School.
“We won because we practised the word-clue game with our friends,” the 17-year-old winning students Adisorn Meerat, Peerapon Khumpak and Natthapat Siriwong said in unison. They added that reading about the Asean region also helped.
“Before the competition, we did not care about Asean or how important it will be once the Asean Economic Community kicks off. But, now we are more aware of it and of the AEC, which will become part of our lives in the next three years,” Natthapat said.
They also called on other students to equip themselves with more skills, especially the English language, and start preparing for the coming changes. The three winners said that they were excited about their trip to Indonesia, which they had only read about previously.
The Asean Quiz winners will be joining the winners of the Asean Smart Teens contest to a trip to Jakarta, where they will see the Asean Secretariat’s office, as well as a trip to the World Heritage Site of Borobudur.
Those who won the second prize will be visiting Myanmar, while the third-place winners will head for Vietnam. The winning students will also get scholarships.
The Asean Expo, hosted by the Nation Group as well as the Education and Commerce Ministries with the aim of building awareness of the AEC, was wrapped up yesterday.
