For Lekshmi Nandana R S, a Class 8 student of KNNM HSS & VHSS in Kollam, a pastime during the last summer vacation paved the way for one of the biggest achievements of her life.
Inspired by watching her father create digital art, Lekshmi learnt the basics of digital painting using Photoshop. When a message about a statewide mascot-designing competition appeared on her school WhatsApp group, she decided to put her newly acquired skills to the test.
On Monday, her creation was unveiled by General Education Minister N Samsudheen as the official mascot of the 68th State School Sports Meet — ‘Kuttu’, a baby elephant running with the ceremonial torch.
The event was held at the Legislative Assembly media room in Thiruvananthapuram in the presence of MLAs from the host district, Kozhikode, and sports department officials.
Lekshmi will also receive a token of appreciation from the general education department during the meet, scheduled to be held from October 25 to 31.
“I never thought I was good at painting. So I rarely took part in drawing competitions. But when I saw the message about the mascot-designing competition, I thought of giving it a try. I am delighted now,” Lekshmi says.
She is still trying to process the fact that her artwork will represent the state’s school sports festival.
Lekshmi says she wanted to design “a cute logo”. She settled on the image of an elephant calf running with a torch. Her final design reflects childhood innocence, the spirit of the festival and the state’s identity.
Lekshmi experimented with the technology only to improve her unfinished work. “After completing the outline sketch, she scanned it and tried to improve it using AI tools,” says her father, Rejith Kumar. “She was not satisfied with the output and decided to proceed with Photoshop, as she had planned earlier.”
He adds that Lekshmi worked on the design for more than three days, often staying up late to complete it.
Prepping up
Sports department officials say preparations for the sports meet in Kozhikode are progressing in full swing. Ten venues have been arranged to accommodate over 15,000 people.
The inaugural ceremony will feature a march-past involving 4,000 students, followed by cultural events featuring 3,000 students. Another 2,000 students will participate in the inclusive sports events scheduled for October 26.
As in previous years, 48 children from Gulf countries will participate in the meet as the state’s 15th district. Over 2,800 students will compete in athletics in the sub-junior, junior and senior categories at the NIT Calicut campus.
The Dr BR Ambedkar International Aquatic Complex at Pirappancode in Thiruvananthapuram will host the aquatic competitions on October 22 and 23.
Thiruvananthapuram had emerged as the overall champion at last year’s sports meet.