Vedant Singh, a 15-year-old, Class XI student from DPS R K Puram, represented India and won the bronze medal at the 18th IOL hosted by the Ventspils University of Applied Sciences and held virtually this year in wake of the pandemic.
The International Olympiad of Linguistics or IOL, as it is called is one of the 12 science Olympiads for high school students from across the globe.
The Olympiad invited more than 200 students from 35 countries to battle their wits against complex logical problems. Linguistics, a relatively unknown subject of study involves the science behind languages and has wide applications in technology like the Google Search engine and AI based solutions. The questions involved deciphering tracts of text in unknown languages based on the underlying principles of linguistic theory and explaining their solution in a common working language.
Participants were subjected to grueling 10-hour tests spread across two days during the event, which also had quizzes and lectures by eminent scientists.
Elated with his success, Vedant says, “This win only motivates me to improve myself. All of this was possible due to the continuous efforts and the time, my parents & teachers have invested in me and the confidence they have shown in me. I am very grateful to everyone who has helped me on this journey. I hope I can bring back greater glory for India next year. I have had the chance to interact with peers from other countries and have learned a lot. I feel that such events bring out a feeling of unity and harmony. Today we are all winners and friends!”
Probed about his future plans,” I plan to delve deeper into this field and work on certain areas that I am quite interested in. I am currently working to make internet search engines more suitable to the needs of people in rural areas where the primary language of communication is so that engines do not have search features for it. I plan on an approach using the power of linguistics to help our citizens and enrich their lives. I hope that my efforts bring a smile to a little child in some remote part of the country.”, he explains.
It is not only the IOL where he has brought laurels. He also has represented India at the Asia Pacific Linguistics Olympiad, where he has won a silver medal. Earlier, he also won the Gold Medal in the National Panini Linguistics Competition. Only last year, he was also selected for the prestigious Awesome Math program at the Cornell University in the USA.
In the past, he has also represented India on the global stage at the Singapore International Math Olympiad Challenge, where he bagged a Gold medal and a Bronze medal at the Singapore Asian School Mathematics Olympiad. He has also qualified for the coveted Junior Science Talent Search Scholarship Scheme and the National Talent Search Examination conducted by the NCERT.
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