BWB - People's Choice Award
Thursday, 1st May 2025 at 9:50am
Congratulations to Krisha Karippail (Year 12) who was part of a winning team, receiving the Buddies Without Borders People's Choice Award, at a recent online Awards Ceremony.
Krisha was also awarded the Top Five Representative Award, and the Pioneer Award!
As part of the Buddies Without Borders forum, Krisha worked online with a student from Ghana and a student from USA who collaborated on their ideas in a recent online forum discussing 'Local Actions for Global Goals' outlining the importance of people having equal access to opportunities, lessening socioeconomic class divide in society.
Participants were given a weekly question to research and write a mini-essay style response, using a specific structure including opposing views and referenced evidence.
"We were also expected to respond in a similar structure to others' posts, evaluating their arguments and ending question and providing counter-evidence and perspectives," says Krisha.
Click HERE to read their winning report.
As part of the Pioneer Award, Krisha is the recipient of free funding for the 2025/2026 BWB school year, at a value of $500, and has also secured a fully funded seat for the next forum - Teens Reducing Systematic Inequalities - starting in October this year.
The online Award ceremony took place on 12 April, noon UTC (midnight on 13 April in New Zealand).
"It was a lot of fun to attend," says Krisha. "We had several keynote speakers and presenters, some of whom had been forum judges, panelists, and guests we had gotten to speak to earlier on in the forum - for example, president of the Central Delaware NAACP Tyeisha Grier, and International Pioneering Schools Advisory Board member Andrew Hand."
"They were really inspiring and it was a privilege to talk with them."
Buddies Without Borders Online Forums are month-long, web-based collaboration and competition projects, where selected representatives from each country meet online to debate and co-author recommendation papers to solve a predefined Sustainable Development Goals-related challenge.
Krisha was first introduced to BWB in Year 9 and helped to form the school's BWB club.
"Since I'm part of many student-led projects and events in the school, I knew the knowledge and skills I'd gain from this forum would be really helpful to me." says Krisha.
"In order to be a 'Club President', you have to complete at least one forum successfully, and the topic at the time - Youth Mental Health - was one I was very passionate about. I was very interested in learning how local actions can synchronize with global goals and can have an impact."
This is Krisha's second forum with Buddies Without Borders. Each forum has a different focus; her first, in 2023, centred on youth mental health, with the purpose of teaching the skills needed to plan and execute local actions for global goals - specifically, the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Krisha has applied to take part in a two-year internship with Leadership Initiatives and Global Education Destinations, starting later this year.
"There are multiple internship options, and I want to do the Law and Advocacy one. If I get in, I'll start off with a one-year internship, with the chance to continue for a second year."
The future is looking bright for Krisha, who although is not entirely sure of her career pathway just yet, says she is interested in pursuing something within Human Rights Law and/or International Relations.
