So much to celebrate at Gateway College Negombo
Gateway Negombo has more to celebrate than just having the first 50 metre pool for any International School in Sri Lanka. Building on the dynamic educational tradition of the Gateway Group, the Negombo school has had tremendous success during the 2018-19 school year in many disciplines that include academics and co-curricular activities.
For a young school that is only on its 12th year, it is almost unimaginable to produce pupils who enter the world’s most prestigious seats of learning.
Nisal Ovitigala’s entry last year to MIT, USA and Keshin Karunarathne’s entry to Cambridge, UK, this year, speaks not only of the academic standards of the institution but also of the courage and the confidence that students possess.
These triumphs are the result of the sheer dedication and the tireless efforts of the school management and teachers.
The 2018 Royal Commonwealth Essay Competition, carried out under the theme, “A Connected Commonwealth”, brought out the best in many Gateway students. Kehan Suriyarachchi and Turanja Senethmi won Gold Awards, while nine students won Silver and a further seventeen students won Bronze awards. At the Young Story Makers League 2018, Isumi Narasinghe, Shanelle Perera, Mikil Kuruppu and Yenuli Samarakoon were ranked among the top 50 writers in Asia.
In the public speaking arena, the talent of Gateway’s students shone through once again. Shelina Fernando emerged the 2nd Runnerup at the Global National Public Speaking Competition and was the recipient of a Rs. 100,000 Scholarship for higher education.
At the Young Speaker contest, Shanelle Perera won the 1st Runner-up award in the Junior category. Similarly, the students have accomplished many an accolades in the National debating arena. Shalinda Perera, Kisal Wijesooriya and Shanelle Perera have excelled by winning ‘Best Debater’ awards at national level tournaments.
At the Young Computer Scientist Competition 2018, Gateway Negombo students won 22 Merits, 4 Special Merit awards, 1 Bronze, 1 Silver and 1 Gold award. The students who received the Gold award, Ranneth Udawatte and Sahan Hettiarachchi, were selected to represent Sri Lanka at the APICTA (Asia Pacific ICT Alliance) in Dhaka, Bangladesh. There, the students won the Merit Award for their Selfdriven Investigator.
The Gateway Robotics Championship is a competition that targets school children in Sri Lanka to promote Robotics and STEM education in the country. This past year, Ometh Pathirana and Sineth Pathirana secured 1st Place, Devin Holper, Yoosuf and Nishen Padmaperuma won 2nd place and Thejana Jayasinghe, Brawin Anandapulle and Jeromi de Silva secured the award for Most Innovative Robot. Gateway Negombo also emerged the Junior Champions at this competition.
Gateway students proved versatile in their skills at the Australian Chemistry Quiz too. Keshin Karunarathne won the Gold Award (securing full marks) at this popular contest.
Over the years, the school has displayed their commitment towards the community. Gateway Negombo earned recognition at 2017 and 2018 Pearson Awards Ceremonies. ‘Our Voice - Empowering the community to protect the Negombo Lagoon,’ project won the Gold Award for the best community project in 2017.
In 2018, the school pioneered the project, “Our Voice - Empowering the community to become One People with One Voice, In One Community”, which won the Bronze Award.
Tedxyouth@gatewaycollegenegombo was a unique achievement, as it was the first time that this event was hosted by a school in Sri Lanka. Organised by the immediate past students, and held at Jetwing Blue, Negombo on the 23rd of September 2019, the event proved to be the highlight of the academic year.
TEDX provides a platform for innovation and thus enabled our students to voice their ideas and display their talents on an internationally recognized stage.