Shillong 23 December: St. Xavier's Hr. Sec. School Pathaliaghat bagged the coveted First Prize in the Eastern Zonal Level Inter-School Band Competition ( under Girl's Brass Band category) held on 22.12.2023 at Bhubaneswar in Odisha. It was held at Govt. Boy's Hr. Sec. School unit 9, Bhubaneswar. The school represented the state of Tripura in the competition. It was organised by Home Ministry of India in collaboration with CBSE, Delhi. Earlier in November St. Xavier's school Pathaliaghat took part in the state level inter School band competition held in Agartala in which our school bagged the First Prize and got selected to go for the Easter Zonal level competition which comprised of all Northeasters states, Jharkand, West Bengal, Sikkim and Odisha. There were 15 teams from six states for both boy's and girl's (Pipe band Brass Band) category. Our school took part in the Brass Band Girl's category with 25 students and put up an excellent show which captured the attention of all audience and kept everyine spellbound and mesmerized. The competition began with a small inaugural function at 11:30 am and our school team was the last one to perform at 4:30 pm. Though our team looked so excited and nervous waiting patiently for their turn to showcase their Talents and at the end they took everyone by surprise with their skills and talents in playing band instruments. There were four member jury from the Army who did an excellent job of judging the participants of the competition. The judging consisted of few question being asked to the team leader, their dress code, clarity of the tune, different tunes, synchronization of music and their steps and patriotic tunes. The closing ceremony took place at 6:30 pm in which the Odisha State Minister for Revenue and Education was the Chief Guest. At the end of his speech, he also declared the winners of the competition. The declaration of results started with Brass Band Girl's category and the First name announced by the Minister was St. Xavier's Hr. Sec. School Pathaliaghat, Tripura. On hearing our name, all the girls jumped and screemed out of joy and danced right in the midst of everyone present for the award ceremony. The School team leader Ms. Athukiri Debbarma and others received the Champions Trophy, Certificate and a cash award of Rs. 10000 from the Minister. The jubilation began thereafter and they thanked everyone for thier support and prayers offered for our team. We are grateful to all who wished us best of luck and supported us. The school was led Fr. Babu with four teachers and 25 girls. The accommodation and food were taken care nicely by the Odisha goverment. We are grateful to them as well. We are also grateful to the Government of Tripura for making all arrangements for us to take part in the competition. We are now selected to go to Delhi for the National level competition on 21 and 22 January 2024.