How I made my dream come true….

I am Radhika Nilupulee Rajapaksha, who studied at the Horizon Lanka Foundation, Mahavilachchiya, in the first batch until I reached senior student level.  I was just 9 years old when I first attended Horizon Lanka. Now, at 19 years of age, I am employed at Microimage (Pvt) Ltd., a Colombo based organization, as a trainee Web Designer.

 I felt I had to write the story of how I got such an opportunity at this rather young age.

I learned Web & Graphic design at Horizon Lanka. I learnt about web design when I was in Grade 4, and was very keen to learn more about this. When someone asked me, “Radhika, what would you like to do in the future? What is your ambition?” I would answer, “I want to be a Web Designer. This was one of my greatest dreams. Today my dream has come true. I am truly happy to have reached my goal !

It started first of all when I used to dream about having my own computer. But I got my first PC when I was in Grade 8 through Horizon Lanka. Mr. Harsha Purasingha, the CEO of Microimage where I now work helped me to buy my first PC. I designed my first website on this PC ~ it was a simple one. After visiting my website Mr. Purasingha was very pleased. I learnt many things from my computer and used to work until midnight because I love to work with computers. Mr. Purasingha visited Mahavilachchiya a long time ago as the Chief Guest at the Horizon Lanka’s Prize Giving.  I was selected the Best Overall Performer and received my award from Mr. Purasingha.

Then I began to design websites for Horizon Lanka and for some other companies as well. I also designed a map for a local company. Having become aware of these things Mr. Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel, invited us ~ Ruvini, Iresha and myself ~ to make a presentation. Again I met Mr. Purasingha on the stage at the Intel event. I was very fortunate to receive a brand-new laptop from the Chairman of Intel on this occasion.

Then in order to further increase my knowledge, having sat for my A/L examination, I attended a training programme at the EuroCenter DDC in Colombo with the kind assistance of Mr. Mano Sekaram, the CEO. There I learnt about lots of web design tools and obtained a good knowledge of web designing. Having completed the training I re-designed my personal website with what I had learned at Eurocenter. Then I hosted it with the help of my friend and it can be viewed at: http://www.radhikanilupulee.com

Having visited my personal website Mr. Purasingha asked me to present myself at an interview for a Web/Graphic Designer and I was delighted to have been selected ! I have been working at Microimage for two weeks now, and am learning new things as well. I never imagined I would one day be working for Mr. Purasingha, when I first met him as a youngster many years ago!

I would like to say ‘Thank you’ to everyone who helped me make my dream come true !

 

My Experiences at Eurocenter

It was my good fortune to have been selected as a Trainee to work at the EuroCenter DDC in Colombo last year.  I arrived at EC on 22^nd October for a two month stay until 22^nd December, together with two of my friends, Iresha and Ruvini.  First, I would like to thank Mr. Mano Sekaram and Mr. Johann De Cruz for providing us with this great opportunity!

 

During these two months I learned many things such as how the company is run since I had no idea how a company works.  I also observed people working together as a team, and I had the opportunity to be part of that team.  This involved sharing many responsibilities when we were working with the team.  Our task was to design a website for the Sports Club at EC.  We received assistance from employees of EC as well.  Actually that was our main task at EC since we were unsure of how to handle this project correctly. We gained a lot of experience from our involvement and learned the correct method of handling such a project.  Initially we had a kick-off meeting and then we went on with to obtain the other requirements.  We had to draw up Story Boards, and after that the main templates had to be designed in order to develop the website.  We followed this method and were successful.

We became familiar with a lot of software while designing the EC Sports Club website, as well as how to use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Fireworks, Macromedia Dreamweaver, CSS, Java Script, Macromedia Flash, etc., and we also learned about Web servers, the Internet and CMS.

 

I must make special mention of the staff of EC from whom we learn many useful things.  Actually they were very kind and helpful and we are indeed grateful for their kindness during the two enjoyable months we spent with them!

 

I should also like to thank Mr. & Mrs. Charles for their kind hospitality by providing us with comfortable accommodations and tasty food at their house in Rajagiriya, which we greatly enjoyed.  Our thanks also to Mrs. Muththamma and her family for looking after us well and making our stay so pleasant.

 

I should not forget to mention to mention here that while at EC I learned to play Table Tennis as well.  This was something I had been very keen to do, so Ruvini, Iresha and I learned from the others who were playing, and we used to play together during our lunch hour.  This is something we all enjoyed very much.

 

 

 

 

About Me

I am a lucky girl to have got a chance to be in the first batch of students of Horizon Lanka. Oh! It was 9 long years ago. Then I was a primary student in Grade 4. It would have only been a dream to learn computers and English this much if not for Mr. Nandasiri Wanninayaka starting the Horizon School. He sacrificed a lot for Horizon Lanka. The first batch consisted of 20 students. I was among those 20. Everybody calls me Radhika. My full name is Radhika Nilupulee Rajapaksha. I am 19 years old and born on 14^th of April, 1988.  

I did my Ordinary Level Exam in 2004 and I got,

English A
Buddhism A
Health A
Sinhala A
Mathematics C
Social Studies B
Science S
Art C
Commerce C

I sat for My Advanced Level exam in 2007 and my results are:

Buddhist Civilization A
Sinhala A
Political Science C
General English B 

In addition to that I learnt web and graphic design through Horizon Lanka Foundation. I got a chance to learn web and graphic design at Eurocenter DDC in Colombo. I have been worked as the project manager of e-village project and worked for Horizon Lanka website 2 years. And also I designed the Eurocenter Sports club website as well. I designed digital maps for a local company in 2005. 

 Family
I am from a farming family. There are 5 members in my family. They are mother, father, sister, brother and me. My brother and sister are older than me. That means I am the youngest in my family. Ours is a small family and we live peacefully and happily.

Hobbies

Hobbies are activities done in order to keep us happy, and fresh and to develop our mind. I also do many things as my hobbies. They are collecting stamps, dancing, reading books, playing cricket, enjoying with my friends, speaking in English and photography. And I also like to listen to English, Sinhala, Tamil, Arabic and Hindi songs. I didn’t really like to collect stamps earlier. Anyhow, I am doing it now as Mr. Gamini Akmeemana of Daily Mirror taught us how to do it. We receive stamps through Horizon School. I like to play cricket very much as I get a chance to play with my friends. I like fielding and bowling. That is because I like to exercise my limbs than to stagnate at the crease. Speaking in English is a very good hobby and we can improve our English knowledge by doing this. Reading books is the best way to develop the mind. And I like to gain knowledge about the world. And also I like to know about archeology and space. Not only that, I like to read story books as well. My special interest is dancing with my friends at leisure. Dancing is my favorite hobby. I can dance to Sinhala, English, Hindi, Arabic, Ballet, and Bangra songs. And I also like photography very much. I like to live with the environment and catch beautiful sceneries with the camera by experiencing the environment.

Ambition

Like others, I also have an ambition. I like to become a Web Designer. If we have a good understanding about web designing and creativity and shrewd thinking, we can go a long way. Now I can design web pages and graphics. And also now I can design some animations. I can design web pages on a commercial basis too. You can get your webpage designed by me if you want.

Education

We all need a good education in order to succeed in our future. I like to learn all the subjects, but I like to learn English, Mathematics and Science very much. And also I am doing my studies properly. I like to face term tests. Through examinations we are able to measure our capacity and refresh our mind. I learn computers, English, science, mathematics, music and dancing at Horizon School. I like to study in the Horizon School. We learn to speak in English at Horizon. We video our speeches and discussions and watch them again. We can improve our knowledge by doing so.