Brilliance from Balurghat: Four students make Bengal proud, bag felicitation from NASA
BALURGHAT: In a remarkable achievement, four students from a private English medium school in Balurghat were felicitated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in USA for their successful participation in an International essay competition.
Ankan Chakraborty, Daisy Chowdhury, Sourajita Kar and Vaidehi Mondal studying in Class XII of The Green View English Academy took part in the essay competition on April 15 after qualifying through an online screening test from Balurghat.
According to a source, out of 3,000 students participating from India, 70 were finally enlisted to participate in the competition after a preliminary screening.
A private USA-based institution had conducted the essay competition on 'Spaceship and Astronomy', in which only five students were selected for international ranking.
Ankan, who topped for among the five, has got the opportunity of studying at the Florida Institute of Technology after his Class XII examination, along with a scholarship of 10,000 dollars per year. Vaidehi was the recipient of the Kalpana Chawla Achiever Award, while Daisy and Sourajita were rewarded the Space Explorer Award.
Visibly overjoyed after receiving the award from NASA, Ankan said: "Aeronautics and space have been my passion since childhood. My parents have inspired me a lot regarding the subject.
There was no pressure on my shoulders from their end to top in exams. They were very supportive and I also am grateful to my teachers who have contributed enormously to my success. It was my dream to get an opportunity in NASA after the Class XII board exams."
Like Ankan, Vaidehi, Sourajita and Daisy also have great interest in science and research work on space and astronomy. The trio has already set their minds on research work on satellite and telecommunication from any reputed college in India.
"Our predecessors Kalpana Chawla and APJ Abdul Kalam have contributed a lot in the particular sector of space and telecommunication. India has a long way to go. We will be delighted if we get chances in the Indian Space Research Organisation in future," they said.
Hailing the feat, principal of the school Kakali Chakraborty said: "We are all delighted. They were successful as they followed both discipline and intensive study."
