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Kerala girl hits jackpot in US
Albany College of Pharmacy offered the 17-yr-old a $40,000 scholarship, writes Kanupriya Vashisht.
Shaarika Sarasija, 17, missed her All India Pre-Veterinary exam last week. She was in America representing her country at the Intel International Science Fair.
"I hated the idea of having to sit home a whole year before I could be eligible for admission to a veterinary college in India," she says. But with the American windfall Shaarika has just received she may never have to take the Indian entrance exam.
Impressed with her project at Intel ISEF, a research on Shatavari (Asparagus Resemosus) as a potential enhancer of breast milk production, the Albany College of Pharmacy, New York, has offered Sarasija a $40,000 (Rs17,60,000) scholarship, which translates into a full tuition waiver for a 4-year BVSc (Bachelors in Veterinary Science) degree.
There is no mistaking the excitement in her voice as Shaarika talks of her parents' reactions to this news. "My mother is shell-shocked," she says. "My parents have been calling all our relatives abroad to get a better perspective on things. The news is too big and too sudden for them to have any reaction yet," she adds. While her parents might need time to get used to the enormity of the situation, the promising high school student from Kendriya Vidalaya, Trivandrum, is ready to plant wings beneath her dreams.
Shaarika who is all set to take her class 12 board exams next month, will be eligible for a Fall 2005 admission to Albany.
The Indian success story does not end here. Malavika Vinod Tiwari, the 16-year-old student of St Mary's Convent High School, Kanpur, has also won third place in the grand awards category for her project on foot operated vehicle device for people without hands. She brings home $ 1,000 (Rs 44,000). Intel sponsored the awards in the engineering category.
Malvika says the prize comes as a very pleasant surprise to her. She is not sure what she wants to do with her prize money, "I will hand it over to my parents," she says shyly. The quest does not end here for Malvika who gets her inspiration from her physically disabled father. She is all set to get back home and start work on foot control for scooters with gears. Her current project is a device that can be fitted to an auto-gear scooter.
The Intel ISEF Awards are valued at nearly $3 million in scholarships, tuition grants and scientific field trips. The fair is the largest pre-college science competition, which brings more than 1,400 students from around the world to compete for more than $3 million in scholarships.
All Intel finalists have secured a firm footing in the world, but the grand awards winners are one step ahead - they have also found a place among the stars. Through the MIT Ceres program, all grand award winners will have an asteroid named after them.
