City boy steps closer to LA’s star-spangled victory

BENGALURU: Did you know that fasting in fact has biological significance? The tradition of fasting accelerates the recycling of old cells in the body, says class X student of National Public School Koramangala Samay Godika. The 15-year-old will be creatively explaining autophagy --process by which decaying or old organelles are recycled -- in a video for a prestigious $250,000 dollars scholarship prize in a glittering ceremony in Los Angeles, to be attended by the A-listers of Hollywood and the Silicon Valley as part of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge.

The Bengaluru kid has reached the semi-finals of the annual global competition that received  6,000 entries from students between the age of 13 and 18 years. As part of the challenge, students were invited to use their creative imagination to make a video explaining a concept or theory in the life sciences, physics or mathematics. Samay will be judged on his ability to communicate the complex scientific idea of autophagy engagingly. 

"Autophagy involves breaking down damaged and diseased organelles, and converting them into energy," explains the 15-year-old.  It is very important to one’s health and can help in preventing diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, he adds."He has explained the process using humorous animated story telling and informative scientific explanations," says Samay's mother Vidya Laxman.

Samay's video has made it to the "Popular Vote" of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. For 11 days (October 23 to November 2), people around the world will be voting for their favourite video in this category. Whoever gets the highest combined total of likes, shares and positive reactions (Love, Haha, Wow) on the original post of their video on the Breakthrough Facebook page will be named “Popular Vote Top Scorer” and will automatically bypass the next round of judging (Selection Committee) and be placed in the final round of judging. Three Indians, including Samay, have made it to the semifinals, informs Vidya.

Samay was previously selected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for their "Launch Entrepreneurship Program 2017". Out of 80 students for the programme, he was one of just seven ninth graders selected from all over the world and the only Indian. The MIT experience led him to co-found Memorably, a company which creates photo-books of grandchildren for grandparents.
 "At MIT Launch, in Boston, we were all thrust into the real world and learnt how to go about starting a company," says Samay.

Vidya informs that if Samay wins the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, his school shall receive $100,000 for a sciences lab. "And to top it all, he would hold the ultimate distinction of being the first Indian to win this challenge," she adds.Samay is confident about reaching the finals. "The scholarship award will also allow me to pursue my goals of higher education in a prestigious university," he says.

You can vote for Samay at https://www.facebook.com/BreakthroughPrize/videos/1908262625865751/