A 16-year-old girl from Amritsar in Punjab has recently topped the International Space Olympiad (ISO) 2020 and has been invited by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to visit the John F Kennedy Space Centre in the US, a report in The Tribune said.
Hissaa from Amritsar is a class X student of DAV Public School has scored 78.75 marks obtained collectively in the preliminary, intermediate and final test conducted by the International Space Olympiad and came first in the senior category of ISO, reports The Tribune. The bright girl has now received an invitation from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The student from Amritsar is the first student from India to secure the prestigeous position in the senior category and as been able to achieve the sucess by her sheer hard work and also without any outside coaching.
“It was a dream come true when I got the official confirmation. I aim to be an astrophysicist. I competed with students from Singapore and Switzerland, besides those who applied from the different places of India, and bagged the first place,” Hissaa was quoted as saying.
“I registered for the Olympiad in September last year but subsequent Covid-19 restrictions pushed the first round of the examinations to January, the second round of the contest was held in June and the final round took place in August," Hissa said.
The 16-year-old has been eagerly waiting for the pandemic situation to subside so that she can visit her 'dream destination', the space research institute.
Hissa said her father, Savrajinder Pal Singh, who holds an engineering degree and her mother Kamalpreet Kaur, an English teacher in a government school, have been success.
Speaking about their contribution, the teenager added that her father, with his engineering background helped her grasp the finer details of science while her mother ensured that she had a thorough understanding of astronomy.
International Space Olympiad is an international Quiz competition on Space Science and Technology for students of Grades 5-12 and is organized every year with a mission to attract and encourage talents in the fields of space science and technology and enhance the aptitude of children in Space Science & Technology. The ISO on its part, honours the genuine talents with amazing prizes and laurels.