PUNE: “I want to become an astronaut,” giggled Vidushi Tandon, as she spoke about her passion for space.
Tandon is amongst the several top scorers in the class X board examination results declared by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday and are daring to dream different.
“I have always been laughed at whenever I speak with my friends about my dream to become an astronaut. They find it an unrealistic aim. But I have grown up dreaming about it. I go through all the news about astronomy and research a little. I have read several books on astronauts,” said Tandon, who is a topper with 98.2 per cent marks from Sanskriti School.
While year after year, it’s either engineering or medicine that has been on the top of the minds of the achievers, the new generation students are now thinking of other options.
Eyeing a place at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Suhanee Korpe, topper of DAV School in Aundh (99.2 per cent) said she wants to become a physics researcher. “I love science and physics has been the most favourite. I wish to discover new laws in physics and do in-depth research in it,” she said.
Her passion for the subject made Korpe a friend-cum-teacher to most of her classmates, who faced difficulty in understanding physics or mathematics. “My best friend is among those who found mathematics hard. I would wait back after school to study aforesaid subjects with them. Sometimes we would meet outside school as well,” said Korpe, who also likes to do abstract painting.
A lover of biology, Anushcca Manchanda, top scorer of Global Indian International School (GIIS), wants to do research in biology or biotechnology. “I have always believed in understanding a concept thoroughly, and not mugging anything up, something very necessary for pursuing research,” Manchanda, who scored 98.2 per cent, said.
For Mayankit, who dreams to become a fighter pilot some day, hard work and stress-free studying has been the key to success.
“Stress is a huge distraction. I learnt it early on, and I believe I will be able to use that in my dream career as well. To tackle study pressure, I practised my piano lessons during breaks. I will be studying science for class XI and XII, and then will try to get into National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla. I want to try my best to be a fighter pilot for the Indian Air Force,” said the topper at Kendriya Vidyalaya No 1, AFS, Lohegaon.
Just like the whole world that is dabbling in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Rishabh Goyal, top scorer at Delhi Public School too wants to try his hand at the latest technologies. “I love mathematics and science and I know it will help me explore more the depths of AI in future. For now, I will be focusing on studying well the next two years, so that I get good marks in class XII as well,” Goyal said.
