New York:
Natasha Perianayagam, a 13-year-old Indian-American prodigy named in the “world’s brightest” student list, has said that her parents gave her the “best support” by not pressuring her to excel in her studies.
Natasha Perianayagam, a student at Florence M Gaudineer Middle School, in New Jersey, was named to the Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth’s “world’s brightest” student list for the second consecutive year, based on the results of above-average tests of more than 15,000 students in 76 countries.
“I know my parents are happy with it and so is my elder sister,” Ms. Perianayagam told PTI in an interview on Tuesday.
This was the second time the young girl had been named the world’s brightest student by the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY).
In 2021, Perianayagam was one of nearly 19,000 students from 84 countries to join CTY in the 2020-21 Talent Search. Less than 20 percent of CTY Talent Search participants qualified for CTY High Honors Awards.
According to the university press release, Perianayagam was among the 15,300 students from 76 countries who joined CTY in the Talent Search year 2021-2022.
Less than 27 percent of those participants qualified for the CTY ceremony and received high or major honors based on their test scores. On her last attempt, Perianayagam scored the highest marks among all the candidates.
In response to a question about the support and encouragement she received from her parents, Perianayagam said, “I think the best support they gave me was not to pressure me to do it” or “to say ‘ You must do this’.”
She said her parents, who are from Chennai, did not force her to take the tests. “There was no outside pressure. They just left it up to me. I waited until the day of the deadline to take (the test). I just woke up and thought, ‘Okay, of course, I’ll do it.’
Ms. Perianayagam said the fact that she took the Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth (CTY) test in Spring 2021 when she was a 5th grade student motivated her to take the next level test in 2022 .
“There are two types of honors you can get for taking the test. One is High Distinction and the other is High Distinction. So last year I got High Honors and I knew there was another level I could reach. I decided that maybe “I’ll get major honors this time. I took (the test) and this time I got major honors,” she said.
Ms Perianayagam said she “didn’t really prepare” for the tests as she is already in a few advanced classes at school. “So that prepared me well. And I also got some extra practice outside of school,” she said.
With her achievement sure to serve as an inspiration to other students, Ms. Perianayagam said her message to other young people is that “if you want to achieve something like this, try it first… you never know your true potential until you do something that it can measure. So just take a chance.” The high school student has yet to finalize her plans for the future and said that architecture and science are two subjects that interest her greatly.
“At first I thought for a long time that I wanted to be an architect because I like building things and I like math. And those two things come into play… But then I realized that science is very interesting to me. So maybe I’m going to do something in science or maybe art,” she said.
She said that in the field of engineering or architecture, she would like to pursue her higher studies in colleges such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“I haven’t really thought about it because I haven’t decided what I want to do yet. If I know what I want to do, there will be a good university I can go to,” she said.
Ms. Perianayagam said that when she is not studying she likes music and plays guitar, violin and piano. “I also like to read and draw. And sometimes friends come over or I do something with my sister, so that’s how I spend my free time,” she said.
In 2021, Ms. Perianayagam’s results in the verbal and quantitative sections equaled the 90th percentile of advanced Grade 8 performance, catapulting her to the honor roll that year. This year, she was honored for her exceptional performance on the SAT, ACT, School and College Ability Test, or a similar assessment she made as part of the CTY Talent Search, the university said in a press release Monday.
CTY used higher-level tests to identify advanced students from around the world and provide a clear picture of their academic ability. “This is not just a recognition of our student’s success on one test, but a tribute to their love of discovery and learning, and all the knowledge they have accumulated in their young lives so far,” said Dr. Amy Shelton, Executive Director of CTY.
“It’s exciting to think about all the ways they will use that potential to explore their passions, gain rewarding and enriching experiences, and accomplish remarkable things — in their communities and in the world,” she added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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