After receiving news over a week ago about being selected for a visit to NASA's Johnson Space Center and the International Space Development Conference 2023 from May 25 to 28, the families of two students of a prominent Bengaluru school were crestfallen, their girls did not even possess a passport, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
Smart work by Principal of Sri Chaitanya Techno School at Electronic City, BE Shashikala Bai, Regional Passport Officer, Bengaluru, K Krishna and Deputy Passport Officer A Rajeshwari ensured they got the document in no time and are now readying for their US visas.
The families of Belita Ross, Class VIII and Shashika Ramaswamy, Class IX student, are literally over the moon after getting the precious travel document. Belita got her passport within 24 hours. Her mother, Ninitha Ashwini, a homemaker, told The New Indian Express, "I am running out of words to explain this super efficient job. It is an epic work. Everyone in the passport office went out of their way to help us. It has been such a good experience."
Shashika's father, who is in the saree dyeing business, was at the passport office with his daughter on Monday. "The school principal made a call and requested the RPO to help us. The RPO gave us an immediate appointment. For the last three months, we tried through two different agents to get passports for the entire family but did not succeed. We got it so easily at the passport office today," he said.
Mother Sudamani R said, "It will be a very good exposure for my daughter to go abroad. We were very worried that not possessing a passport would have made her lose out on this golden opportunity. She was selected once in class VI but due to covid, travel was not possible."
Explaining the group project the duo did along with another school mate, Shashika said, "We showcased the satellites being sent to space by NASA. I love Physics. I am just so excited I will get to meet the great scientists involved in the work" while Belita said, "I made it in my third consecutive attempt. I am overwhelmed with happiness."
Along with these girls, six others — Angel Dadhich, Ashitha R, Advik Shukla, Dhinesh Karthikeya, Gali Koushik Reddy and L P Avikshith — will head to the NASA conference accompanied by their principal. Bai said, "Nearly 27,000 students across 19 countries submitted their projects for the NASA Space Settlement Design Contest. We have a chain of institutions in Bengaluru and 54 projects by our students across locations have been selected."
