Published: May 27, 2008 10:42 pm         

South senior claims ‘Indiana Miss Science’ award

Governor visits school to present inaugural award

TERRE HAUTE — Swara Kopparty, a Terre Haute South Vigo High School senior, is the first winner of a new, statewide award aimed at recognizing Indiana’s top science student.

Gov. Mitch Daniels made a surprise visit to Terre Haute South on Tuesday to announce that Kopparty is “Indiana Miss Science,” the inaugural winner of the annual Hoosier High School Science Award.

The award was kept a secret until Daniels’ announcement. “I had no idea … Thank you for this honor,” Kopparty said during an assembly in the high-school auditorium. The graduating senior — who has no classes this week — thought she was going back to school to give an interview for her accomplishment as a 2008 co-valedictorian.

Kopparty was selected from among 160 candidates by a panel of high-school science teachers, university science professors, Department of Education staff and science professionals. The winners were chosen solely on the basis of academic achievement and test scores.

Selection criteria included SAT, ACT and Advanced Placement scores, awards and prizes earned and grades in science.

The governor told her, “We are so proud of you. We know so much hard work has gone into this. You have taken what must be tremendous talent that God gave you, but you have developed it … We know that great, great things await you.”

The governor said he hopes her accomplishment will serve as an example and help motivate other students to work harder at science and math, potentially leading them to better jobs and a better life.

While Kopparty plans to attend Harvard University, Daniels told her he hopes she eventually comes back to Indiana. “We need all the brilliant, talented, hard-working people like you that we can get,” he said.

At Harvard this fall, Kopparty plans to major in physics and minor in economics and computer science. She is an Indiana Academic All-Star; president of Terre Haute South’s Asian-American Club; and the recipient of numerous awards in science.

The awards include Intel Science Talent Search semifinalist; Indiana Junior Science and Humanities Symposium champion; and best of show at the West Central Indiana Regional Science and Engineering Fair. She recently participated in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta.

She has attended the prestigious and highly competitive Research Science Institute at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology and has done research in both chemistry and mathematics.

Additionally, Kopparty was selected to attend the International Summer Science Institute, which will take place this summer at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

Kopparty enjoys playing the piano and painting in her spare time.

After the award ceremony, Kopparty said she is glad to see academic accomplishment recognized through the new awards.

In describing her success, she said, “Science is a passion of mine.” Her future career goals could include NASA or research.

Kopparty is the daughter of Bhaskara Kopparty and Surekha Kopparty. “She worked hard and she was really interested in what she was doing,” Bhaskara Kopparty said. The school and her teachers also provided much support, he said.

After the program, Daniels discussed why he instituted the Hoosier High School Science and Math awards. Earlier in the day, he presented the math award to Samuel Dittmer of Zionsville Community High School.

“We need to celebrate academic achievement much more than we have in this state,” Daniels said. “We’re great at recognizing athletic achievement. Everybody can name Mr. Basketball.”

A few months ago, someone asked Daniels why there wasn’t a similar award for the state’s top-performing math and science students. “In the long run, that’s more important to whether Indiana progresses and our economy grows than anything that happens athletically,” he said.

He believed the idea to have such an award was a good one, “So we moved on it right away.”

He hopes Indiana citizens and students pay attention. “Our future rides so much more on the math, science and general academic achievement of our young people, which is not what it needs to be yet,” he said. “Indiana doesn’t have a bigger sports fan than I am. But what really counts more than that in the long term is whether more young people do what Swara has done.”

Brandon Sorge, one of the judges, said Vigo County had several applicants for both awards, and as a group, they were “phenomenal” and the best group of applicants from any school district in the state.

Superintendent Dan Tanoos described Kopparty as an outstanding student, a role model and a well-rounded person. “This is a fantastic thing for Swara, her parents and the school corporation,” he said.

As part of the award, McGraw-Hill Education provided Kopparty with a $2,000 academic scholarship.

The awards were developed with input from the Indiana Science Technology Engineering Mathematics Network, the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers Inc., the Indiana Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.