At the age of five, a young boy from India boarded his first flight while travelling from Chennai to Hong Kong. He developed a strong interest in aircrafts. In the year 2008, this young boy from India was inspired when he participated in a NASA space camp. This boy and his friends were awarded the prize of the best junior scientists by Mr Steve Johnson, the Chairman of NASA. The award was given on the basis of fulfilment of various criteria based on various fascinating activities like modelling a rover and constructing a rocket that would travel upwards 250m or above. This boy was none other than me and I enjoyed every second that I spent in the space camp. The NASA space camp was a turning point in my life.
My keenness to be involved with aircraft took a definite shape in the form of my wanting to become an astronaut or be involved in Aerospace Engineering. Working in an organisation like NASA as an Aerospace Engineer became my ambition for life. Since then I have been enthusiastic about gaining all kinds of knowledge regarding aviation and aerospace engineering. I also visited ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organisation, the Indian equivalent of NASA, located in Sriharikota, a place in the southern part of India. Though there was a great deal of difference in the technology used in the space centres in the US and in India, I was able to learn a great deal about Chandarayan, the first successful mission constructed by an Indian as the project director MylswamyAnnadurai gave a detailed explanation about it.
By the end of Grade 10, I had understood that if I really wished to take up a career in Aeronautical Engineering I would have to further my horizons of education. The first step that I took to pursue this dream of mine was to take up an international curriculum, the International Baccalaureate in an international, residential school. It is here that I was enabled to do some research regarding the best universities that offered