A grade 12 student at Westwood is being awarded a prestigious scholarship.
Seventeen-year-old Saptarshi Bhattacherya is one of just a handful of students from across the country being awarded the $100,000 Schulich Leaders Award.
This is arguably the country’s most coveted undergraduate STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering or Math] scholarship.
Bhattacherya was also offered a number of other awards including the Presidential Scholars Award at the University of British Columbia, the President’s Entrance Citation at the University of Alberta, Schulich Leader at the University of Waterloo, and the Schulich Leader at the University of Toronto.
They range between $30,000 and $100,000 in scholarships.
“I am very thankful to have received these awards — not just to those who made the offers, but also to my family, friends, and teachers who helped me throughout my endeavours,” said.
“I have always been interested in technology and entrepreneurship. These awards have provided me with the opportunities that I need to become successful in these fields while helping others. In the future, I hope to give back to my community through my technological adventures.”
Bhattacherya has decided to pursue software engineering at the University of Waterloo.
Over the past few years, he was heavily involved in the Waterloo Canadian Computing Competition and Mathematics competitions, receiving top scores.
“Westwood has been steadily growing our programming and computer science opportunities for students under the mentorship of Mr Said El Mejdani and Mr Jeff Landry for this reason, to help students thrive and develop as leaders in their passion,” added Cynthia Shelley, Principal of Westwood.
At Westwood, Saptarshi has been exposed to some of our country’s finest computer science opportunities and continues to excel in all of the opportunities that he takes.”
Moving forward, Bhattacherya will be looking to build off of some of his already amazing accomplishments.
This includes creating artificial intelligence software to optimize streetlights and visual aid technology for the deaf.
