Indian American girl Natasha Peri is declared one of the brightest students in world

An 11-year-old Indian American girl has been declared one of the brightest students in the world by a gifted education program for school going children in the US. Natasha Peri of the Thelma L Sandmeier Elementary School in New Jersey was honoured for her exceptional performance on the SAT, ACT or similar assessment which she took as part of the talent search of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY).

Peri, who likes doodling and reading JRR Tolkien’s novels, made the cut for Johns Hopkins CTY “High Honors Awards” and was among the nearly 20 per cent of the talent search participants who qualified for the award. “This motivates me to do more,” Peri was quoted as saying by PTI.

News agency PTI cited a release saying that Peri was one of nearly 19,000 students from 84 countries who took part in the latest talent search. Peri took the Johns Hopkins Talent Search test in spring 2021 when she was in Grade 5. Her results in the verbal and quantitative sections levelled with the 90th percentile of advanced Grade 8 performance, PTI reported.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth in Baltimore uses above-grade-level testing to identify advanced students from around the world and provide a clear picture of their true academic abilities.

“We are thrilled to celebrate these students. In a year that was anything but ordinary, their love of learning shined through, and we are excited to help cultivate their growth as scholars and citizens throughout high school, college, and beyond,” Virginia Roach, the executive director of the Johns Hopkins Center For Talented Youth, said in a statement.