IAGB announces the 2018 Community Youth Excellence Award winners

India Association of Greater Boston (IAGB) is thrilled to announce the 2018 Community Youth Excellence Award winners, for the fourth year in a row! IAGB thanks all the nominees for their submissions for the Youth Excellence Awards. “We received an overwhelming response and the quality of nominations was exceptional! Selecting only two winners was indeed a challenging task!”, said Aditi Taylor, President of IAGB. 

The 2018 Community Youth Excellence Award winners are: Varun Lingadal, a rising senior at Nashua High School North, NH and Rianna Mukherjee, a rising senior at Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough, MA. Both will be recognized at India Day Festival 2018 on August 19th at Boston City Hall Plaza. 

Varun is a high-achieving academic student with a passion for baseball. He has been inducted into the National, Math, French, and Science Honor Societies.  Varun was awarded the Yale Book Award this year for exhibiting “Outstanding Personal Character and Intellectual Promise”.  He is deeply involved in many clubs at his school and competes on the Math Team and Science Olympiad teams, winning multiple individual awards as well as helping lead the team to awards at the state and regional levels. In addition to academics, Varun is a starting lefty pitcher and outfielder for Nashua North’s baseball team and he has been playing full-time on Varsity since his freshman year. This spring, he was named the MVP of the NH Underwood Junior All-Star game. 

Rianna Mukherjee spoke at the Worcester March for Our Lives inspiring thousands of people in the fight for gun control. She has fought for women’s rights in being the Co-President of her school’s feminist club and currently serves as the Communications Director of the Massachusetts High School Democrats striving to make her community a better place. She has also received mayoral recognition for civic engagement from Mayor Petty of Worcester and is currently an intern at Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office. 

India Day Festival 2018 will take place on August 19th at the Boston City Hall Plaza. Event is FREE entry for all. Boston City Hall Plaza is a sprawling open venue boasting easy access to transportation via commuter and subway as well as easy access to local Boston attractions.  Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to join in and celebrate the pride of India in the heart of Boston!! 

Look forward to seeing you all on August 19th from 11 am – 7 pm at the Boston City Hall Plaza. If you have any questions, please contact us iagb@iagb.org