India Association of Greater Boston (IAGB) is thrilled to announce the 2020 Community Youth Excellence Award winners, for the sixth year in a row! IAGB thanks all the nominees for their submissions for the Youth Excellence Awards.

“We were overwhelmed with all the astounding applications from our community students this year who are doing such wonderful things at such a young age. We are so proud of you all! With many amazing applications, our judges had a tough time narrowing the applications. Thank you for letting us get to know about yourself and your stupendous accomplishments.  We wish the very best of luck to all the nominees and winners”, said Supriya Shekar, Director of IAGB who leads the Student Community Programs.

“This award platform was created over 6 years ago to recognise our youths with extraordinary achievements from our communities and neighborhoods. It was indeed a challenging task to select from the exceptionally talented nominations. My best wishes to all the nominees and heartiest congratulations to the winners of this year’s award”, said Sanjay Gowda, President of IAGB.

The 2020 Community Youth Excellence Award winners are: Cynthia Rajeshkanna, a rising junior at Algonquin Regional High School in Northborough, MA and Adway Wadekar a rising senior at Saint John’s High School in Shrewsbury, MA. Both will be recognized at India Day Virtual celebration 2020 on August 15th.

IAGB has been celebrating August 15th as 'India Day' for decades in the heart of Boston, but this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be a virtual virtual event, with many exciting, star-studded programs, it promises to be a treat to everyone.  The virtual India Day 2020 Grand celebrations is on August 15th, 2020 from 6:30 pm – 10:30 pm ET and will be live streamed on YouTube at https://bit.ly/ID-YoutubeLive, and Facebook at https://bit.ly/ID-FBLive. More information on the site at www.iagb.org.

1.    Cynthia Rajeshkanna

Cynthia Rajeshkanna is a 16 year-old rising junior from Northborough, MA. She has co-founded a nonprofit organization called Aptitutor that provides free tutoring, classes, and educational grants with the intent of making free supplemental education accessible to all. Additionally, Cynthia is an aspiring entrepreneur, being the CEO of DineSure, a start-up company geared towards making the dining environment safer for people that have dietary restrictions. On the side, Cynthia also pursues her passion for altruistic service, as the current director of the Northborough Southborough Interact Club, a youth community service group affiliated with Rotary International. Academically, Cynthia is a diligent student with several scholastic awards to her name and she keeps herself busy with many extracurriculars: HOSA, Science Olympiad, National English Honor Society, as well as the cross country and track & field teams.

2.    Adway Wadekar

Adway Wadekar, is a rising senior at Saint John’s High School in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Wadekar excels both inside and outside the classroom – he is a National AP Scholar, a distinction received by only about 50 juniors in Massachusetts each year. He is passionate about research in the quantitative social sciences, and has won numerous awards at regional, state, national, and international competitions, the most prestigious one being at the International Science and Engineering Fair. Wadekar has published his research as a solo author in peer-reviewed scientific journals and conferences. He was selected to participate in the New England High School Journalism Collaborative Summer Workshop, co-sponsored  by The Boston Globe, and the Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute. He is excited about journalism as an avenue to connect with people on a grassroots level, and to bridge the gap between ordinary people and scientific discoveries. He serves as the Contributing Writer for the Community Advocate Newspaper, as the Photographer in Residence for the Town of Westborough and as the President of his school’s mock trial team. Wadekar has also designed and presented workshops to raise the awareness of substance abuse among middle- and high school students.

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