Gujarat boy is science olympiad champ

In his quest for excellence, city boy Sharad Chandrakant Mirani achieved something the entire state can be proud of. Sharad won a bronze medal at the 3rd International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO) in Taipei, Taiwan. He also won a special award for his best presentation at the event, which concluded on September 22.

Sharad, a Class X student of Prakash Higher Secondary School, had been selected for the global science competition after he excelled at the national standard examination in junior science and finished among the top 300 students at the second stage of the competition. He then appeared at the Indian National Science Olympiads in January 2009 and was selected as one of the top 32 students of the country. After rigorous training and evaluation, Sharad finally made it to the four-member Indian team to participate in the IESO 2009.

"This turned out to be a dream journey. I had prepared hard to improve my theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the earth science," he said. "It became possible only with the blessings of Lord Swaminarayan and the support and encouragement by the teachers at the Prakash school and Prof Paras Solanki of MG Science College," said Mirani.

Dr Narottam Sahoo, senior scientist at Gujarat Science City, guided Sharad with a comprehensive approach of IESO. "I tried to clear as many conceptual doubts as I could for him, giving him hands-on experience on various earth science topics," said Sahoo.

Sharad is also an achiever in sports and has so far won 30 medals at the state level and two at national level in roller skating. "Sharad is the first Gujarati to achieve such a feat at the International Science Olympiad. He is now the role model for students  preparing for the next IESO, 2010 to be held in Indonesia," said Sahoo.