Fair Lawn Students Chosen As New Jersey Governor's School Scholars

Press release from Fair Lawn Public Schools:

May 9, 2022

Two Fair Lawn High School students were selected to participate in the 2022 Governor’s School of New Jersey, a tuition-free, summer, residential program for high achieving student scholars who have an interest in STEM subjects.

Aashika Jagadeesh and Alexander Dong, Class of 2023, will participate in the three-week program at Rutgers University School of Engineering, to be held from June 26 to July 22. Scholars gain hands on experience in research and work on challenging and open-ended problems with others who share their love for engineering and technology. Students also learn a sense of ethical, social and civic responsibility and all classes are taught by college faculty. The highly-selective program provides an educational oppor tunity for high school juniors at two programs: Governor's School in the Sciences at Drew University and the Governor's School of Engineering & Technology at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. All applicants must be nominated by their high schools and schools can nominate two candidates for each Governor’s School.

“To say we are proud of Aashika and Alexander is an understatement!” said Principal Paul Gorski. “Having not one but TWO students accepted to this prestigious statewide program speaks volumes about them, and about the quality of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education we provide at FLHS. We look forward to Aashika and Alexander sharing with us what they learned this summer, and we know that their experiences will continue to strengthen the STEM program here at FLHS.”

Aashika is the second singles player on the Girls Varsity Tennis team, an officer in the FLHS Model Unit ed Nations, co-president of the STEM Research Club, and member of the National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society and National English Honor Society.

“I was really surprised about getting admitted in the NJ Governor’s School because the program has an extremely low acceptance rate,” said Aashika. The program will enable her to “gain more experience in the research field,” which she plans to pursue in artificial intelligence ethics while studying computer sci ence post secondary school.

Alexander is a member of the Boys Varsity Tennis team and enjoys playing the piano. With resources from the Governor’s School, he said, “I would further develop my skills within the realm of computer sci ence and engineering and technology with resources that I previously have not been exposed to, making my acceptance into the Governor’s School very exciting.” He plans to pursue his studies at the university level post high school and concentrate in computer science.
Brenda Gupta, Supervisor of School Counseling and Student Wellness, followed up with these comments about the two students:

“Aashika is a phenomenal young lady. Well-mannered, driven and humble. I couldn't think of anyone more deserving. She is the definition of hard work meeting opportunity. Aashika will one day change the world for the better.

“Alexander is an incredibly driven young man, always looking for opportunities to excel both academical ly and personally. At the top of his class, Alexander has maintained his thirst for knowledge and has ex celled in every way.”

The Governor's School of New Jersey was established in 1983. For more information about the program, visit www.nj.gov/govschool/.

This press release was produced by Fair Lawn Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author's own.