Ontario’s Education Minister Stephen Lecce, accompanied by Oakville North-Burlington MPP Effie Triantafilopoulos, visited the Post’s Corners Public School on Friday, June 2, to congratulate the 12-year-old student Bhavishyaa Vignesh who won the first edition of the Space Brain Hack challenge organized by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
The education minister met Bhavishyaa Vignesh and presented a certificate of citation for her achievement and recognition of the excellence of people like her who are passionate about science, technology, engineering and math.”
“This young girl is an example to a lot of young people that if you work hard, you can literally reach the stars. And that’s her ambition and I want to be there supporting her every step of the way. What a beautiful story of her family coming to this country, and being able to be so successful. It’s what’s possible in Canada,” shared Minister Lecce.
Mentioning that citations are only for exceptional purposes, he said, “I’ve only done this maybe four or five times in my ministry for four years.”
Last month, the Oakville News reported about Vignesh winning the grand prize for her proposed solution to maintain astronaut mental health and wellness. CSA organized this challenge to encourage young Canadians to shape the nation’s space program.
MPP Triantafilopoulos confirmed reading the article about “the extraordinary girl shooting for the stars” on Oakville News and bringing it to the minister’s attention. “Her achievement was just phenomenal. It just really touched my heart,” she added.
Vignesh’s mom and her grandparents attended the event. A data professional in banking and finance, her proud mom Suchitra Srinivasan, recollected how overwhelmed Vignesh was about the minister’s visit and was a tad nervous too last night. During the event, the young girl shared her dream “to join CSA to design and build space systems to explore the moon and space further.”
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