Sanjukta Singh, a tribal student of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), has been selected to study in Weiss High School in Pflugerville, Texas for the next academic session. She will get a higher education course with a full scholarship from the US government.

Sanjukta was offered a seat after qualifying for the Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Program hosted by AFS Intercultural Programs. She was selected for higher studies in the Weiss High School after coming out successful through a rigorous qualifying process consisting of written tests and interviews.

Sanjukta cleared HSC examination this year securing 80% marks. She belongs to a poor Bhumija tribal family in Nuapadhi village of Remuna Block of Balasore district. After the demise of her father, Sanjukta’s mother nourished the family working as a daily labourer.

The meritorious student joined KISS in standard III in 2011. Later in 2016, she was admitted in the English Access Programme, a US Govt. micro-scholarship programme, at KISS.

Expressing his satisfaction over the success of Sanjukta, Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT & KISS said, KISS strives to empower talented but poor tribal kids to achieve their full potential. The institute has helped many of its students, most of them orphaned tribal kids, to travel to the US and pursue their education there.

Sanjukta’s success proves that with proper support even poor and underprivileged students can travel across the world and pursue their dreams, he said.

As of now, Sanjukta has become the pride of KISS and for the entire tribal community.