Several Young Indian Americans Among Recipients of 2021 Congressional Award
- The United States Congress’ prize for young Americans is a non-partisan, voluntary, and non-competitive program.
Several Indian Americans are among 518 recipients of the 2021 Congressional Award, the United States Congress’ prize for young Americans. The program is non-partisan, voluntary, and non-competitive, for youngsters from age 13. Participants earn bronze, silver, and gold Congressional Award Certificates and bronze, silver, and gold Congressional Award Medals. Each level involves setting goals in four program areas: Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Fitness, and Expedition/Exploration. This year’s awards will be recognized at the annual Gold Medal Ceremony on July 30.
In California, Indian American medalists include Ananyaa Arvind of Folsom (7th Congressional District); Neel Patibandla of Pleasanton (15th Congressional District); Arushi Agastwar and Avishi Agastwar of Cupertino; Hasitha Nimmagadda of San Jose and Saurav Gandhi of Sunnyvale (17th Congressional District); Shreya Balasani and Shresta Balasani of Moorpark ( 26th Congressional District); Anisha Singh of Brea and Aneal Singh of Yorba Linda (39th Congressional District); and Neel Takale, Arjun Dahiya, and Akshat Sharma of Irvine (5th Congressional District).
Ved Jain and Ishan Shah of Toms River are selected from New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District; while Roshini Bodicherla and Sumedha Sabbani of Robbinsville are representing the state’s 4th Congressional District. Other medalists from the state are Nikhit Basineni of Morganville and Sanmathi Priya Abiram Lakshmi Devi of Edison (6th Congressional District) and Kamil Arif of Old Bridge and Harshika Gelivi, Diya Kodimala, Akshat Parthiban, Srikar Sadhu, and Harshika Gelivi of Somerset (12th Congressional District).
In New York, winners from New York’s 3rd Congressional District are Sujay Sundar of Westbury and Anika Varma of Dix Hills. Avni Garg of New York is selected from the 10th Congressional District, while Abby Kambhampaty of Jamesville is representing the 24th Congressional District.
Georgia’s 7th Congressional District chose Shruthi Maruvada of Duluth; Shaam Uppalapati of Cumming; and Dhruva Vedula of Suwanee; while Illinois’ 11th Congressional District is represented by Nathra Ramrajvel of Naperville and Suraj “Neil” Sheth of Bolingbrook.
Ohio medalists include Suhaas Ravela of Mason (Ohio’s 1st Congressional District) and Pruthvi Choudary of Dayton; Mallika Desai of Miamisburg; Meha Pandya of Centerville; Prateek Raju of Dayton; and Adarsh Suresh of Centerville (Ohio’s 10th Congressional District).
In Texas, the Indian American winners are Akshat Shah of Allen and Seha Subas of Plano (3rd Congressional District); Ankitha Lavi of Bellaire (7th Congressional District); Anjali Agrawal and Meghan Anand of Sugarland; Neeraj Anantha, Amar Sehgal, and Ashwin Murali of Pearland; Samitha Nemirajaiah of Katy (22nd Congressional District); Jaishri Ramesh of Irving (24th Congressional District); and Srivi Balaji of Cedar Park (31st Congressional District).
Other Indian American recipients include Jay Srivastava of Glastonbury (Connecticut’s 1st Congressional District); Aman Shaik of Jacksonville (Florida’s 4th Congressional District); Simoni Mishra of Rockville and Dhruv Pai of Potomac (Maryland’s 6th Congressional District); Pooja Patel of Mansfield (Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District); Riya Kannapareddy of Omaha (Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District); Reema Choueiri of Charlotte (North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District); Kritika Ravichander of Greer (South Carolina’s 4th Congressional District); Vivek Girish of Johnson City (Tennessee’s 1st Congressional District); Aarav Yarlagadda of Leawood (Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District); Sahiti Rachakonda of Herndon (Virginia’s 10th Congressional District); and Anika Havlik of Scappoose; Srilaasya Yenduri of Portland; and Akash Bindal of Beaverton (Oregon’s 1st Congressional District).