It wasn’t Vennela Gosukonda’s first time traveling abroad. With family ties in India, the 17-year-old senior who attends Houston County High School in Warner Robins is very well acquainted with traveling abroad, but for her, going to Sweden was different. “When I got the email telling me, I was selected, I was so excited!” Vennela exclaimed. “I’d never been to Europe, and this was an opportunity to experience something on this academic level that I’d never experienced before.”
Many of Gosukonda’s family members, friends, and even some of her teachers had never heard of Nobel Week, so they were just as shocked as they were ecstatic to hear of her selection. Nobel Week is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for high school seniors who are members of the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), an elite academic organization that recognizes high-achieving scholars. Co-founded by Claes Nobel, the great-nephew of Alfred Nobel and James Lewis, NSHSS is considered a premier international honors and scholarship program.
In order for qualifying students to be considered for participation in Nobel Week, they are required to write an essay that expresses why they’d like to be selected and what they hope to gain from the international experience. “From what I was told, over 400 students from all over the world applied, and only twenty-five of us were selected,” Gosukonda said.
Vennela’s trip took place December 5-10, 2019, and not only did she and her fellow honorees get to spend time in Stockholm where they sat in on the Nobel lectures at Stockholm University, but they also traveled to Gothenburg, Sweden where the Nobel dialogue was held. Vennela’s experience allowed her to not only meet Nobel laureates, but also to experience the 2019 Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. They each brought home their own special award too—a chocolate Nobel medal.
Gosukonda has already set high goals for herself once she graduates high school this fall. “My plan is to enter the medical field. I want to become a physician and hopefully come back to a place like Warner Robins where they’re actually considered medically under-served,” she said. “It’s very important to me to reach out and find communities like this—in both Georgia and across the nation—where I know that I will have a direct impact on people’s lives.”
She challenges her generation not to limit themselves. “You never know what you’ll gain. It doesn’t matter if it’s on a level to be on your school city counsel or a plan to lead a youth group. Taking that first step leads you to a community of like-minded peers.” She went on to explain why those peers are important. “When you surround yourself with people who think like you and act like you while also having forward-thinking opinions that are different than yours, it sets you up for success. You find yourself in a position to want to grow, excel, and aspire to do bigger things.”
