Pagadala, Atkinson headed to Governor’s Honors

Rising seniors nominated in Science, French

Miller Cranford and Sabina Ajjan|May 19, 2018

Sai Pagadala, left, and Carter Atkinson are Stratford’s Governor’s Honors participants

Stratford rising seniors Sai Pagadala and Carter Atkinson have been selected to participate in the Governor’s Honors Program this summer at Berry College in Rome.

Governor’s Honors is for rising juniors and seniors. Students are nominated by the chair department heads of their high school .

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I’ve just been surrounded by biology and science, and it just fascinates me how the world works, and how the human body works.

— Sai Pagadala

Sai has been surrounded by science her whole life. Her mother is a doctor, and her father is an engineer. She has inherited the same passion for science.

“I’ve just been surrounded by biology and science, and it just fascinates me how the world works, and how the human body works,” Sai said.

Mr. Luke Harrington nominated Sai because of her love for science, and for her work outside of class. Over the summers before ninth and 10th grade, Sai shadowed her cousin who was a grad student at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. During her visit, she was able to be a part of the Biomedical Engineering Summer Camp. Sai was given the opportunity to help others there.

“I got to work with a bunch of different experiments and different tools related to engineering, and help people who have had a stroke be able to walk again,” she said.

Carter has been studying French since the seventh grade. She chose it as her language because of her love for dance. She was nominated by Mrs. Rachel Chabot, the upper school French teacher and chair of Stratford’s language department.

“I do a lot of stuff outside of class because I’m so interested in it [French] and my French teacher knows how interested I am,” Carter said.

Carter listens to French music, participated in Immersion Day, and has French pen pals that she talks to a lot.

“I speak to my pen pals everyday in French on social media,” Carter said.

Carter has a twin sister, Sam, who also is a rising senior at Stratford.