Pradeep Kumar always had an interest in cars. His dream was to be able to build a car with his own hands and that inspired him to become an engineer. The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) passout was a step closer to his dream when he got into the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Kurukshetra, which had a club – Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE) – that builds cars to compete with other colleges at Formula Bharat.
Building car required money and he did not want his parents to be burdened beyond paying his college fees. That’s when he got to know about the Samsung Star Scholar program for ex-JNV students.
“I would have never been at the racing track looking ahead at the future of my choice without the Samsung Start Scholar program,” said Pradeep, son of a farmer from Rewari in Haryana.
Pradeep didn’t want to be a farmer or a soldier, the only options that most youth in his town got. When he was enrolled at JNV, where he studied at the Samsung Smart Class, he found a new meaning in regular studies. He was studying visually for the first time and that made him inclined towards the sciences.
Studying engineering would, however, mean a huge financial commitment for his parents, who were not thrilled initially, but supported him with coaching at Kota in Rajasthan.
Pradeep got selected as a Samsung Star Scholar during his first semester at NIT Kurukshetra and the scholarship amount not only helped him reduce his parents’ financial stress but also gave him the confidence to chase his dream.
His dream of building a car came true at college. Pradeep and his team built a car that won the ‘Endurance’ round and came 6th out of 90 teams at Formula Bharat, an engineering student design competition where teams compete with a Formula-style vehicle.
Samsung Star Scholar program offers a 150 scholarships of up to INR 2 lakh for expenses related to tuition, examination, hostel and mess for one academic year and it can be renewed every year up to 5 years.
The selection of first-year applicants is based on their All India Rank (AIR) in JEE Main, however, to get a renewal of the scholarship for the 2nd – 4/5th year, students are required to maintain a Semester Grade Point Average (SGPA) or Cumulative Grade Point Average (CPGA) rating of 5 or above.
The program seeks to financially support less privileged students from JNV schools who qualify to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and National Institute of Technology (NIT), fulfilling Samsung’s vision of Powering Digital India by empowering the next generation of Young India.
Pradeep completed his engineering last year and has been placed at a leading Construction Machinery Manufacturing Giant in Kharagpur, West Bengal.