The Palanpur  Samaj Kendra Rising Stars ceremony was held on 22nd February 2015 at the Y.B. Chavan’s Rangaswar Hall. An enthusiastic audience applauded the stellar accomplishments of our community’s students.

Amongst the many achievements, Shefali Parikh made history by winning 12 gold medals in her MBBS, Namit Mehta scored an amazing 45/45 in his IB, Dr. Nihar Mehta became a cardiologist, Simony Shah completed her PhD in Computer Science and Rishabh Shah was ranked No.1 in the Under-12 Singapore Open Chess Championship.

Award winners had excelled in a host of undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate degrees. There were also sportspersons who had achieved state and national level rankings.

The ceremony began with a cultural program by the Rising Stars themselves. The audience truly enjoyed Anokhi Choksi’s soulful singing, Khushboo Shah’s creative book sculpture, Karan Mehta’s powerful karate performance and Dr. Nidhi Mehta’s captivating classical singing.

The eloquent comperes - Aayushi Shah, Ashwi Bhansali, Harshi Shah and Pankti Shah - guided the felicitation ceremony smoothly, in a well-timed manner.

The Chief Guest for the event was Dr. Pradip Parikh, a renowned physician who has been serving our community for over 40 years. He urged all the students to develop themselves in a rounded way, and pursue with passion whatever they enjoyed. This could be a performing art, a sport, maybe a non-academic or academic interest, even charitable work to help a cause. All of this, Dr. Parikh pointed out, would help in defining who they were. He also urged the parents to adapt to the fast-growing technological world and be in step with the new generation.

The event ended, and everyone was privileged to spend their Sunday morning amongst a host of young boys and girls who had taken their best shot at success.

-    Vibha Kothari
 

Rising Stars 2014-15