Samiksha Gaherwar graduated valedictorian from Lambert High School, Georgia and is headed to Princeton University in the fall. An intern at NASA Langley Research Center, she has spearheaded new NASA knowledge management projects and was the national deputy director of a NASA employee resource group. Also passionate about the arts, she has a Visharad degree in Kathak dance and was 57th Annual International Nancy Thorp Poet. She enjoys pageantry and fashion shows and was crowned the 2022 Dream Girl Miss Teen India-USA. Samiksha is interested in sustainable development and global affairs and has received multiple international accolades for Model UN and public speaking, including from Harvard, MIT, Cornell, and Dartmouth, as well as was the 2022 Optimist Oratorical World Champion. In her free time, she volunteers as a singer for the Atlanta Chowki Group, has served as the national youth director of the non-profit EKAL Vidhyalaya, teaches dance, and plays flag football.
