Houston student goes to Yale camp

Nivedha Soundappan applied to the Yale University Summer Camp Program at the suggestion of her teacher at Houston County High School.

She thought she had no chance of getting into the camp.

This week, the rising senior has nearly a month at Yale to learn more about her passion, astrophysics.

“It is a new field and a mystery we haven’t solved yet,” she said, speaking from Boston by phone.

The program includes 28 students from around the world.

Soundappan will be at Yale until Aug. 8 and will miss the first two weeks of school here in Middle Georgia.

In addition to studying astrophysics, Soundappan has been playing piano since she was 7 years old. She is a self-proclaimed Whovian and Potterhead, having watched the science fiction show “Doctor Who” and the Harry Potter movies. She’s also a fan of the Harry Potter books.

Although she hasn’t decided where she wants to go to college, the reigning Miss Houston County High School knows what she wants to do in the future.

The 17-year-old wants to be an aerospace engineer.

“I want to design spaceships and satellites. There is so much out there we don’t know,” Soundappan said.

This story was originally published July 10, 2016 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Houston student goes to Yale camp."