Ashutosh Panda

From kutcha to pakka, the story of my family and I. My father was born into a family that was barely above the threshold of poverty. He was one of the 7 children that resided in a kutcha. Kutchas are houses in India that are composed of straw and mud, while pakkas are made up of stone and brick. Although my father was born into a seemingly poor family, that didn’t inhibit him from pursuing and being able to support his parents and family. It gives me great pride to be able to say that he was able to marry off four of his siblings, all while being married. He started attending school like everyone, my grandpa was the teacher at the prestigious school that my father attended before his pre-college years, leading to a little to almost no tuition for his younger years. He utilized this opportunity fully and managed to be valedictorian of his class, and attended Fakir Mohan University of Balasore, India. While he attended college in pursuit of an mechanical-engineering degree, he also worked a side job servicing cranes so he could support his family back in Bhubaneswar. Once my dad had secured his degree, and started working with HCL, the word about my successful father got around fast. This led to multiple things as his status in his hometown significantly as he was working in the United States of America. Working in or for the US was an enormous thing at that point for small towns. His name reached many people’s ears and eventually ended up with my maternal grandfather hearing about it, and the creation of a relationship began. My grandfather requested that my father build a pakka house as my mother’s side was wealthy and simply could not live in a kutcha house, so my father complied. He complied for his future and that his family would be able to live in a comfortable environment that was air conditioned as well as significantly cleaner. This is where I got my entirety of motivation, the pakka house. My father till this day is the first to help if anyone has any financial problems in our family, this isn’t because we are rich but rather because we are content with whatever he makes. Although we aren’t wealthy, we are middle-class and we don’t live lavishly, leading to some saved money. My family, and most importantly my father are the reason I participate and work for my future so diligently and thoughtfully. I always see my father working and this has led to me creating a personal goal of retiring him early, simply not because I feel bad but rather because he deserves it. I have aligned myself in almost similar paths to him which include being academically active in everything from math to science, giving back to the community, and simply just learning something new everyday. As a junior, I am enrolled in six ap level courses, am President and Captain of our Debate team, a leader in science bowl, and a member in multiple volunteer organizations. I try to utilize any learning opportunity given to me as the sole reason my parents moved here was that I would have a better education than they ever did. If I am unable to further my education to its maximum potential through opportunities given to me, it would ruin the only reason my parents move here. I view the world in a lens of being able to secure a future not only stable for myself, but one that includes giving back to the ones that gave everything for me, my parents. My parents were always willing to invest in my education, even if it was at the expense of their own luxury. If there was a fee for a club, books, college test, or even a trip for competitions, they would fund it without batting an eye. I want to be able to fund that luxury they sacrificed in order for me to have a better opportunity of education. I would like to make it easier and lighten their weight on the shoulders by being able to secure scholarships and grants that would allow me to attend college at an affordable rate. Decreasing the burden of my parents having to worry about my college payment is a goal as they also have to be able to fund my little brother’s education, and I would hate for him to have a lower opportunity than me. Throughout my life, I have just seen my father work to his fullest, and sacrifice everything for his family, and I want to have a stable job so that I can retire him early as well as fund my brother’s education. This is where my profound passion for neurosurgery also grew from, I want to be able to deliver good news to families of the patients and save lives who sometimes are the backbones of their family.