Pursuing an engineering passion

Nithilan Rengapragash

Lenape freshman takes first place in competitive science contests

Engineering is a passion for Lenape High School freshman Nithilan Rengapragash.

He started competing in engineering and robotics competitions in middle school. At Lenape, Rengapragash has earned first-place finishes in two highly competitive science competitions by creating projects that essentially offer solutions to problems.

He competed in the March Coriell Science Fair, a regional science event hosted at Camden County College, placing first in the computer science category. That qualified him for the Delaware Valley Science Fair in April. There, Rengapragash also competed in the computer science division for ninth graders and took first place with his project, LifeSavior – A Low-Cost, Vision-Based Approach To Elderly Fall Detection.

LifeSavior, in the student’s own words, was designed to detect if someone falls and is not near a caretaker or anyone else who can respond. Rengapragash came up with an automated system that helps streamline the process of getting help.

Rengapragash’s inspiration for the project came from his surroundings.

“I looked around in my daily life (and) I saw my grandparents would struggle (moving around),” he noted, adding his grandfather had fallen and didn’t tell anyone until he had to.

“I realized that many older people around the world must be facing this problem,” Rengapragash explained.

According to his mother, Geetha Purushothaman, Rengapragash has always found solutions for problems he noticed around him.

“We know that he is a highly motivated and a driven individual,” she observed. “We saw this from (an) earlier age. He likes to get inspired from the issues around him in the community.

“He inspired everyone, many friends, and some of his friends also joined the robotics team and are following his passion.”

RELATED ARTICLES

Related articles

11

Worker uplift
December 6, 2024

14

This old house
November 21, 2024

16

18

22

Pinelands Calendar
October 1, 2024

23

26

Time test
September 30, 2024

27

Rings for firefighters
September 30, 2024

28

A new place
September 30, 2024

29

‘We are here’
September 30, 2024

30

The ‘last first day’
September 30, 2024

32

ROTC cleanup
September 29, 2024

33

Arts and crafts
September 29, 2024

34

Helping hand
September 29, 2024

36

‘We are taking action’
September 27, 2024

38

Flora, the Troll
September 26, 2024

39

Learning from adversity
September 26, 2024

40

current issue

latest news

Newsletter

How to reach us