Vennela Gosukonda, a senior at Houston County High School, shares her once-in-a-lifetime experience attending Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. Vennela was one of just twenty-five students who were chosen among the 400+ essay applicants. While this wasn't her first time traveling abroad, her trip to Nobel Week presented a novel opportunity to connect with Nobel laureates and see the 2019 Nobel Prize Award Ceremony first hand.

"When I got the email telling me, I was selected, I was so excited!” Vennela said to journalists for her local newspaper, the Houston Home Journal. "I’d never been to Europe, and this was an opportunity to experience something on this academic level that I’d never experienced before.”

Nobel Week, which ran from December 5-10, 2019, included NSHSS members from 13 different countries/regions from all over the world. Participants attended various lectures at Stockholm University, hear from the 2019 Nobel Prize winners in Physics, Chemistry, and Economic Sciences, and travel to Gothenburg for the Nobel Dialogue - all while immersing in Swedish culture.

As a highly-acclaimed member of NSHSS, Vennela has big dreams once she graduates high school this fall. She aspires to become a physician and eventually return to Warner Robins - a small town in central Georgia that's considered medically under-served. "It’s very important to me to reach out and find communities like this—in both Georgia and across the nation—where I know that I will have a direct impact on people’s lives.” Vanessa says.

In her story with the Houston Home Journal, she encourages her fellow peers not to limit themselves nor their beliefs. "You never know what you’ll gain. It doesn’t matter if it’s on a level to be on your school city counsel or a plan to lead a youth group. Taking that first step leads you to a community of like-minded peers.”

Read the full story about Vennela Gosukonda's Nobel Week experience at hhjonline.com.

Back to NSHSS press