SAITED 2017 a Tech Fair of a unique form and the second edition of SAI International School was inaugurated on the 6th of December 2017, with great spirit and enthusiasm, to orient, educate and prepare students to work towards becoming future innovators, researchers, consultants and designers in their preferred fields.
Famous space scientist and astronaut from NASA Jack D. Fischer Colonel, U.S. Air Force, was the chief guest of the ceremony. An audience of around 4000 students from SAI and students from 22 local schools were witness to a mesmerizing presentation of the astronaut. At the outset the chairman of SAI TED Priyanshu Mishra gave a welcome address and the Chairman of SAI Dr Bijoy Kumar Sahoo, with his charismatic speech raised the heights of excitement in the gathering before inviting the NASA Astronaut on to the stage.
Mr Jack D. Fischer Colonel from the U.S. Air Force was specially invited by SAI International School, to attend the annual tech fair SAI TED to be held on 06 December 2017. This is an exclusive visit of the Astronaut to SAI, the first one ever to the state and second astronaut to visit India. Colonel Fischer in his presentation left the large audience awe struck when he described his incredible journey to the space and his two days space walks.
Colonel Jack D. Fischer was selected by NASA in July 2009. He served as a Flight Engineer aboard the International Space Station of the Expedition 51/52. During his 2017 mission, he logged 136 days in space with two other spacewalkers and landed on Earth with Peggy Whitson on 3 September, 2017, concluding the mission that included hundreds of scientific experiments for the crew and two spacewalks for Fischer.
Jack Fischer in his presentation described about the life style of astronauts while in the space station and said that in this mission he and his team members worked on around 337 experiments and the major one being on cancer drugs.
In a question and answer session with the students the scientist himself was baffled with the kind of intelligent questions they were asking. The Chairman of SIS had earlier asked him if he feared death to which he gave a wonderful answer that there are many ways of death but he would prefer death of happiness be it in Space or Earth. Amritanshu of SAI asked if ever the space ship was hit by other celestial bodies to which he said yes. In another question asked by a Saioneer whether he would prefer to stay in space or Earth he humorously answered space but with his wife. Vedant from KIIT International school asked if he believed in God to which he answered that after seeing the marvel of the universe in space he was awe struck most of the time ,he believed that there ought to be some supreme power who created that.
SAI TED is a student driven event, managed by a highly motivated team of students of Class 11 from Science stream with handholding support from the Chairman Dr B K Sahoo to inculcate leadership quality, team work, crisis management and productive thinking, the team under the chairmanship of Priyanshu Mishra was divided into six groups each with a different portfolio and headed by a Director.
This year there was an array of events which had a lot of contemporary relevance. The entire event was based on five themes like Earth-2050,Space Opera, The lost World, Tech World and Science around Us. Besides these, there were other events like the Start-Up Park, Science Exhibition, TED talks,Speak out your Mind, theme based Students Session TED-Q: Gallant Quiz based on Science and Technology and Workshops on Robotics, Photography, Bio Informatics and Ethical Hacking.There were around 14 start up companies who showcased their product in the Fair.
A jam-packed and event full day ended with the closing ceremony which was graced by the Chief Guest, Shri Ramesh Chandra Majhi, Hon’ble Minister, ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare, Government of Odisha and the Chief Speaker
Shri Manoj Kumar Srivastava, Joint Director & Regional Officer, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Bhubaneswar. The chief Guest honourable Minister of ST & SC Development praised the dynamic vision of the Chairman and said that it is good to know that SAI has been exposing the students to many eminent personalities. The Chief Speaker Mr Srivastava in his speech said that technology doesn’t discriminate and therefore we should aim to have a society without any disparity. Jack Fischer in his speech advised the students to follow their passion and do hard work.SAI Chairman SAI Chairman Dr Bijoy Kumar Sahoo in his talk said that this trendsetter innovative event SAITED, will be etched in the memories of the students for gaining in-depth knowledge on Science and technology and most importantly having a life time experience of being with a space walker and astronaut from NASA.