Devika Bhatnagar, a Sophomore at the Liberty High School, and Camilla Srinarayana, an eighth-grader at Hyde Park Middle School, are named recipients of the prestigious Academic Excellence Award by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. As per the Review-Journal, the selection process for this year’s Academic Excellence Award was challenging as many highly qualified students from Clark County competed for the prestigious award.

Camilla Srinarayana is a ballet dancer and freestyle figure skater and plays the piano. Camilla has also logged over 100 volunteer hours with nonprofits, including the American Heart Association, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Alzheimer’s Association. Camilla would like to become a Physician and has completed an online Harvard course because she wanted to do it going into 8^th grade.

Her mother describes Camilla as a “ferocious student” who works “incredibly hard in class” to the level that her science class is nicknamed “Camilla’s class” because of her leadership role in the school.

Devika Bhatnagar, a sophomore at Liberty High, is currently serving as a Youth Legislator in the Nevada Youth Legislature. Nevada State Senator Carrie Buck selected Devika to be the voice of the student community in the Nevada Youth Legislature. In nominating Devika for the award, Swadeep Nigam, Commissioner on Asian American Pacific Islanders Community Commission, said, “Devika has superb oratorical skills and has spoken with profound perfection at political events about her conscientious role as a Youth Legislator.”

In a letter to Devaki, RJ’s Newspaper in Education coordinator wrote, “Through your hard work and determination, you have proven to be a student that a member of your community, Swadeep Nigam, wanted to recognize and encourage you to continue your educational efforts.”

Devika, Camilla, and their guests, along with the nominator, were invited by the Review-Journal to attend the award ceremony and ceremonial dinner at the Smith Center. The award comes with $500 each to Devika and Camilla and $500 to their respective schools. 

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