Brentwood teen is one of 30 semifinalists in global STEM video competition – Tennessean

Sharada Ghantasala of Brentwood is a finalist for the BreakthroughJunior Challenge, an international competition working to inspire "creative thinking about science."

Alongside hundreds of teens ages 13 to 18 from over 200 countries, Ghantasala submitted an originalvideo on a topic of her choosing within life sciences, physics or mathematics. She chose the topic of bioastronautics, afield of studymany may have never heard of.

"I thought this was the perfect opportunity tolearn why space travel is important," she said to the Tennessean.

Growing up, Ghantasala wasn't quite sure why space was something worth learning about when there was so much that needed to be addressed on earth.

After attending space camp at Tennessee State University as a child, visiting Kennedy Space Center in 2019, and later finding Breakthrough's submission opportunity, the STEM lover decided she'd create a video exploring space exploration's impact on biomedical sciences, a field in which she hopes to find a career.

Bioastronautics studies how space travel impacts the body. Ghantasala was specifically intrigued by how this study isresponsible for much of the world's knowledge on how gravity impacts the body both on space and on earth.

"I justthought this was really interesting and that if I made this video, I could really bring awareness to the fact thatgravity kind of controls our lives and we don't even realize it," Ghantasala said.

The teen's original video, complete with her own hosting and animation, can be found on Facebook alongside 29 other semifinalists from six other geographic regions. To obtain the popular vote and hopefullybecome a finalist,Ghantasala needs her video to win as many likes as possible on Facebook.

The more likes she receives, the closer she is to winning $250,000 in college scholarships, $50,000 for her teacher and a new $100,000 science lab for her school, alltotaling a whopping $400,000.

Although much of her college tuition could be covered with this prize, she's mostly focused on its benefit for others.

"The reason I really wanted to do this is to help my school and my teacher," she said. "And in the future, I really want to help people who may not have the financial situation to get the education they deserve, or to get the health care that they deserve.

"So, just like my video, I want to provide access to educational videos or educational material andcreatively convey information to all kinds of people."

You can watch and vote for Ghantasala's video now through Sept. 20 on Facebook.Finalists will be announced on Sept. 21.

Anika Exum is a reporter for the Tennessean covering Williamson County. Reach her at aexum@tennessean.com or on Twitter at @aniexum.

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Brentwood teen is one of 30 semifinalists in global STEM video competition - Tennessean