KIARA Nirghin, a 2017 matriculant from St Martins’ School achieved eight distinctions and was ranked in the top five per cent of IEB candidates for six or more subjects. She has been offered a place at Harvard University in the USA.
Last year Kiara’s invention named “No more thirsty crops”, won her the Africa/Middle East regional Google Science Fair Community Impact Award, as well as the grand prize at the Google Science Fair at Google’s headquarters in California.
This annual global online competition is open to students aged 13 to 18. “What do you want to change?” was the pertinent question posed. Kiara was one of 16 global finalists.
Kiara’s invention plans to use orange and avocado peels in agriculture and could offer a solution for farmers in drought-stricken areas. Her development of a natural super-absorbent polymer allows soil to retain massive amounts of water.
After winning the Google Science Fair in 2016 Kiara featured on many TV and radio stations and many organisations invited her to give inspirational talks on her journey.
Kiara’s achievements are many and TIMES magazine voted Kiara among the top 30 most influential teens in the world; she was invited by Forbes Africa to give a talk for Women’s Month; Soroptimist Durban invited her to talk to 150 members; Trevor Noah interviewed Kiara on The Daily Show in New York; she featured in magazines such as You, SA Express and Farmers Weekly; she also featured on TV show Expresso, and featured on SABC 2 and 3.
Kiara works very closely with UNICEF SA and was invited by East Coast Radio to give a talk at Lead SA. She was also a speaker for the Congress of Business and Economics and The Indian embassy honoured Kiara at their Independent Day Celebrations.
She was invited by Ted X Spain and Ted X Austria but due to exams could not attend, but she did speak at Ted X Pretoria on November 25 and she was invited by The President of Cairo to speak for a World Youth Forum.
Kiara has also featured in two international documentaries and in three international novels on Saving the Planet.
Kiara said, “Google always looks for people to innovate and help improve the country they live in. We are experiencing drought worldwide and I thought it was something I should address.”
St Martin’s School is very proud of her!
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