Editor's note: The following is a press release from Valley View School District 365U.
R.C. Hill Elementary School 4th grader Japmanjit Singh earned the coveted Distinguished Speaker Award at the International Sikh Youth Symposium in Baltimore earlier this month.
The Bolingbrook resident qualified for the Sikh Youth Alliance of North America competition by first winning local competition at the Sikh Temple of Wheaton and then taking first place in regional competition. His award-winning oral presentation was on warrior princesses in Sikh history.
“It was really exciting,” Singh said. “But I felt really nervous.”
An avid reader, who hopes to join the Air Force someday “because I want to serve the country,” Singh has attended R.C. Hill since he was in 1st grade.
“I’m so proud of my son,” said Singh’s mother, Manmeet Kaur, who is a parapro at R.C. Hill. “Getting to that level of competition was not easy.”