Greater Commonwealth Virtual School Shares Accomplishments of Siblings Adrita and Soham Samanta

The Greater Commonwealth Virtual School (GCVS) is pleased to share the accomplishments of siblings Adrita and Soham Samanta, of Medford, who recently performed well in separate science- and math-related competitions.

Ninth-grader Adrita Samanta won third place after competing with more than 320 other students from across the state in the Massachusetts Science + Engineering Fair (MSEF) on May 5 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and she also won the Outstanding Computer Science Project award in a regional competition at Tufts University leading up to the state contest. 

Her brother, sixth-grader Soham Samanta, finished second out of 73 teams from Massachusetts that performed in the Purple Comet Math Meet, a international online mathematics competition designed for middle and high school students. Soham also finished second in a nationwide competition among middle schoolers. 

Adrita Samanta’s science project, titled Computer Model for Eye Tracking without Subject Calibration, used computer software written by Adrita to track eye movements in animals without time-consuming calibration efforts that are currently required. 

Despite being one of the only ninth-graders to compete in the MSEF, Adrita’s project finished third. 

In the Purple Comet Math Meet, students in teams of one to six students compete by submitting solutions to a list of mathematical problems. Middle school teams have 60 minutes to solve 20 problems, and are ranked on their performance. 

Soham Samanta was the only member of the GCVS team, and still finished second out of all teams in both Massachusetts and Nationwide. 

“They both are very talented, and they have an impressive work ethic,” said instructor Animesh Bose, who works with both siblings. “Both are very academically oriented.”

Adrita, in addition to competing in the MSEF, has already completed advanced placement courses in both Computer Science and Physics, despite being in only ninth grade.

The siblings live in Medford with their parents, Tumpa Sarkar and Susnata Samanta. 

“After the pandemic, we decided to enroll our kids in GCVS. Our kids really like the school’s lessons and activities. The teachers and staff at GCVS are wonderful. They are easy to talk to and always ready to help,” said Susnata Samanta. “GCVS also offers a dual enrollment program with a community college where our kids are taking advanced classes while still attending regular school. We are very happy with how well our kids are doing since they joined GCVS.

One of the things we also like about GCVS is that the schedule is flexible. GCVS has been a great experience for our family. It has made our kids excited about learning and has helped them reach their full potential.”

About the The Massachusetts Science + Engineering Fair

The Massachusetts Science + Engineering Fair develops future thought leaders through experiences in science and engineering practices using well-proven programs and novel approaches that empower students and educators to learn in and beyond the classroom. MSEF, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, was founded in 1949 by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, MIT professors and a group of
pioneering K-12 science educators. For more information, visit: https://scifair.com/.

About the Purple Comet Math Meet

The Purple Comet Math Meet is a free, annual, international, online, team, mathematics competition designed for middle and high school students that has been held since 2003. Teams of one to six students compete by submitting solutions to a list of mathematics problems. There is a 10-day window during which teams may compete, choosing a start time most convenient for them. The problems range in difficulty from fairly easy to extremely challenging. In 2022 more than 12,000 students competed on almost 4,000 teams from 62 countries. For more information, visit: https://purplecomet.org/.