Meet UP board Class 12 topper Sakshi Verma from Barabanki

A girl from a small town in Uttar Pradesh has made it big in the state board intermediate examination, the results of which were declared on Sunday.

Daughter of a government school teacher, Sakshi Verma of Barabanki’s Maharani Laxmibai Memorial Inter College secured 98.20% to become the state topper. She scored 99 each in physics, chemistry and mathematics, 96 in English and 98 in Hindi.

“Initially, I was in a state of disbelief but the fact started to sink in as time passed by. UP board top rank was totally unexpected. I had thought I would be lucky if I am even able to cross the 95% mark,” Sakshi says.

When four years back her sister Apoorva did her family proud by becoming the intermediate topper in UP board, Sakshi wanted to make sure to continue the legacy.

Her homemaker mother, Archana Verma, says Sakshi’s ‘chilled-out’ attitude towards life makes it hard to guess that she has scored a whopping 491 out of 500. Her daughter defies all stereotypes, the proud mother says.

Sakshi wants to enrol into Lucknow University to study geology, physics and mathematics, do a post graduation in geology and become a professor. “My father is a teacher and I too want to be in the same profession,” the 17-year-old says.

Read more: Girls outshine boys in 2016 UP board Class 10 and 12 exams

That Sakshi, who scored 96.83% to bag the fourth position in the state in Class 10, is also mature beyond her years is evident from her thoughts.

“I don’t want to burden my parents with the extra expenditure of ensuring my accommodation, fee, etc in Delhi. Lucknow University would be within my reach and affordable for my parents too,” she says when asked why she does not want to join a college in the national capital.

Unlike girls of her age who are addicted to Facebook and WhatsApp, Sakshi made it a point to stay away from social media. “I did not want any deviation from my target and thus preferred to stay away from the trend. Had I too wasted my time in that, I would have surely missed what I achieved today,” she says.

Read more: UP board 2016 Class 10 and Class 12 results out, check list of toppers

But books are not all that Sakshi is hooked to.

“In my leisure hours when I wanted to relax, I played chess. It was such a stress buster and a brain exercise too,” she says.

Fond of playing chess, Sakshi laments of not having got any opportunity to take the interest forward.

“Had I got a chance to participate in any competition, I would have excelled in the field as well,” she says.