Student Flies Nam Flag High in India

Engineering student, Michael Nauta, certainly flew his Namibian flag high after he participated in two regional level competitions including the Boeing IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) National Aeromodelling Competition.

Along with teammates Junaid Petkar, a Zimbabwean third year Mechanical Engineering student and Yasin Ahmady, an Afghan third year Mechanical Engineering student both from National Institute of Technology (NIT) Durgapur, he managed to secure second place at a competition which took place at NIT Kharagpur plus a hefty 25 000 Indian rupees cash prize.

The top three teams from all zonal competitions, including Michael and his team, went on to compete at the National Finals at the IIT Delhi last month where they landed in the top ten.

Their competitors included Aerospace Engineering students from the ACS College of Engineering in Bangalore.

“From the experience, I learnt a lot about aircraft design and fabrication,” he said. “I also learnt a lot with regards to aerodynamics and unmanned systems, my teamwork and project management skills greatly improved and from the travelling to the different cities, I managed to gain cultural insight. During the competition, we were introduced to the President of Boeing India, Pratyush Kumar and also to the rest of his top level executive team from their Indian office.”

After his top-level performance during the competitions, Skyfi Labs, a company that converts Indian engineering ‘textbook geniuses’ to successful engineers, scooped up Nauta as an intern and he is currently undergoing a programme for the next two months.

“To my fellow students back in Namibia, I would like to advise them to make use of opportunities, believe in themselves and also not to be limited by their surroundings. There is always a way and the world is waiting for us to move it forward.”

Michael, whose role models include Elon Musk and Sam Nujoma, encourages students to take their Mathematics and Science subjects seriously, and if they are at university level, they should gain practical and industrial insight in their field, not simply theorise everything.