Pratishtha Khanna is covered by DACA.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: An Indian American girl named Pratishtha Khanna has been named as a 2014 Champion of Change by the White House, and was honored at a ceremony on Tuesday along with the nine other individuals selected alongside her.
Khanna and her co-awardees are part of the Champions of Change’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) designation. DACA is a legislation that was signed into effect by President Barack Obama almost exactly two years ago, and prevents US immigration authorities from pursuing removal actions against individuals who came to the country illegally when they were children, but are now pursuing educational or military work in America.
“The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) White House Champions of Change recipients are being honored for their exemplary leadership in their communities,” said the White House, in a statement. “These DACA recipients serve as success stories and role models in their academic and professional spheres,” the White House said.”
When she migrated to the US from New Delhi at the age of 10, Khanna did so as an undocumented immigrant. Now, she resides in Laurel, Maryland, situated almost exactly in between Washington, DC and Baltimore, and just graduated with a BS degree in biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
She is currently working as an emergency room medical scribe and will pursue a Certified Nursing Assistant Program at Howard Community – “thanks to DACA,” the White House says. She hopes to eventually attend medical school by the fall semester of 2017, and is also active in several social causes, including the Maryland Dream Youth Committee (MDYC) and the Dreamers for DREAMers student organization at UMBC.
The Champions of Change program was created by the White House in order to recognize extraordinary achievement by otherwise ordinary Americans across the nation. Every week, the Obama Administration invites these men and women to Washington, DC to honor them for their work and to use their innovative ideas to help shape the future of the country.