Nisal Ovitigala of Gateway Negombo selected to MIT

Nisal Ovitigala of Gateway College Negombo has been accepted to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA which is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. He is among the 2% of International students admitted to MIT annually, and he has been the only student selected to MIT from Sri Lanka since 2013. MIT in their offer letter states ‘Nisal stood as one of the most talented and promising students in one of the most competitive applicant pools in the history of the Institute’.

Academically, Nisal has consistently performed exceptionally well obtaining 8 A Star grades and 3As at International GCSE and 4 A grades for Advanced Subsidiary. At school he secured the prize for Further Mathematics.

In year 13, he was selected by the Fullbright Commission to participate in the Competitive College Club in order to train for college life in the USA. He was recently recognized to be the First Runner up in the Monash Future Leader award hosted by Monash University, Australia.

In addition to academics, Nisal took part in many extra-curricular activities organized by the school. A collaborative leader by nature, he served as a refect in 2015 and as the Deputy Head Boy of the school in 2016/17. He played a major role in the successful organization of many school events such as the ‘Dengue Awareness’ Programme in 2013, Annual Fashion Show - “When Fashion Meets Music” in 2015, National stroke Walk in 2015 the Anniversary Fair and the Science exhibition. His exhibit in Gastrophysics won the 1st place in Physics the 2nd place in the competition. He participated in the Sri Lanka Model United Nations conferences (SLMUN) as a member of the Administration staff. In August 2015, Nisal attended the Summer School programme held at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.

Nisal was the Vice President of the school’s social responsibility club for the academic year 2015/16, the year in which Gateway College Negombo won the Gold award at the Edexcel Community Service Awards which was a part of the Pearson Edexcel High achievers award ceremony.

Mrs. Devika Alldis, the Principal of Gateway College Negombo says Nisal’s success is due to his commitment to personal excellence and the sincere interest in the wellbeing of the wider community. She is confident that Nisal will make his alma mater and his country proud by making good use of this great opportunity.