Avondale School District student performs Star Spangled Banner at national conference

During the National ASEI Conference in Dearborn last week, a student from Avondale School District’s Deerfield Elementary School had the opportunity to perform the Star Spangled Banner for the attendees - including Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters. Nine-year old Ria Narang, attended the event along with more than 200 engineers and leaders from the emerging technologies industry, Disruptive Innovations and Technologies. The conference featured presentations and discussions of topics including advancements in bio-medical engineering, trends in automotive technology, innovations that create new markets, and a slate of keynote speakers that included Senator Peters, Isaiah McKinnon, Deputy Mayor, City of Detroit; Dr. Virinder Moudgil, President and CEO, Lawrence Technological University; Prabhakar Patil, CEO, LG Chem; and Bill Coughlin, President and CEO, Ford Global Technologies.

Ria’s father, Raj Narang, an Executive Member and a Director of ASEI (the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin) invited Ria to sing at the event. Though Ria has interest in the areas of math and science - the foundation for much of what was shared during the conference - she was more interested in singing the National Anthem and meeting Senator Peters. “I don’t completely understand about senators and leaders but I know that he (Peters) is an important person. I also know that the anthem is important and special because it tells about the United States so I wanted to do well for both of those reasons,” she said.

Ria enjoys school, golf and swimming and is taking her musical talents into dancing and playing the piano. She enjoys performing in public and has, as she explained to Senator Peters, “been performing since (she) was in her first talent show, in the first grade at Deerfield Elementary.”

View Ria’s performance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPtMRvw_K2c&feature=youtu.be