Harnaaz Sandhu of India was crowned as the 70th Miss Universe on Sunday, topping a field of some 80 contestants in a pageant that was touched by politics and the pandemic. The former reigning Miss Universe, Andrea Meza of Mexico, crowned the 21-year-old. She is the third Indian to win the coveted title — after Sushmita Sen in 1994 and Lara Dutta in 2000.
The Miss Universe 2021 has studied in Shivalik Public School, Chandigarh, scoring 8 CGPA in CBSE board exams in 2015. “True to the motto of the school, ‘Victory with Determination’ she persevered to achieve great heights at the global level and Harnaaz’s feat has made us all proud. She was a regular and hardworking student,” said the school’s principal, Gurkiran Jeet Nalwa.
“Harnaaz regularly participated in co-curricular activities in the school and was passionate about music and dance but she was always a quiet child. Her brother also studied in our school and her parents regularly visited the school to keep track of their performance. She was a part of the music choir. While she was in school, I could never visualise her taking up the route of achieving the crown. Teenage years are the formative ones and she was always disciplined. Now, that we reminisce about the past, she always had the traits of a performer,” Nalwa told indianexpress.
