SMU student and reigning Miss Universe Singapore Nandita Banna made history for the country at the 70th Miss Universe competition in Eilat, Israel, on Monday morning (Dec 13) by cracking the Top 16. It has been 34 years since a Singaporean made it to the semi-finals of the international beauty pageant in 1987. Nandita attended Raffles Girls' School and Raffles Institution and is currently a third-year double degree student at SMU, majoring in business management and information systems (business analytics). Summing up her Miss Universe experience, Nandita said she relished the chance to "show the world that Singaporeans are not just brainy people, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) – or work-oriented".