Reach for the Top Summary & Notes - CBSE Class 9 English Beehive

According to the CBSE Syllabus 2023-24, this chapter has been renumbered as Chapter 7.

Summary of Reach for the Top

Class 9 English textbook ‘Beehive’ consists of a prose lesson titled Reach for the Top. It is divided into two parts that describe the interesting lives of two great inspiring women – Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova. Here’s the prose summary of the CBSE Class 9 English Prose Notes – Reach for the Top in CBSE English Notes Class 9 format that students can refer to get an understanding of the chapter. Besides, this prose summary is designed in simple words so that CBSE Class 9 students can access it while they are prepping for their exams.

Students can also know how to write an effective essay by going through the Essay page at BYJU’S to increase marks in Class 9 English papers.

CBSE Class 9 English Reach for the Top Summary

Reach for the Top is the biography of the lives of two great ladies – Santosh Yadav and Maria Sharapova. The chapter is divided into two parts: Part 1 – “Santosh Yadav” and Part 2 – “Maria Sharapova”. This story celebrates the achievements of these two powerful women who successfully triumphed in the face of adversity.

Reach for the Top Part 1: Santosh Yadav Summary

Part 1 of Reach for the Top starts with Santosh Yadav, the first woman on Earth who has scaled the mighty Mount Everest twice. The story is a biographical piece about a woman who was born in a patriarchal society that does not offer a warm welcome to a daughter, like a son. She was born in the small village of Joniyawas, located in the Rewari District of Haryana. She was the sixth child of her family, with five elder brothers. Although her parents were wealthy landowners, they were not so inclined to provide quality education to their children from good schools. They rather chose the local village school for their children’s education. Despite growing up in a controlled environment, Santosh chose to defy societal norms and carved a niche for herself.

From a young age, she was discriminated against on the basis of gender and decided to fight the system in her own way. When Santosh was sixteen years old, her parents pressurised her to tie the knot, like other girls in her village. She, however, chose not to give in to their pressure tactics. She told her parents firmly that she wanted to study further and wished to carve a place for herself in society. Besides, she told them that if they objected, she would fund her own education by working part-time jobs. Finally, they agreed to fund her education. Soon after that, she secured admission to a school in Delhi and passed the high school examinations. Then she joined the Maharani College in Jaipur.

Since then, her life had taken a new turn. She enrolled in a course at Uttarkashi’s Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and participated in an expedition. Thereafter, every year she continued participating in an expedition to pursue her new dream of mountaineering. Her hard work finally paid off in 1992, when she climbed the mighty Mount Everest. She was barely twenty years old then. She became the youngest woman to achieve such a feat; she also saved a fellow mountaineer. She secured a unique place for India and herself by creating history in mountaineering and scaling it twice in her lifetime. Santosh was awarded one of the highest civilian honours, the Padma Shri, by the Indian government for achieving this marvellous feat.

Reach for the Top Part 2: Maria Sharapova Summary

In Part 2 of Reach for the Top chapter, we learn about the renowned Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova. This story illustrates her journey of becoming the world champion in women’s tennis. She achieved the number one position through hard labour, extensive and rigorous training and several sacrifices on the personal front. In this biography, Maria tells us how she started her tennis training at an early age to reach the summit of women’s tennis when she was barely eighteen years old.

Maria was born in Siberia in Russia and left her home town at the tender age of nine to pursue her dream of becoming a tennis star. She had to stay separate from her mother and moved to Florida along with her father to proceed with her training. Her father worked laboriously to fund her tennis training. Although she suffered bullying on account of being a foreigner, she never lost hope or gave in to petty remarks. Her will and determination led her to achieve success and reap satisfying results from her practice sessions. Apart from practising tennis, her hobbies are fashion, singing and dancing. Although she mentions that money is a motivating factor for playing tennis, her sole aim remains to become and continue being number one in the world of tennis.

Conclusion of Reach for the Top

In the chapter – Reach for the Top, students learn from two inspiring women that due diligence, dedication and hard work always pay off and reap a fruitful outcome. This chapter serves as an encouragement for students to take note that if they find some motivation to pursue their dreams, they should make the best use of it in order to walk the path of success.

Here we bring you the CBSE Class 9 English Beehive Prose Summary of Reach for the Top that will help students to have an in-depth understanding of the chapter. Visit BYJU’S for various resources, such as CBSE Notes and CBSE study materials. Meanwhile, Class 9 students can also access question papers of different years and CBSE sample papers on the BYJU’S website. For more interesting content, they can also download BYJU’S – The Learning App.