A Harker middle school DECA team earned first place in the United States in a global business competition and other Harker DECA teams distinguished themselves recently at the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference.
The middle school DECA team, which ranked No. 1 among elementary and middle school teams nationwide, will represent America in the global finals of DECA’s Idea Challenge. More than 1,700 teams submitted entrees.
In the Idea Challenge, teams have only eight days to complete a business project. This year the students had to find an innovative, feasible and sustainable use for old newspapers. The teams of three or four students then presented their idea in a one- to three-minute YouTube video.
Ajay Madala, Ethan Choi and Andrew Chavez, all grade 6, fashioned a pencil pouch out of newspapers and created a persuasive sales video. The budding Harker entrepreneurs will compete with a team from the United Arab Emirates for global idea domination.
DECA is a worldwide organization that prepares students for careers in marketing, finance and hospitality management. Harker has a robust DECA program and Harker students shine consistently in the many DECA competitions and activities.
Harker DECA students returned triumphantly from the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference, with 42 students making it into competition finals and 20 of those students finishing the competition in the money.
Three Harker students were also elected to regional leadership positions. Shannon Hong, grade 11, was elected executive vice president, Sophia Luo, grade 11, vice president of communication, and Haley Tran, grade 10, vice president of operations.
Out of 28 events in which Harker students participated, they garnered seven first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes. Those wins were by 42 of the 90-plus Harker students who attended, so it was a real team effort! Harker had the fourth-most wins among the more than 1,100 students from nearly 20 Silicon Valley schools who participated.
Almost half of Harker’s wins were in the top three in their categories. Members placing in the top three were as follows:
First-Place Winners
International Business Plan: Shannon Hong, grade 11; Sophia Luo, grade 11; Leo Yu, grade 12
Travel & Tourism Team Decision Making (TDM): Hong, Luo
Entrepreneurship Written Alexis Gauba and Riya Chandra, both grade 10
Business Service Marketing: Gauba
Personal Financial Literacy: Ray Xu, grade 10
Marketing Communications TDM: Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari and Glenn Reddy, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan: Peter Wu and Arnav Tandon, both grade 10
Second-Place Winners
Marketing Communications TDM: Manthra Panchapakesan and Simran Singh, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Written: Lucas Wang and Ria Gandhi, both grade 10
International Business Plan: Aathira Menon and Natasha Santhanam, both grade 11
Third-Place Winners
Principles of Marketing: Mona Lee, grade 9
Apparels & Accessories Marketing Individual Series Event: Felix Wu, grade 12
Advertising Campaign: Rahul Mehta, grade 9
The team stayed at the Marriott Hotel. The conference kicked off Friday night with opening remarks, followed by a talent show called the SV Factor emceed by Harker’s Luo. The winners of the talent show were offered the opportunity to “pie” the officers of SV DECA, and Harker’s Shannon Hong and Haley Tran took the cream pies in the face.
The 1,100 students gathered Saturday morning for their competitive events, followed by elections for the next Silicon Valley District Action Team. Harker had three candidates in the running and all were elected – Hong, Luo and Tran. Saturday culminated in a dance where students relaxed after the full day of competing and learning.
Awards were handed out over breakfast on Sunday.
The experience was a great one for DECA members. “Silicon Valley DECA is a great event for new members, especially because it introduces our members to the DECA experiences and gets everyone pumped for States and ICDC,” said Gauba, Harker DECA Director of Technology.
“I loved networking and meeting new friends from all over the Silicon Valley,” said Jessica Skinner, grade 9. “SVCDC was an amazing event, and I felt like I was finally where I was meant to be.”
There was a note of nostalgia among seniors, for whom this was the last local event. “I can’t believe that this was my last SVCDC!” said Savi Joshi, grade 12, CEO of Harker DECA. “It felt like it went by so quickly, and I finally understand how much DECA means to me and how much it’s given me. I’m going to miss this next year.”
The state DECA Conference takes place Feb. 26-Mar. 1 in Santa Clara. Harker students will compete there with thousands of their peers from all over California.
A Harker middle school DECA team earned first place in the United States in a global business competition and other Harker DECA teams distinguished themselves recently at the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference.
The middle school DECA team, which ranked No. 1 among elementary and middle school teams nationwide, will represent America in the global finals of DECA’s Idea Challenge. More than 1,700 teams submitted entrees.
In the Idea Challenge, teams have only eight days to complete a business project. This year the students had to find an innovative, feasible and sustainable use for old newspapers. The teams of three or four students then presented their idea in a one- to three-minute YouTube video.
Ajay Madala, Ethan Choi and Andrew Chavez, all grade 6, fashioned a pencil pouch out of newspapers and created a persuasive sales video. The budding Harker entrepreneurs will compete with a team from the United Arab Emirates for global idea domination.
DECA is a worldwide organization that prepares students for careers in marketing, finance and hospitality management. Harker has a robust DECA program and Harker students shine consistently in the many DECA competitions and activities.
Harker DECA students returned triumphantly from the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference, with 42 students making it into competition finals and 20 of those students finishing the competition in the money.
Three Harker students were also elected to regional leadership positions. Shannon Hong, grade 11, was elected executive vice president, Sophia Luo, grade 11, vice president of communication, and Haley Tran, grade 10, vice president of operations.
Out of 28 events in which Harker students participated, they garnered seven first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes. Those wins were by 42 of the 90-plus Harker students who attended, so it was a real team effort! Harker had the fourth-most wins among the more than 1,100 students from nearly 20 Silicon Valley schools who participated.
Almost half of Harker’s wins were in the top three in their categories. Members placing in the top three were as follows:
First-Place Winners
International Business Plan: Shannon Hong, grade 11; Sophia Luo, grade 11; Leo Yu, grade 12
Travel & Tourism Team Decision Making (TDM): Hong, Luo
Entrepreneurship Written Alexis Gauba and Riya Chandra, both grade 10
Business Service Marketing: Gauba
Personal Financial Literacy: Ray Xu, grade 10
Marketing Communications TDM: Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari and Glenn Reddy, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan: Peter Wu and Arnav Tandon, both grade 10
Second-Place Winners
Marketing Communications TDM: Manthra Panchapakesan and Simran Singh, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Written: Lucas Wang and Ria Gandhi, both grade 10
International Business Plan: Aathira Menon and Natasha Santhanam, both grade 11
Third-Place Winners
Principles of Marketing: Mona Lee, grade 9
Apparels & Accessories Marketing Individual Series Event: Felix Wu, grade 12
Advertising Campaign: Rahul Mehta, grade 9
The team stayed at the Marriott Hotel. The conference kicked off Friday night with opening remarks, followed by a talent show called the SV Factor emceed by Harker’s Luo. The winners of the talent show were offered the opportunity to “pie” the officers of SV DECA, and Harker’s Shannon Hong and Haley Tran took the cream pies in the face.
The 1,100 students gathered Saturday morning for their competitive events, followed by elections for the next Silicon Valley District Action Team. Harker had three candidates in the running and all were elected – Hong, Luo and Tran. Saturday culminated in a dance where students relaxed after the full day of competing and learning.
Awards were handed out over breakfast on Sunday.
The experience was a great one for DECA members. “Silicon Valley DECA is a great event for new members, especially because it introduces our members to the DECA experiences and gets everyone pumped for States and ICDC,” said Gauba, Harker DECA Director of Technology.
“I loved networking and meeting new friends from all over the Silicon Valley,” said Jessica Skinner, grade 9. “SVCDC was an amazing event, and I felt like I was finally where I was meant to be.”
There was a note of nostalgia among seniors, for whom this was the last local event. “I can’t believe that this was my last SVCDC!” said Savi Joshi, grade 12, CEO of Harker DECA. “It felt like it went by so quickly, and I finally understand how much DECA means to me and how much it’s given me. I’m going to miss this next year.”
The state DECA Conference takes place Feb. 26-Mar. 1 in Santa Clara. Harker students will compete there with thousands of their peers from all over California.
A group of Harker’s upper school performing arts and journalism students attended a local YWCA luncheon, where academy award-winning actress Geena Davis gave the keynote address to an audience of over a thousand.
Davis is one of Hollywood’s most-respected actors. She earned the 2006 Golden Globe Award for best performance by an actress in a television series – breaking ground in her portrayal of the first female president of the United States in ABC’s hit show “Commander in Chief.”
The YWCA of Silicon Valley’s annual luncheon features guest speakers who serve as role models for women and girls. Held every October at the Santa Clara Convention Center, event proceeds help support the group’s much-lauded services.
Harker regularly hosts a table for upper school students who have a special passion for that year’s topic. The Harker group who attended this year’s event, all seniors, were performing arts students Ishanya Anthapur, Caroline Howells, Juhi Muthal, Madi Lang-Ree and Zoe Woehrmann, along with journalism students Jessica Chang and Riya Godbole. Accompanying them was upper school performing arts teacher Laura Lang-Ree.
Each year, more than 40 companies and hundreds of individuals sponsor the YWCA’s luncheon. The mission of the YWCA is to empower women, children and families, and to eliminate racism, hatred and prejudice. The organization provides programs in the areas of sexual assault intervention and prevention, counseling services, domestic violence, child care, youth programs, family services, and social and racial justice.
The YWCA of Silicon Valley serves nearly 18,000 Santa Clara County residents each year, and has provided countywide services for more than 100 years. More information can be found at www.ywca-sv.org.
Harker rocked the Southwest Championship tournament at Arizona State this weekend!
Lisa Liu, grade 11, took second overall in humorous interpretation and third overall in impromptu speaking. Misha Tseitlin, grade 10, breezed through semifinals to end his Congressional Debate run in finals. Arjun Narayan, grade 11, welcomed in 2015 by earning a spot in the semifinals of extemporaneous speaking.
In public forum debate, all 10 teams were 3-2 or better going into round six and eight teams advanced to elimination rounds. Sorjo Banerjee, grade 11, and Emaad Raghib, grade 10, were in the final round where they ended up in second place out of 124 public forum teams. Nikhil Kishore and Vamsi Gadiraju, both grade 12, advanced to the Elite Eight where they met Banerjee and Raghib, ending their run as quarterfinalists. David Jin, grade 11, and Alexander Lam, grade 10, were also quarterfinalists. Both Kishore/Gadiraju and Jin/Lam complete their qualifications to the Tournament of Champions.
Ending their run in the Sweet Sixteen were Jasmine Liu and Abhinav Ketineni, both grade 11, who met Jin and Lam in the octofinal round, also know as “the bid round.” Also earning bids to the Tournament of Champions were Samali Sahoo and Anthony Luo, both grade 11, as well as Aumesh Misra, grade 11, and Ashwath Thirumalai, grade 12, who advanced to double-octofinals but met Harker teams in the round of 32 and were thus awarded ghost bids. Avik Wadhwa and Aadyot Bhatnagar, both grade 12, as well as seniors Andrew Jin and David Lin also advanced through triples to end their run in double-octofinals.
Special recognition goes out to alumni coaches Kiran Arimilli ’13, Anuj Sharma ’13 and Andy Wang ’14 for their coaching in Arizona.
Congratulations to all 23 Harker speech and debate Eagles for rocking The Grand Canyon State!
Ten Harker students earned high marks in the 2014 National Assessment & Testing Ciphering Time Trials, making Harker the top-ranking high school in the country to participate in the contest.
Swapnil Garg took first place in the grade 9 division, with classmates Shaya Zarkesh and Joanna Lin placing 12th and 15th, respectively. In the grade 10 division, David Zhu and Kai-Siang Ang tied for second place, while Misha Ivkov placed ninth. Placing first in the grade 11 division was Richard Yi, with Allison Wang taking fourth. Patrick Lin and Ashwath Thirumalai placed second and fourth, respectively, in the grade 12 division.
Each participant completed 10 rounds of testing, each of which contained three problems of varying difficulty that had to be solved in within three minutes. National Assessment & Testing administers math contests by email every year, which are then conducted by the teachers at the participating schools.
Update: Hat trick for Harker athletes, today! First off, Srivinay Irrinki, grade 12, has been named the Merc’s Santa Clara County boys Athlete of the Week. Plus, Joelle Anderson and Jordan Thomson, both grade 10, were both named to the Merc’s Highlight Reel, today.
Joelle, Harker soccer, made the list for her three goals in a 6-0 win over Mercy-Burlingame and three more in the team’s 4-2 win over Crystal Springs. She has now scored 15 goals in just six games—go Joelle!
Jordan, Harker basketball, was honored for scoring 38 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in the team’s win vs. Woodside Priory and 26 points in the victory over Crystal Springs –Go Jordan!
It’s 2015, and Harker sports are in full swing. Both the girls varsity basketball and soccer squads went undefeated last week! Let’s get to the scores and news:
Basketball
The girls went undefeated last week, beating both Priory and Crystal Springs to open league play and improving to 8-3 overall. Against Priory, sophomore Jordan Thompson led the way with 38 points. The girls hit the road twice this week.
Senior Sriv Irrinki shot eight 3-pointers and went 9-9 on free throws en route to a career high 35 points while leading Harker to a 87-71 victory over King’s Academy. With that victory, Harker bounced back from a loss to Menlo earlier in the week. The boys play rival Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday at Blackford. The junior varsity team will play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity team at 7 p.m.
At the middle school level, the grades 7-8 Varsity B boys basketball team enter the WBAL playoff tournament this week. On Tuesday, they will host Sacred Heart’s second team at Blackford at 4 p.m. If the Eagles win, they will play the winner of Sacred Heart’s first team vs. Menlo’s third at Sacred Heart on Wednesday at 6 p.m. If they lose to Sacred Heart’s second team, they will play the loser of Sacred Heart vs. Menlo on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at Menlo. Wins on both Tuesday and Wednesday would catapult the Eagles to the championship game at Sacred Heart on Thursday at 5 p.m. Let’s go Harker!
Soccer
The girls varsity squad improved to 4-1-1 overall after a 2-0 week in which the team defeated Mercy-Burlingame and Crystal Springs. The game against Crystal Springs was highlighted by a hat trick from sophomore Joelle Anderson. The Eagles have now won three straight games, having also defeated Pinewood 5-1 over the winter break thanks to goals from Anderson, senior Alyssa Amick and sophomore Kailee Gifford. Harker will host Menlo on Tuesday at Davis Field.
The boys, meanwhile, lost to Menlo 3-2 on Friday in their first league game of the year, despite goals from junior Omar Hamade and senior Alan Guo. This was the team’s first loss of the season; it had previously been 3-0-1 after a 4-1 win over the winter break thanks to goals from senior Ramzi Jahshan, senior Jeremiah Anderson, junior Kevin Hu and freshman Nick Acero. The Eagles will host Crystal Springs on Wednesday and Eastside College Prep on Thursday.
Wrestling
Freshman Anthony Contreras finished in third place at the Los Gatos Tournament on Saturday. During the winter break, seniors Anni Ankola and Ryan Palmer finished third and fourth, respectively, at the Cupertino Tournament. The wrestlers travel to Santa Clara this Thursday.
Volleyball
Congratulations to senior Shreya Dixit, who was named by the San Jose Mercury News to the All-Mercury News second team for girls volleyball, recognizing her as among the best players in the section.
You can read more here: http://www.mercurynews.com/high-school-sports/ci_27202476/all-mercury-news-girls-volleyball-first-team-second
Three stock-picking teams from Harker qualified to participate in The Stock Market Game at the international DECA conference in May and Harker students grabbed three of 25 top spots in the Western region, beating out more than 1,200 other Western teams.
Teams with the highest portfolio returns compared to the S&P 500 stock index made it into this elite group.
Harker’s David Lin, grade 12, earned first place in the Western region and third in the nation. His portfolio totaled a whopping $179,388, or nearly 80 percent over the S&P 500 stock index.
Steven Wang, Aaron Huang and Leo Yu, all grade 12, placed 14th. Their portfolio totaled $116,549 for a return of 16.8 percent above the S&P 500. The team of Alex Tuharsky and Ashwath Thirumalai, both grade 12, placed 18th with a 15.3 percent return and a closing portfolio of $115,078.
These three teams are eligible to defend their investment decisions in The Stock Market Game at DECA’s international conference in Georgia in May. DECA prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.
“We are very proud of these students,” said Juston Glass, director of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship program. “We are sending the No. 1 ranked finalist to represent the Western region and defending our international title from last year.
“There’s a lot of competition,” Glass added. “We posted the Top 10 Harker investors every week for the whole school to see and have fun with. It was cool to see who moved up and down in the rankings each week.”
The Stock Market Game requires students to select stocks and manage a virtual investment portfolio. The teams start with $100,000 of make-believe money on Sept. 8 and manage their portfolios until “the sound of the bell” on Dec. 12.
Students can invest in instruments other than common stock. “You can invest in mutual funds, exchange traded funds and bonds, as well as stocks. Thus, many of my holdings in the game were not stocks,” Tuharsky says.
“I’m a value investor, meaning that I pick stocks that I think are undervalued (their true value is larger than the value dictated by their market price) and buy these stocks,” Thirumalai explained. “I determine value primarily based on growth trends and corporate financials.”
The Tuharsky-Thirumalai team hit a mother lode with JDST. It is a stock fund “equivalent to a leveraged short position on gold miners,” Tuharsky says. It was the team’s best performer.
The Stock Market Game “teaches participants to stay up-to-date on their business news, and generally creates more interest in the stock market,” Tuharsky said. Although students learned various methods of analysis and scoured the financials, Thirumalai says he also learned that luck plays a role in picking stocks.
Seven Harker faculty members also participated in the game, but didn’t quite match the students’ returns. Art teacher Josh Martinez ended 9 percent above the S&P, earning him second place in the Western Region teacher group.
The Stock Market Game is just one of dozens of competitive events DECA sponsors for high school and college students. About 200,000 high school students participate in 3,500 high school DECA chapters nationwide. More than 5,000 teams participate in The Stock Market Game nationwide.
Tuharsky said he was already interested in a career in finance or economics and the thrill of “The Stock Market Game has pushed me further in that direction.” Win or lose, Thirumalai said the experience was “a ton of fun.”
Three stock-picking teams from Harker qualified to participate in The Stock Market Game at the international DECA conference in May and Harker students grabbed three of 25 top spots in the Western region, beating out more than 1,200 other Western teams.
Teams with the highest portfolio returns compared to the S&P 500 stock index made it into this elite group.
Harker’s David Lin, grade 12, earned first place in the Western region and third in the nation. His portfolio totaled a whopping $179,388, or nearly 80 percent over the S&P 500 stock index.
Steven Wang, Aaron Huang and Leo Yu, all grade 12, placed 14th. Their portfolio totaled $116,549 for a return of 16.8 percent above the S&P 500. The team of Alex Tuharsky and Ashwath Thirumalai, both grade 12, placed 18th with a 15.3 percent return and a closing portfolio of $115,078.
These three teams are eligible to defend their investment decisions in The Stock Market Game at DECA’s international conference in Georgia in May. DECA prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.
“We are very proud of these students,” said Juston Glass, director of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship program. “We are sending the No. 1 ranked finalist to represent the Western region and defending our international title from last year.
“There’s a lot of competition,” Glass added. “We posted the Top 10 Harker investors every week for the whole school to see and have fun with. It was cool to see who moved up and down in the rankings each week.”
The Stock Market Game requires students to select stocks and manage a virtual investment portfolio. The teams start with $100,000 of make-believe money on Sept. 8 and manage their portfolios until “the sound of the bell” on Dec. 12.
Students can invest in instruments other than common stock. “You can invest in mutual funds, exchange traded funds and bonds, as well as stocks. Thus, many of my holdings in the game were not stocks,” Tuharsky says.
“I’m a value investor, meaning that I pick stocks that I think are undervalued (their true value is larger than the value dictated by their market price) and buy these stocks,” Thirumalai explained. “I determine value primarily based on growth trends and corporate financials.”
The Tuharsky-Thirumalai team hit a mother lode with JDST. It is a stock fund “equivalent to a leveraged short position on gold miners,” Tuharsky says. It was the team’s best performer.
The Stock Market Game “teaches participants to stay up-to-date on their business news, and generally creates more interest in the stock market,” Tuharsky said. Although students learned various methods of analysis and scoured the financials, Thirumalai says he also learned that luck plays a role in picking stocks.
Seven Harker faculty members also participated in the game, but didn’t quite match the students’ returns. Art teacher Josh Martinez ended 9 percent above the S&P, earning him second place in the Western Region teacher group.
The Stock Market Game is just one of dozens of competitive events DECA sponsors for high school and college students. About 200,000 high school students participate in 3,500 high school DECA chapters nationwide. More than 5,000 teams participate in The Stock Market Game nationwide.
Tuharsky said he was already interested in a career in finance or economics and the thrill of “The Stock Market Game has pushed me further in that direction.” Win or lose, Thirumalai said the experience was “a ton of fun.”
Three stock-picking teams from Harker qualified to participate in The Stock Market Game at the international DECA conference in May and Harker students grabbed three of 25 top spots in the Western region, beating out more than 1,200 other Western teams.
Teams with the highest portfolio returns compared to the S&P 500 stock index made it into this elite group.
Harker’s David Lin, grade 12, earned first place in the Western region and third in the nation. His portfolio totaled a whopping $179,388, or nearly 80 percent over the S&P 500 stock index.
Steven Wang, Aaron Huang and Leo Yu, all grade 12, placed 14th. Their portfolio totaled $116,549 for a return of 16.8 percent above the S&P 500. The team of Alex Tuharsky and Ashwath Thirumalai, both grade 12, placed 18th with a 15.3 percent return and a closing portfolio of $115,078.
These three teams are eligible to defend their investment decisions in The Stock Market Game at DECA’s international conference in Georgia in May. DECA prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.
“We are very proud of these students,” said Juston Glass, director of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship program. “We are sending the No. 1 ranked finalist to represent the Western region and defending our international title from last year.
“There’s a lot of competition,” Glass added. “We posted the Top 10 Harker investors every week for the whole school to see and have fun with. It was cool to see who moved up and down in the rankings each week.”
The Stock Market Game requires students to select stocks and manage a virtual investment portfolio. The teams start with $100,000 of make-believe money on Sept. 8 and manage their portfolios until “the sound of the bell” on Dec. 12.
Students can invest in instruments other than common stock. “You can invest in mutual funds, exchange traded funds and bonds, as well as stocks. Thus, many of my holdings in the game were not stocks,” Tuharsky says.
“I’m a value investor, meaning that I pick stocks that I think are undervalued (their true value is larger than the value dictated by their market price) and buy these stocks,” Thirumalai explained. “I determine value primarily based on growth trends and corporate financials.”
The Tuharsky-Thirumalai team hit a mother lode with JDST. It is a stock fund “equivalent to a leveraged short position on gold miners,” Tuharsky says. It was the team’s best performer.
The Stock Market Game “teaches participants to stay up-to-date on their business news, and generally creates more interest in the stock market,” Tuharsky said. Although students learned various methods of analysis and scoured the financials, Thirumalai says he also learned that luck plays a role in picking stocks.
Seven Harker faculty members also participated in the game, but didn’t quite match the students’ returns. Art teacher Josh Martinez ended 9 percent above the S&P, earning him second place in the Western Region teacher group.
The Stock Market Game is just one of dozens of competitive events DECA sponsors for high school and college students. About 200,000 high school students participate in 3,500 high school DECA chapters nationwide. More than 5,000 teams participate in The Stock Market Game nationwide.
Tuharsky said he was already interested in a career in finance or economics and the thrill of “The Stock Market Game has pushed me further in that direction.” Win or lose, Thirumalai said the experience was “a ton of fun.”
Society for Science & the Public (SSP) announced today that 15 Harker seniors were named semifinalists in the 2015 Intel Science Talent Search, more than any other school in the country. In 2012, Harker had a record 11 semifinalists, so this year represents a new high watermark!
“Inquiry, curiosity and persistence embody the culture of The Harker School,” said Anita Chetty, science department chair. “The development of scientific thinking and effective communication of discoveries is part of instruction in all of the subjects we teach. This is a significant achievement for our school, yet it is a natural outcome of the daily work of our dedicated preschool-through-grade 12 faculty and our outstanding students. When I think of the diversity of research questions that our students posed and the significance of their findings, I am left with so much hope that our next generation will find solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.”
More than 1,800 students from 460 high schools entered this year’s Intel Science Talent Search; from those entrants, 300 semifinalists were selected. Each semifinalist will receive a $1,000 cash prize and is eligible to become a finalist in this year’s contest. An additional $1,000 is awarded to each semifinalist’s school. Finalists receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the final stage of the competition, where more than $1 million in prizes will be awarded. SSP will announce the 40 national finalists in this year’s competition on Jan. 21.
This year’s semifinalists and their project titles are:
Shikhar Dixit (“Immunomodulation by Human Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cell Line ARPE-19”)
Andrew Jin (“A Machine Learning Framework to Identify Selected Variants in Regions of Recent Adaptation”)
Rohith Kuditipudi (“Bayesian Time Series Analysis of Liver Disease Progression”)
David Lin (“Characterizing Gravitationally Bound Halo Structures in Cosmological Dark Matter Simulations”)
Cindy Liu (“Characterizing Novel Binders as Tools for Understanding Chloride Transport Mechanisms”)
Neil Movva (“How do Teeth Grow? Characterizing the Morphogenesis of the Periodontal Ligament through Complementary Biomechanical and Histological Analysis”)
Pranav Reddy (“Differential Motif Discovery to Isolate Associated Sequences and Relevant Transcription Factors for Alzheimer’s in a Mouse Model”)
Anokhi Saklecha (“The Utilization of RGD-coated Gold Nanoprisms and Optical Coherence Tomography to Target alphavbeta3 integrin: A Novel Method to Detect Circulating Tumor Cells”)
Nikash Shankar (“A Potential Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease: Encapsulation of Curcumin within Polymeric PLGA-PEG Nanoparticles Protects Neuro2A Cells from Beta-Amyloid Induced Cytotoxicity and Improves Bioavailability”)
Sriram Somasundaram (“A Novel Design and Evaluation of Chitosan Nanoparticle Ocular Drug Delivery System Using Protein-Ligand Docking Simulations and pH Dependent Corneal Permeation”)
Kailas Vodrahalli (“Transporting Solar Energy Through Optical Waveguides for Concentrated Solar Power Applications”)
Steven Wang (“Computer-Aided Genomic Characterization of Colorectal Cancer Driver Genes for Oncogenic Transformation of Primary Colon Organoids”)
Menghua Wu (“Characteristics of Drug Combination Therapy in Oncology by Analyzing Clinical Trial Data on ClinicalTrials.gov”)
Leo Yu (“A Novel Algorithm to Unify CMIP5 Ensemble Climate Models for Optimal Climate Projections”)
Andrew Zhang (“The Dearth of Lithium-Rich Stars in Globular Clusters”)
The Science Talent Search, launched by SSP in 1942 in a partnership with Westinghouse, has since become one of the country’s most respected science contests for high school seniors. It has been sponsored by Intel since 1998. Congratulations to students, mentors and teachers, and good luck in the next round!