Shreya Durvasula, a senior at High School South, was honored as a Roeser Scholar by the American Chemical Society at a dinner ceremony on May 10. Also honored were Chemistry Olympiad finalists Jerrald Chen, James Yan, and Peter Wei, all of High School South, and Peter Wu of High School North.
Wei, a West Windsor resident, is also one of the 20 top high school chemistry students competing for a spot on the U.S. International Chemistry Olympiad Team. His teacher is Karen Galley, chemistry teacher at High School South.
A study camp participant on the Chi X Team, he is preparing at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. During the two-week camp, held June 5 to 19, the students receive college-level training with an emphasis on organic chemistry. At the conclusion, a four-member U.S. team will be named to participate at the 37th International Chemistry Olympiad in Taipei, Taiwan, from July 16 to 25. Students are chosen from a pool of close to 10,”000 high school students nationwide. The event is sponsored by the American Chemical Society.
Science Honors
High Schools North and South had seven teams finishing in the top 10 in the 2005 New Jersey State Science League.
High School North Physics I team took first place; Biology II placed tenth; and Chemistry II finished ninth.
High School South Biology I took second place; Chemistry I took tenth; Chemistry II took eighth; and Physics II took ninth.
The advisors are Karen Galley, High School South; and Holly Crochetiere, High School North. The 9-12 Science Supervisor is Rob Richard.
The High School North science team did well in the recent Merck State Science Day when three students earned recognition for placing in the top 10 of the state: Chris Xu took first place in biology and was honored as Merck Scholar. Janice Chou took sixth place in the state and fourth place in the county in chemistry earning an honorable mention. Alex Yang took eighth place in the state and first place in the county in Integrated Science earning an honorable mention.
The advisors for the team are Jim Looney and Holly Crochetiere.
Art Honors
Suman Allaki from High School North and Janee Pitchford from High School South were honored at the 25th annual Governor’s Awards in Arts Education. They were two of the 84 students recognized in visual and performing arts in New Jersey public schools.
Math Olympiad
Daniel Le and Bohua Zhan from High School South were two of the top 250 mathematics students in the United States and qualified for the United States American Mathematics Competition..
The Olympiad, a means of identifying and encouraging the most creative secondary mathematics students in the country, is a six-question, two-day, nine-hour essay/proof examination. Over 300,”000 students participate in the American Mathematics Competition and approximately 250 of the top-scoring AMC participants (based on a weighted average) are invited to compete in the United States American Mathematics Competition (USAMO).
Math League Honors
Grover Middle School students exceled in the Continental Math League. In the Grade 6 Division, the students placed first in both the region and the nation. GMS student leaders with perfect scores were Avik Banerjee and Michael Wu.
In the Grade 7 Division, the students placed first in both the region and the nation. GMS student leaders with perfect scores were Dan Xia and Denk Klein.
Grover Middle School students also excelled in the New Jersey Math League. In the Grade 6 Division, Grover Middle School placed first. The top students in the league were Alex Clifton, Ming Ming Tran, Michael Wu, Avik Banerjee, Kirill Ravikovitch, and Rebecca Shi.
In the Grade 7 Division, they placed first. The top students in the league were Urijita Sudula, Mark Benjamin, Neeli Mishra, and Dan Xia.
In the Grade 8 Division they placed second. The top students were Jeffrey Fan, Kevin Gu, Ling Zhou, and Kevin Chu.
Grover Middle School advisors are Kathy Kempf and Nicole Yudin.
Spanish Honors
Andrew Elkin of West Windsor, took seventh place in New Jersey on the National Spanish Exam, Level 4. He received an honorable mention and his achievement places him in the 96th percentile nationally.
A sophomore at Princeton Day School, he plans to further his Spanish studies at the Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo in Spain this summer.
Veteran Project
Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein and Congressman Rush Holt presented 65 videotaped interviews and supporting materials to the United State Library of Congress to preserve as part of its “Veterans History Project.” Students from six District 14 high schools interviewed veterans with efforts coordinated by Greenstein’s office. The event was held June 2 at Monroe High School.
Participating veterans interviewed by High School South students include Plainsboro residents Bonniwell Grahm Jr., Michael White, and Richard Tyson. Monroe residents include Herbert Gluckman Andrew Martin, Charles Dunlop, and Daniel Mann.
Student interviewers from High School South include Ali Jaffrey, Carroll Wojtyla, Katie Woodhull, Abe Simon, Jennifer Overstreet, Andrew Lin, Jane Garcia Buhks, Chris Quinlan, Laura Schoenfeld, Eva Groves, and Jacquelyn Smolarek.
Also Stephanie Hum, Keely Farren, Maurio Ingato, Brett Fenster, Vuk Susulic, Beth Barbarasch, Jenny Lim, Xin Luo, Yosuf Adenwala, and James Wang.
Benefit Concert
The recent Concert for Hope, to benefit the breast cancer research center City of Hope, was presented at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia on May 26. Participants included High School North orchestras, High School North and South choirs, Community Middle School Choir, and Millstone River Choir. Along with Cherry Hill East High School Choir, they presented “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff. The event raised close to $40,”000.
Soloists included Elem Eley and Rochelle Ellis. Guest conductor was Paul Head from the University of Delaware.
