CLC announces winners of high school academic challenge contest
More than 130 students from eight area high schools competed in the annual Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Academic Challenge competition Feb. 11 at the College of Lake County. The regional competition pitted the area's brightest students against each other in academic tests covering seven areas.
The first and second place finishers in each category and the top two teams from each division will advance to the North Chicago Sectional Competition on March 17 at Vernon Hills High School. The Academic Challenge was sponsored by CLC Engineering and Physics departments and the University of Illinois College of Engineering's WYSE program.
Medalist awards were presented to the individual on each of the seven teams with the highest total standardized score for their team. Medalists were Mathew Miller (Deerfield High School), Hannah Oelschlager (Grayslake Central High School), James Vesto (Lake Zurich High School), Allison Tong (Libertyville High School), Ashwini Deshpande (Vernon Hills High School), Gurnek Mokha (Wauconda High School), Victoria Fabrie (Westlake Christian Academy) and Abhi Balu (Fremd High School).
The high schools were divided into three divisions, schools with fewer than 300 students, less than 1,500 students and those with more than 1,500 students (unlimited). Westlake Christian Academy competed alone in Division 300 and will advance to the sectional competition. In the 1,500 division, the top three teams were: first place: Vernon Hills, and second place: Grayslake Central. In the unlimited schools division (over 1,500), the top schools were first place: Deerfield, second place: Libertyville, and third place: Lake Zurich.
Unlimited Division Individual Results
Biology winners were Sam Aronson (Deerfield) first; Mathew Miller (Deerfield), Ben John (Libertyville) and Suraj Rajendran (Libertyville), three-way tie for second place; and a three-way tie for third between Michell Ji (Libertyville), Jaclyn Ready (Deerfield) and James Vesto (Lake Zurich).
Chemistry winners were Edward Li (Fremd) first, Suraj Rajendran (Libertyville) second; and a two-way tie for third place, Jaclyn Ready (Deerfield) and Luke Moore (Lake Zurich).
Computer Science winners were: Ethan Nevidomsky (Deerfield) first, Sam Liokumovich (Deerfield) second; and a tie for third place between Thomas Yun (Lake Zurich) and Karl Gaertner (Libertyville).
Engineering Graphics winners were Thomas Yun (Lake Zurich) first, Martin Janiszewski (Lake Zurich) second; and Sam Liokumovich (Deerfield) third.
English winners were Jesse Oler (Deerfield) and Katie Stahnke (Libertyville) tied for first; Jake Chanan (Deerfield) second; and Jesse Huang (Fremd) and Allison Tong (Libertyville) tied for third.
Math winners were Karl Gaertner (Libertyville) first, Amy Deng (Deerfield) and Johan Sugarman (Deerfield) tied for second; and Edward Li (Fremd) third.
Physics winners were Nikhil Patel (Libertyville) first, Amy Deng (Deerfield) and Alex Hecksher-Gomes tied (Libertyville) for second and Jake Chanan (Deerfield) third.
Division 1,500 Individual Results
Biology winners were Aakash Setty (Vernon Hills) first, Jacob Florian (Vernon Hills) second; and Rithva Ramesh (Vernon Hills) and Judy Tesfu (Grayslake Central), tied for third.
Chemistry winners were Jacob Florian (Vernon Hills) first; Aakash Setty (Vernon Hills) second; and Gurnek Mokha (Wauconda) third.
Computer Science winners were Harjas Monga (Vernon Hills) first; Kishore Iyer (Vernon Hills) second; and Ali Paloba (Vernon Hills) third.
Engineering Graphics winners were Salem Tesfu (Grayslake Central) first; Shane Jung (Grayslake Central) second; and Andrew Cornelio (Grayslake Central) third.
English winners were Ashwini Deshpande (Vernon Hills) first; Alexa Pomerantz (Vernon Hills) second; and Nikhil Mangtani (Vernon Hills) third.
Math winners were Eunice Yoon (Vernon Hills) first; Nate Kantorski (Wauconda) second; and Aparajitha Adiraju (Vernon Hills) third.
Physics winners were Eunice Yoon (Vernon Hills) first, Aparajitha Adiraju (Vernon Hills) and Harjas Monga (Vernon Hills) tied for second; and Kishore Iyer (Vernon Hills) third.
Division 300 Individual Results
Westlake Christian Academy was the only school participating in this category.
Biology winner was Carter Weitzel, first.
Chemistry winners were Arielle Ignaco, first; Hannah Nalewajk, second; and Timothy Thieme, third.
Computer Science winners were Noah Stiefelmayer, first; and Alex Newell, second.
Engineering Graphics winners were Noah Stiefelmayer, first; and Adrian Salvador, second.
English winners were Victoria Fabrie, first; Carter Weitzel, second; and Arielle Ignaco, third.
Math winners were Timothy Thieme, first; Hannah Nalewajk, second; and Adrian Salvador, third.
Physics winners were Victoria Fabrie, first; and Alex Newell, second.
The top two students from each subject in each division advance to the sectional competition at Vernon Hills High School on March 17. The top two teams from each division also advance.
The teams were coached by Joshua Ravenscraft and Sarah Stoub (Vernon Hills), Dave Schmitz (Wauconda), Martin Esgar (Deerfield), Debra Hofer (Grayslake Central), Anne Hopkins and Bob Moore (Lake Zurich), Peter Dawson (Libertyville), Dave Raabe (Westlake Christian Academy) and Edward Wang Li (Fremd).
Two CLC faculty members, Rob Twardock (engineering transfer) and Dr. Ana Mazilu (physics) served as coordinators for the competition, held annually at the college. "Each year we consistently get comments from team coaches that CLC's regional competition is one of the best academic competitions they attend," Twardock said.
High school academic teams interested in participating in next year's competition, to be held in February 2018, should contact Twardock at (847) 543-2903. Schools can learn more about the competition by visiting https://wyse.engineering.illinois.edu/academic-challenge/. Information about the CLC Engineering program is at www.clcillinois.edu/programs/egr.