Thomas Jefferson High School for Science

and Technology

ACADEMIC BOOSTERS AWARDS RECEPTION

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

6:00 ~ 8:00 p.m.

Thomas Jefferson High School

Academic Boosters, Inc.

TJ Academic Boosters actively supports our outstanding academic teams in their various

pursuits. Some 20 academic teams compete in local, state, national, and sometimes even

international events. Because financial resources are not available from Fairfax County

Public Schools, Academic Boosters asks families to join the organization by contributing

tax-deductible donations at various levels. Academic Boosters defrays teacher travel

expenses and student registration fees to the extent possible. Even with this support,

academic team members pay for their own travel, room, meals, and other related

expenses.

TJ Academic Teams include, Aerospace Initiative, Biology Olympiad, Botball, Certamen,

Chemistry Team, Chess Team, Computer Team, Forensics and Congressional Debate

Teams, Future Problem Solvers, History Quiz Bowl, Japan Bowl, Math Team, Model

United Nations, Ocean Bowl, Physics Team, Policy Debate Team, Public Forum and

Lincoln-Douglas Debate Teams, Quiz Bowl, Underwater ROV, Rubik’s Cube Team,

Science Bowl, and Science Olympiad. Information about most of the teams is provided

on the Academic Boosters website: http://academics.tjhsst.edu/aboosters.

Academic Boosters gathers information about team accomplishments for the PTSA

newsletter, recognizes family memberships, promotes Academic Teams at orientations

and open houses, and organizes a year-end Team Recognition Ceremony.

Our TJ Academic Teams’ achievements have always been a source of pride for the

entire TJHSST community and are a cornerstone of our national reputation for academic

excellence. Everyone is welcome (and encouraged!) to join TJ Academic Boosters

by making a donation, either by check or online through Paypal. Funding comes

primarily from family memberships; it is supplemented with food and merchandise sales.

100% of the money raised is used to support TJ’s academic teams. Recommended

donation levels start at $50 per year. THANK YOU to all of our wonderful Teacher

Sponsors, for without them, we would not have Academic Teams. THANK YOU to all

who have supported TJ Academic Boosters this school year!

** We look forward to seeing you all again next year **

REMEMBER, it’s never too early to join TJ Academic Boosters for the upcoming school

year! Memberships purchased in May/June 2018 are good for the 2018-2019 school year.

VISIT: http://academics.tjhsst.edu/aboosters

LIKE or FOLLOW: https://www.facebook.com/TJAcademicBoosters

Aerospace Initiative

Faculty Sponsors:

Dr. John Woodwell

Dr. Shawn Stickler

2016-2017 Student Officers:

President: Luca Frix

Vice President: Joyce Liu

Treasurer: Maguire Papay

Quartermaster: Uzma Rentia

National Finalist TARC Teams (C denotes team captain or co-captain):

Joyce Liu (C), Jeremy Krill, Iyouel Endashaw, Ethan Aristanto, Andy He, Junyan

Peng, James Veccia

Arpitha Shenoy (C), Clara Kim (C), Turner Bumbury, Kushmeet Chandi, Sherrie

Feng Kavin Ilanchezhuan, Avrit Tung

BATR Rover Team:

Luca Frix (C), Uzma Rentia, Jude Bedessem, Uzma Rentia, Vasil Iakimovitch,

Jacob Consalvi, Arvind Srinivasan, Rohan Mishra, Joyce Liu, Avni Singh, Divjot

Bedi

The TJ Aerospace Initiative (Rocketry Club) has had an excellent year. Over fifty

students competed in the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) and the Battle of

the Rockets (BOTR) competitions. These students spent months designing and building

their spacecraft, and then spent several Saturdays launching them to develop optimal

performance. Students launched under all conditions – sun, wind, rain, and even snow

and sleet.

In BOTR, against teams from secondary schools and colleges around the country, TJ

placed 4th

in the Rover event. The team launched a rocket containing an autonomous

rover to an altitude of over 1000 feet. Upon landing, the rover successfully deployed, and

took pictures of the terrain.

At the TARC completion, the largest amateur rocket competition in the country, with

over 800 teams participating nationwide, two TJ teams made the final round, finishing in

the top forty.

Although several club members are seniors, and will be leaving TJ, we have a strong

nucleus remaining, and expect even greater success next year.

Biology Olympiad

Co-captains: Min Kang, Anish Karpurapu

Teaching Coordinators: Lydia You, Eric Sun

Webmaster: Alex Ahn

Treasurer: Sabrina Cai

USA Biology Olympiad (USABO) Competition, sponsored by the

Center for Excellence in Education (CEE):

Among the students who competed in the USABO Open Exam in February, the following

32 students qualified as semifinalists: Alex Ahn, Ray Bai, Chris Bi, Sabrina Cai,

Justin Han, Sherzoy Jan, Min Kang, Vishal Kanigicherla, Anish Karpurapu,

Siddharth Krishnakumar, Eugene Lee, Annabel Li, Derrick Liang, Jing Liu,

Edward Lue, Rithvik Nalamalapu, Svetlana Pack, Adele Peng, Sahana Ramesh,

Aditya Sarkar, Neil Shah, Eric Sun, Aaishi Uppuluri, William Vroom, Sarah Wang,

Wenbo Wu, Lydia Yang, Lydia You, Richard Zhan, Carol Zhang, and Julia Zhou

Wenbo Wu, Eugene Lee, Derrick Liang, and Sabrina Cai qualified for the 2018

USABO National Finals. They will attend as four of the 20 Finalists competing at

University of California San Diego, from June 23 to July 6. The four top students at the

National Finals will then advance to compete in the International Biology Olympiad in

Tehran, Iran this summer.

Botball

Two TJ Botball Robotics teams competed in the Greater

DC/Virginia Botball Tournament (www.botball.org) on Saturday,

April 6.

This year, the TJ Botball Team1 and Team2 combined to win 3rd

place in the “Alliance

Challenge” round.

The TJ Botball Team1 members are: Rushil Joshi (captain), Arvind Srinavasan, Sujay

Kandwal, Sohan Sunku, Nitin Maddi, Suchet Saxena, Jaswant Kasinedi, Lance Nguyen,

Sohail Mohanty, Rohan Valluri, Hari Shanmugaraja, Tommy Park, Daniel Kim, Vikram

Arunachalam, Mark Putnam.

The TJ Botball Team2 members are: Bhanu Kumpati (captain), Vishy Murthy, Wayez

Ahmed, Ethan Nguyen, Grace Cha, Nick De La Cruz, Mohammed Anam, Vikrant

Magadi, Vishnu Murthy, Dylan Kalten, Aarushi Upadhyaya, Sylesh Suresh, Erick Tian,

Shreya Kurdukar.

Each team built two autonomous robots equipped with a CPU and motors, cameras, and

sensors. The game board is different each year. This year, the robots scored points by

collecting, placing, stacking, and sorting colored cubes, poms, and Botguy. Winning

robots were able to navigate precisely and consistently in tight spaces. Final scores are

determined by points awarded from all four parts of the competition:

- project documentation

- an oral presentation about the teams’ robots and strategy

- average score in the seeding rounds

- final position in the double elimination tournament

-

Certamen (Latin)

This year, TJ Latin attended the 64th

Annual National Junior Classical

League (NJCL) Convention, hosted by Troy University in Troy,

Alabama. TJ's performance was exceptional on all counts and

competitions, academic tests, creative and graphic arts alike, and the

Virginia delegation was led to victory in the spirit competition by TJ Latin’s own Robert

Kim as Virginia’s 2nd Vice President! We also had two of our own, Minyoung Hwang

(Advanced) and Joseph Amsbary (Novice), represent Virginia in the National

Certamen tournament!

This year's Certamen season was successful for TJ teams of all levels. TJ Latin's

performance was impressive at all the Certamina, including VJCL Kickoff, BASIS DC,

Flint Hill, UVA Classics Day, and State Finals. For the third consecutive year, TJ hosted

the renowned Thomas Jefferson Certamen, where teams from all over the Virginia-DC

area came to compete. The event was largely successful owing to the combined effort of

the entire TJ Latin club.

Here are highlights from our Certamen season:

· Our Novice players, including Miranda Xiong, Reva Hirave, Andrew

Hadikusumo, Yullee Moon, Zachary Kwon, Thomas Donohue, Jing Liu, and Evans

Chun, were very successful for their first year of playing, achieving 1st at UVA Classics

Day and 3rd at State Finals.

· The Intermediate A team, made up of Emily Ye, Joseph Amsbary, Ayush

Viswanathan, and Owen Grannis, experienced great success throughout the season,

culminating in a first-place win at State Finals. Our myriad other Intermediate teams put

up stellar performances as well, contributing to a TJ takeover of three of the top four

spots at State Finals!

· The Advanced A team, Minyoung Hwang, John Kim, and Gwendolyn

Jacobson, performed spectacularly well throughout the year, ending with a victory at

State Finals to reclaim the Howard W. Chang trophy for the second year in a row.

This July, twenty-four TJ Latin students will attend the 65th

annual NJCL Convention at

Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Several Certamen players are trying out for the

National Certamen team to represent Virginia, including John Erskine, Gwendolyn

Jacobson, John Kim, Minyoung Hwang, David Chen, Joseph Amsbary, Ayush

Viswanathan, Miranda Xiong, Reva Hirave, and Yullee Moon. Good luck to

everyone!

Finally, the team gives the greatest thanks to Ms. Conklin and Ms. Lister, our

teachers and sponsors. Without their support, effort, and infinite patience, TJ Latin

would be far less than what it is today. Our Certamen Coordinators too merit recognition

– Minyoung Hwang, John Kim, and Gwendolyn Jacobson – for their guidance and

devotion to the cause. Last and far from least, thanks is given to all of TJ Latin's

parents, without whose cooperation, we could not have achieved all that has been

accomplished.

Chemistry Olympiad

Congratulations to Sohom Paul and William Xu. They have

qualified to take the National Chemistry Olympiad Exam on

April 20th

at Montgomery College, Gaithersburg Campus. They

made two of the 18 slots for our 17-school district region of the

American Chemical Society,

Congratulations to Wenbo Wu, Sohom Paul, William Xu, David Chen, Joey Kwon,

Denaly Min, Sabrina Cai, Emily Wang, Grace Qi, Subham Goda, Jenny Tan, Bejoy Sen,

Ishika Govil, Irene Kim, Michael Kruppa, Willian Tan, Justin Han, Alan Chang,

Christopher Bi, and Jungmin Shin, who have progressed to the Local Chemistry Exam.

They were the top qualifiers from the two placement exams given in January and

February.

Special thanks to team coach, Mr. Hadan Kauffman!

Chess Team

Chess Team captains for 2018-19: Camden Wiseman and

Emerson Berlik

The TJ Chess Team competed in the 2018 Virginia Scholastic and

College Chess Championships held at Fleming High School in

Roanoke, VA during the blustery first weekend of March 4 to 6. There were 5 rounds of

Blitz on the day before the main tournament with 52 participants, and for the main event

there were 6 rounds with 75 high school participants, and 13 high school teams.

The Blitz tournament has been hotly contested in the last two years with the Lohr team

just edging out TJ in the prior two years. TJ was represented by Justin Paul, Praveen

Balakrishnan, Saigautam Bonam, Camden Wiseman, Eric Gan, Pranav Karthik,

Akhil Goel, Emerson Berlik, Rachel Naidich, Scott Becker, and Bhanu Kumpati.

The team score of 24.5 came from the first three players, who placed 2nd

, 3rd

, and 4th

,

respectively beating the 2nd

place Lohr team by a clean point this year.

In the main event, the TJ team was rounded out by Evan Ling, Alex Jian, Ryan Xu,

Vishal Menon, Sathya Gnanakumar, Andrew Song, Minwu Kim, Yoseph Mak,

Khushmeet Chandi. With TJ’s top four players Praveen, Evan, Justin, and Camden

contributing 20.5 points, TJ had a decisive win over the 2nd

place Lohr brothers at 16.5

points and Maggie Walker at 13.

Delightful as the performance at States was, TJ has won the main event there for the last

20 years. Nationals, however, was quite another matter. There, TJ has never won the na-

tional title, although it has tied for second a few times. Nationals were held in Columbus,

OH over the April 26-29 weekend.

The Blitz tournament at Nationals consists of 6 rounds of two games each, where each

player is allotted a total of 5 minutes for all their moves, so each game lasts at most 10

minutes. TJ was represented by Praveen, Justin, Evan, Alex, Vishal, Camden, Emer-

son, Rachel, and Eric with the team score coming from the four highest scores. Our

main competitor was Whitney Young HS from Chicago, and the two teams were neck

and neck. In the final round, however, TJ pulled ahead with 39.5 points to their 2nd

place

38.5 points.

The grueling main round started Friday afternoon. Games last up to four hours, as each

side is allotted two hours in which to make their moves, with an hour between games.

Friday has two games, Saturday has an exhausting three games from 9am till up to 11pm,

followed by the final two games on Sunday. TJ was in or near 1st place through game 5,

but then we stumbled into a solid 2nd

place in round 6 with only one round left. Although

only half a point down, our odds were not good against the lead team, Edgemont HS from

Scarsdale, NY. However, a surprise set of draws from the lead team put them into third

place, and TJ was left tied for first with Whitney Young HS, which we won on tiebreaks!

For the first time in our school’s history, we have won the national title, with a clean

sweep of both blitz and the main tournament at both states and nationals. We have an

awesome team, and we look forward to even more strength coming in next year.

At Nationals, individual trophies for superior performance in their sections of the main

round were received by Praveen, Rachel, Emerson, and Khushmeet.

The TJ chess team especially would like to thank Ms. Karen Wiseman, chess parent,

who was so instrumental in organizing and coordinating TJ’s team at the tournaments TJ

participated in. Dr. John Zacharias and Dr. Peter Gabor were the faculty sponsors.

Computer Team

The Computer Team wasn’t able to submit an account of their

accomplishments this year.

Forensics and Congressional Debate Teams

Forensics Speech

Captain: Sachin Jain, Non-Interp Events

Captain: Louise Hicks, Interp events Vice Captain: Christina Blake

Recruitment Officer: Joseph Mecherikunnel

Treasurer: Otilia Danalache

Communications Officer: Mithra Dhinakaran

Congressional Debate

Co-Captains: Dany Matar and Manu Onteeru

PR/Communications Officer: Medha Gupta

Treasurer: Aditya Kumar

Fundraising Coordinator: Arvind Govinday

This season’s Washington-Arlington Catholic Forensics League tournaments ran

monthly from October to February, with students receiving 16 individual awards. TJ

qualified 21 speech entries and 20 Congressional Debate entries to the WACFL

Metrofinals. The TJ metrofinal students qualifying for the NCFL Grand National

Tournament in Washington, DC are as follows: Seblework Alemu, 2nd

place in

Declamation, Christina Blake, 3rd

in Dramatic Performance and 4th

in Oral

Interpretation of Literature, Otilia Danalache, 2nd

in Dramatic Performance and 7th

in Oral Interp, Mithra Dhinakaran, 4th

in Original Oratory and 5th

in Impromptu

Speaking, Howard Malc & Josh Mutterperl, 4th

in Duo Performance, Vishwanath

Murthy & Rahil Shah, 6th

in Duo Performance, Manu Onteeru, 5th

in

Extemporaneous Speaking, and Sachin Jain, 7th

in Extemp. In Congressional Debate,

Dany Matar and Manu Onteeru, tied for 2nd

place, Arvind Govinday, 6th

place. TJ

also won the Congress Sweepstakes Award and earned 2nd

place in the Forensics

Sweepstakes Awards.

The Forensics Speech Team at VHSL:

TJ took 7 competitors to the VHSL forensics regional tournament, with Otilia

Danalache 2nd

in Dramatic Performance, Sahith Janapati, 1st in Extemp, Shivam Singh,

2nd

in Extemp, Howard Malc, 1st in Humorous Dramatic Performance, Aashni Manroa,

1st in Prose, Sadhana Thirumazhusai, 1

st in Poetry, Chrystal Shi, 2

nd in Poetry, and TJ

won the Regional Championship. All 7 advanced to the Super-Regional tournament. TJ

also hosted the VHSL Region 5C Tournament this year.

The Congressional Debate Team at VHSL:

TJ took 6 Congress competitors to the VHSL regional tournament, and in collaboration

with LD, PF, and Policy, was the Regional Champion. The Congressional Debate Team

was also awarded the Congress Sweepstakes Award. Five competitors advanced to the

Super-Regionals Tournament, with all 5 advancing to the State level, and TJ was

awarded the Congress Sweepstakes Award and in conjuction with the other TJ Debate

Teams, was Super-Regional Champion. State Tournament: 2nd: Medha Gupta, 2nd

place, Aditya Kumar, 5th

place, Arvind Govinday, 9th

place, Amey Gupta, 11th

place,

and Bharath Dileep Kumar, 15th

place. Congressional Debate was thrilled to be part of

the TJ Debate Teams that brought home the State Debate Trophy this year.

Competitions at Invitational Tournaments:

TJ jumped into the season at the Yale Invitational in September. Congratulations to

Dany Matar, Manu Onteeru, Mithra Dhinakaran, and Otilia Danalache who

all advanced to Semi-finals, and to Dany Matar, advancing to Finals. TJ took 25

congress competitors to the George Mason University Patriot Games Invitational in

December 2017, along with 11 entries in Speech, Congratulations to quarterfinalists

Christina Blake and Otilia Danalache, and finalists Dany Matar, 8th in

Congressional Debate and Manu Onteeru, 9th

in Congressional Debate.

Competitors also went to the Broad Run Invitational Tournament in January, 2018:

congratulations to Aditya Kumar, 2nd

place in Congress, and Bharath Dileep-

Kumar, 3rd

place in Congress and Outstanding Speaker Award, and to Otilia

Danalache, who placed 1st in Dramatic Performance and 2

nd in Poetry, Arwen

Chandler, 5th

in Prose, Joseph Mecherikunnel, 5th

in Extemp, Sahith Janapati,

6th

in Extemp, and Rohan Chanda, 6th

in Original Oratory. At the Blake

Tournament in Minnepolis, we congratulate Manu Onteeru, advancing to finals in

congress and placing 11th

, and Dany Matar, invited to participate in the Congress

Round Robin. Congratulations to Jonathan Hou and Dany Matar, finalists at the

Pennsbury Falcon Tournament, with Dany Matar placing 6th

in Congress. We also

congratulate Mithra Dhinakaran, Aditya Kumar, Dany Matar, and Manu

Onteeru who all were quarterfinalists at Harvard.

National Speech & Debate Association:

9 students competed for TJ at the NSDA District Tournament. Manu Onteeru placed 1st

in the Senate, and Dany Matar placed 2nd

in the Senate, and Medha Gupta, 1st in House

1. All have advanced to the National Tournament in June. We also congratulate

Jonathan Hou, 2nd

place, and Nishad Manohar, 3rd

place in House One; Bharath

Dileep-Kumar, 2nd

in House Two, Aditi Chandrashekar, 4th

, Amey Gupta, 6th

, and

Emaya Anand, 9th

in House Two.

We also recognize our student members of the National Speech & Debate Association

who reached the following degrees of distinction: Degree of Merit: Victoria Agrinya,

Alison Duan, Shreya Raghuram, and J.W. Strassberg; Degree of Honor: Emaya

Anand, Sukriti Dhingra, Richik Haladar, Matthew Saenz, and Kamron Soldozy;

Degree of Excellence: Turner Bumbary, Aditi Chandrashekar, Bharath Dileep-

Kumar, Amey Gupta, Sophia Kianni, Nishad Manohar, and Joseph Mecherikunnel;

Degree of Distinction: Arvind Govinday, Robert Greene, Louise Hicks, and Jonathan

Hou; Degree of Special Distinction: Medha Gupta, and Aditya Kumar; Degree of

Superior Distinction: Otilia Danalache and Manu Onteeru; Degree of Outstanding

Distinction: Christina Blake, Mithra Dhinakaran, Sachin Jain, and Dany Matar.

This year the NSDA Academic All-American Award was presented to Christina Blake,

Mithra Dhinakaran, Sachin Jain, and Dany Matar.

Other News

Academic Letters for 2017/18 Season will be awarded on May 25th

to students for their

outstanding performance at competitions and significant team contributions.

Forensics: 10 students. Congressional Debate: 14 students.

Congratulations to our Forensics team officers for the 2018/2019 year:

Non-interp Captain: Mithra Dhinakaran

Interp Co-Captains: Christina Blake and Otilia Danalache

Treasurer & Extemp Specialist: Joseph Mecherikunnel

Communications Officer: Aashni Manroa

Recruitment Officer: Seblework Alemu

Congratulations to our Congressional Debate team officers for the 2018/2019 year:

Co-Captain: Dany Matar

Co-Captain: Manu Onteeru

Public Relations/Communications Officers: Medha Gupta

Treasurer: Aditya Kumar

Team Development Director: Bharath DileepKumar

Training Coordinator: Jonathan Hou

Training Coordinator: Amey Gupta

Special thanks to Academic Boosters, to the TJ Student Activities Staff, to our parents

who judge, chaperone, and drive, and to our team coach/sponsor, Ms. Marie Bakke.

Future Problem Solvers

This year, TJ sent eight teams to the Virginia Future Problem Solving state competition hosted in Powhatan, VA. Our FPS officers and parent volunteers helped make our State Bowl trip run smoothly and a huge success. At the State Bowl, VA FPS coordinator Patti Rabil awarded senior Mihir Patel the FPS scholarship award. At this competition, several TJ FPS teams received trophies:

Global Issues Problem Solving State Winners:

Middle Team (Freshmen) 1st place, Presentation of Action Plan 1st place:

Matthew Huang, Jordan Lee, Arisa Chue, and Veronica Wong

Senior Team 3rd place, Presentation of Action Plan 3rd place:

Ashley Lin, Mounika Chilukuri, Leila Mabudian, and Supriya Maddineni

Senior Team 2nd place, Presentation of Action Plan 1st place:

Anna Xu, Aaraj Vij, SJ Kachru, and Timothy Duong

Senior Team 1st place, Presentation of Action Plan 2nd place:

Sophie Koh, Linda Diaz, Elizabeth Li, and Grace Yang

2nd

place Scenario Writing:

Vyomika Gandhi (freshman)

The Middle Team and Senior Team will move on to compete in the International

Competition, from June 8 to June 11 at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse!

We would also like to congratulate Mihir Patel for receiving the Virginia State

Problem Solvers Scholarship this year.

Thank you again to all of the officers who contributed their time, effort, and enthusiasm

this year! Thank you, Academic Boosters, for your support!

History Quiz Bowl

At the regional level, History Quiz Bowl participated in the

Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, and Capital Region History

Bowls for the 2017-2018 school year. In all three competitions, we

placed first in the varsity division of the Bowl competition. At the

Washington, DC tournament, Rohan Hegde won the History Bee,

while Fred Zhang won the History Bee at the Northern Virginia and

Capital Region events. The Northern Virginia event, hosted at TJ, provided a valuable

fundraising event for our club while simultaneously giving over 100 students an

opportunity to show enthusiasm for history.

Later in the year, many TJ students found themselves on the medal podium at the

National History Bee and Bowl (NHBB). Fred Zhang won the national title in the Varsity

United States Bee and Rohan Hegde placed fourth. In the National History Bowl, the

Varsity A team of Rohan Hegde, Alex Howe, Andrew Wang and Fred Zhang secured

TJ’s first ever National History Bowl Championship. Fred Zhang also placed second

place in the National History Bee and was named MVP of the entire tournament, while

Rohan Hegde earned semifinalist honors. In the Junior Varsity Division, the A team of

Anuraag Kaashyap, Prithvi Nathan, Alan Qi, and William Wang placed sixth in the

Bowl. William Wang also earned semifinalist honors in both the United States History

and National History Bees.

Overall, 29 TJ students represented our club at the National History Bee and Bowl,

forming the largest delegation of any team in the nation: Nishanth Anand, Akash

Barathan, Andrew Chen, Caroline Hatcher, Walker Haynes, Rohan Hegde, Daniel

Hillenburg, Alex Howe, Anuraag Kaashyap, Vishal Kanigicherla, Sameer Khan,

Siddharth Krishnakumar, James Kuang, Grant Li, Joshua Lian, Prithvi Nathan, Whitman

Ochiai, Theo Ouzhinski, Junyan Peng, Karthik Prasad, Alan Qi, Bejoy Sen, William

Vroom, Andrew Wang, Jason Wang, Kevin Wang, William Wang, Benjamin Xu, and

Fred Zhang.

Many new members have expressed to us how History Quiz Bowl has helped them foster

an appreciation for the rich field of history. In addition, the club has fostered a sense of

teamwork and camaraderie, allowing us to translate individual success into team success.

As recipients of STEM-focused educations, we have found great value in History Bowl

as a way to round out our knowledge. We had a very successful season and look forward

to another year!

Special thanks to our coach, Mr. Jay Wickliff!

Japan Bowl

Japan Bowl is a national competition that tests students on the Japanese language, history,

and culture in a quiz bowl format. The Japan Bowl competition has three subdivisions

based on the level of the student’s Japanese curriculum. This year, as in many previous

years, TJ sent three teams consisting of three members each.

Thomas Jefferson’s Japan Bowl team competed at the annual National Japan Bowl in

Chevy Chase, Maryland in April 2018. The Japan Bowl is a national competition in

which teams of three answer quiz bowl-style questions involving Japanese language,

culture, and history.

This year the level 2 team consisted of Nitin Elabarasu, Chabeli Yumang, and Alan

Chang; the level 3 team of Yujung Lee, Michelle Yue, and Geetanjali Gandhe; and

the level 4 team of Joey Kwon, Kathy Kang, and Atharva Haldankar.

In this year’s competition, the level 4 and 3 team placed the 4th

and the level 2 team place

the 5th

out of approximately 30 teams from around the nation. Congratulations to the level

4 team, which was invited to the 11-day trip to Japan hosted by the Japanese government

program called the Kakehashi Project.

Special thanks to the team sponsor, Mr. Koji Otani.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate Teams

Captains: Naman Baraya (12) and Amitesh Kotwal (12)

Teaching Coordinators: Yukta Chidanandan (11) and Rishabh Krishnan (11)

Publicist: Shresta Bangaru (11)

Treasurer: Megan Dass (10)

Research Coordinators: Rachel Ma (12) and Priyanka Mehta (11)

Members: Amitesh Kotwal (12), Rishabh Krishnan (11), Naman Baraya (12), Priyanka

Mehta (11), Yukta Chidanandan (11), Vinay Bhaip (10), Shresta Bangaru (11), Pranav

Rao (11), Avyuk Dixit (10), Yash Arora (10), Miranda Xiong (9), Kate Perry (9), Vikram

Bala (9), Sarah Luthra (10), Teja Buddhavarapu (9), Ritvik Jayakumar (10), Jonathan

Tseng (10), Vishnu Maddipatla (10), Sai Soumya Gudipudi (11), Megan

Dass (10), Aditya Kumar (12), Prerak Thakkar (10), Amber Garcha (9), Tiffany

Cheng (9), Sarah Wang (10), Carol Zhang (10), Sreenidhi Sankararaman (9), Muhurto

Rahman (9), Rhea Vidyababu (9), Srilakshmi Medarametla (9)

This year, 2017-18 has been very successful for the TJ Lincoln-Douglas (LD) debate

team!

September/October: Yale Invitational: We got off to a strong start in mid-September at

Yale Invitational where - in varsity, Amitesh Kotwal (12) broke

to Doubles with a 5-1 prelim record and Naman Baraya (12) and

Rishabh Krishnan (11) broke to Triples with a 4-2 prelim record.

In JV, Vinay Bhaip (10) and Shresta Bangaru (11) got to Octas, with a prelim record of

6-0 and 4-2, respectively.

WACFL 1: Novice debaters Vikram Bala (9) got 3rd place with a 4-0 record, moving up

to JV and Kate Perry (9) and Miranda Xiong (9) both had a 3-1 record.

Capitol Classic: In varsity, Avyuk Dixit (10) broke with a 4-2 record and debated in a bid

round! Amitesh Kotwal, Naman Baraya, Yukta Chidanandan (11), and Vinay Bhaip all

went 3-3. Naman and Rishabh were the 6th and 8th place speakers, respectively.

November/December:

WACFL 2: In varsity, Yukta Chidanandan placed 6th with a record of 3-1, earning a full

varsity Metrofinals qualification. Naman Baraya, Rishabh Krishnan, and Priyanka Mehta

(11) went 3-1, earning half-quals. In the novice division, Amber Garcha (9) placed 3rd

with a record of 4-0 and Tiffany Cheng (9) also went 4-0, both of them moving up to JV.

Additionally, Sarah Wang (10) and Carol Zhang (10) both had records of 3-1.

Princeton: In varsity, Yukta Chidanandan and Avyuk Dixit both went 3-3. Rishabh

Krishnan (11), with a prelim record of 4-2, made it to quarters for his first bid round. This

is our second tournament in a row where at TJ debater was in a bid round! In novice,

Miranda Xiong (9) went 3-3 and Vikram Bala broke with a 4-2 record, making it to octas

at his first national tournament.

WACFL 3: In varsity, Shresta Bangaru placed 1st and Priyanka Mehta placed 2nd, both

with a record of 4-0; Amitesh Kotwal placed 6th with a record of 3-1 and all three of

them earned full varsity Metrofinals qualifications. Rachel Ma (12) was the second place

speaker with 112 points. In JV, Vikram Bala (9) placed 4th with a record of 3-1, earning

a full JV Metrofinals qual; he was also the 3rd place speaker. Kate Perry (9) and Tiffany

Cheng went 3-1, getting half-quals to JV Metrofinals.

January/February:

WACFL 4: In varsity, Rishabh Krishnan placed 1st with a 4-0 record and Pranav Rao (11)

placed 5th going 3-1. Additionally, Vinay Bhaip earned a half-qual to Metrofinals with a

3-1 record. In JV, Teja Buddhavarapu (9) placed 5th with a 3-1 record. Jonathan Tseng

(10) and Miranda Xiong also went 3-1, getting a half-qual to JV Metrofinals. In novice,

Sreenidhi Sankararaman (9) got 1st speaker and 6th place with a 3-1 record. Muhurto

Rahman (9) got 3rd speaker and 1st place with a 4-0 record, earning a full JV Metrofinals

qualification.

Broad Run Invitational: Varsity debater Priyanka Mehta placed 3rd and JV debater

Tiffany Cheng placed 3rd. TJ also won the Spartan Cup!

UPenn Liberty Bell Tournament: Varsity debater Amitesh Kotwal broke to semis and

debated in a bid round! Rishabh Krishnan made it to run-offs with a 4-2 record. Shresta

Bangaru, Yukta Chidanandan, and Priyanka Mehta all had a 3-3 prelim record.

Harvard Invitational: Avyuk Dixit, Rishabh Krishnan, and Amitesh Kotwal all broke to

triples in varsity. In JV, Teja Buddhavarapu got to run-offs and Tiffany Cheng made it to

triples.

March/April:

Metrofinals: In varsity, Avyuk Dixit, Priyanka Mehta, Rishabh Krishnan, and Yukta

Chidanandan placed 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th, respectively. In JV, Amber Garcha placed

7th and Tiffany Cheng placed 11th. TJ also won the WACFL sweepstakes!

At VHSL regionals, Priyanka Mehta placed 1st and Rishabh Krishnan placed 3rd. At

super regionals, Rishabh placed 1st and Priyanka placed 3rd. Both debaters qualified to

states.

Overall, this season has been very successful for us. Our debaters - Varsity, JV, and novice

- have performed well on both the national and local circuit levels. We have not only

grown as debaters, but as a team as well. The hard work and effort each member of our

team put in has been reflected in our success, and we are all looking forward to next year.

Special thanks to team sponsor, Ms. Jennifer Seavey!

Math Team

This year we organized the 28th

annual Thomas Jefferson

Intermediate Math Open, a local competition for middle-school

students, which was a huge success. We had a turnout of 100 middle

school students, who were coached by 38 student-coaches from TJ.

VMT students wrote all the contest problems.

Varsity Math Team (VMT) participated in both the Duke

Math Meet and the Princeton University Math Competition in

November. At Duke, out of 40 total teams, our A Team finished 1st,

our B Team finished 3rd

, our C team finished 6th

, and our D team finished 9th

. At

Princeton, our A Team finished 2nd

place overall in Division A.

We sent eight teams to the Carnegie Mellon Informatics & Mathematics

Competition in January, a unique competition which combines math and computer

science. Our TJ Ruby team placed 1st overall, and our TJ Emerald team finished 7

th.

At the Harvard-MIT meet in February, one of the hardest competitions of the year,

our A Team finished 2nd

place overall out of an international field of 90 teams!

This year, after a four-year hiatus, we participated in the Mandelbrot national

competition. We finished in first place by a single point over Phillips Exeter Academy.

We also tied for first in the ARML power round with Lynbrook High School, with our B

team finishing seventh.

We’re celebrating a strong performance this year in the AMC series. Twenty-two

TJ students qualified to take the proof-based USA (Junior) Mathematical Olympiad

[USA(J)MO] exam.

Adam Ardeishar has been selected as one of the six students to represent the

United States in the International Math Olympiad this summer in Romania. This is a

stunning accomplishment!

USAMO qualifiers were Adam Ardeishar, Alex Chung, Kyle Gatesman,

Michael Huang, Akshaj Kadaveru, Jongwan Kim, Ryan Kim, Neeyanth

Kopparapu, Joshua Lee, Franklyn Wang, and Jeffery Yu.

USAJMO qualifiers were David Chen, Derek Dong, Austin Feng, Justin Han,

Benjamin Kang, Ajit Kadaveru, Samuel Kim, Yoseph Mak, Daniel Park, Austin

Shi, Larry Shi, and Adam Ardeishar, Benjamin Kang and Michael Huang performed

particularly well, qualifying for the prestigious Mathematical Olympiad Summer

Program where they will train for the IMO.

VMT’s last competition of the year is the ARML, which will take place in early

June at Penn State. Students look forward to this event not only because it is a time to

have fun, but also to meet friends from all over the East Coast and compete with the top

teams throughout the country.

Special thanks to our sponsors this year: Mrs. Margaret Coffey, Ms. Pat Gabriel,

Mr. David Hill, and Dr. Amy Lampazzi.

Physics Team

Faculty Sponsor: Dr. John Dell

Captain: Jeffery Yu

Co-Captains: Franklyn Wang and Minyoung Hwang

Secretary: Abhishek Allamsetty

Treasurer: William Sun

Publicist: Andreea Foarce

The mission of TJ Physics Team is simple: to foster a passion for physics. Our officers

come into every meeting aiming to share their passion for physics and show the members

that physics is beautiful. We aim to spark interest in those who are beginning to learn

physics, while providing a training ground for more experienced members. We aspire for

every member to take away new insights and improve their problem solving skills at our

meetings.

Physics Team is proud to have inspired and influenced our many contest winners this

academic year. Congratulations to our 2018 USA Physics Olympiad Medalists: Gold

Medalist Alexander Heckett, Silver Medalists Matthew Cox, Ryan Kim, and Franklyn

Wang, Bronze Medalist Daniel Wisdom, and Honorable Mention recipient David Chen!

At the 2017 Princeton University Physics Competition, an undergraduate-level physics

exam, our own William Sun received a Silver Medal!

Physics Team is excited to have extended into physics research this year. Congrats to

Abhishek Allamsetty for his Siemens Competition National Semifinalist distinction in

Physics as well as a category and special award in "Physics and Astronomy" at the Intel

International Science and Engineering Fair! Some of our most memorable moments

occurred through volunteering at Techstravaganza and USA Science & Engineering

Festival. We are excited for what we can learn together next year. Keep up the good

work, Physics Team!

Special thanks to team sponsor, Dr. John Dell!

Policy Debate Team

TJ Policy Debate enjoyed a successful debate season through incredible perseverance

and hard work thanks to our phenomenal varsity members and new enthusiasts. As a club,

we have both more local debaters and our central six 2017-18 travel teams: TJ JM (Sean

Ji & Reena Medavarapu); TJ ST (Gulnaz Sayed & Zulekha Tasneem); TJ KV (Aaraj Vij

& SJ Kachru); TJ TD (Erick Tian & Timothy Duong); TJ AK (Ankit Agrawal & Rayyan

Khan); and TJ PY (Malavika Pillai & Sreya Yadlapalli).

Our 2017-18 officers are Zulekha Tasneem & Gulnaz Sayed (captains), Aaraj Vij, SJ

Kachru, and Ankit Agrawal (teaching coordinators), Reena Medavarapu (treasurer) and

Rayyan Khan (publicist)

Our Success this Season: TJ Policy Debate has achieved incredible accomplishments on

several circuits this year, continuing old winning streaks and building on past

performances.

On the national circuit:

Georgetown (September) -

● TJ ST broke to octafinals, with Zulekha getting 11th speaker overall

Westminster (October) -

● TJ JM broke, with Sean getting 11th speaker overall

● In JV, Malavika earned 4th speaker with her partner Sreya getting 5th

John Edie Holiday Tournament (December) -

● At an exceptionally hard tournament, TJ KV goes above .500 with a 4-3 record

Lexington Invitational (January) -

● TJ ST cleared

● TJ JM cleared and made it to quarterfinals, earning a prestigious TOC bid

Pennsbury (February) -

● TJ ST cleared

● TJ KV cleared to quarterfinals, losing only on a narrow 1-2 vote

● In JV, two rising teams broke: TJ He & Talamonti and TJ Yang & Baruah

○ He & Talamonti won their way up to finals, continuing TJ’s streak of

dominating Pennsbury’s JV bracket

On the WACFL circuit, TJ Policy Debate has continued to sweep, as always:

WACFL 1 (October) -

● In Varsity, TJ PY placed 2nd, with TJ AK placing just behind at 4th. Ankit also

earned 3rd speaker. Both teams qualified to Metrofinals.

● In Novice, TJ Yang & Baruah placed 1st, with Julia Yang earning 1st speaker,

qualing to Metrofinals. TJ Chung & Chung placed 2nd, with Bella Chung earning

2nd speaker.

WACFL 2 (November) -

● In Varsity, TJ Khan & Medavarapu placed 1st on a 4-0, just ahead of TJ Sayed &

Yadlapalli, 2nd and also on a 4-0. TJ Kachru & Vij placed 3rd. Aaraj placed top

speaker, SJ placed 3rd, Reena placed 4th, and Rayyan placed 5th. All earned either

their first or second qual to Metrofinals.

● In JV, TJ Yang & Baruah placed 2nd.

● In Novice, TJ Ragunathan & Raghavan placed 4th, earning a half-qual to

Metrofinals.

WACFL 3 (December) -

● In Varsity, TJ Tian & Yadlapalli placed 3rd while TJ Liang & Jeong placed 5th.

All earned their first, or in Sreya’s case, their third, qual to Metrofinals.

● In JV, TJ Park & Lamichhane placed 3rd while TJ Metpally & Yang placed 4th.

All earned their first qual to Metrofinals, except Julia, earning her second.

● In Novice, TJ Song & Suh placed 5th in novice, earning a half-qual to Metrofinals.

WACFL 4 (January) -

● In Varsity, TJ Kachru & Tian placed 1st, with TJ Vij & Duong placing 2nd, both

teams on a 4-0 record. All earned either their first or second qual to Metrofinals.

● In JV, TJ Yang & Baruah placed 1st, with TJ He & Talamonti placing 4th, earning

their qual to Metrofinals.

Spartan Invitational (January) -

● In Varsity, TJ Khan & Medavarapu placed 1st on a 4-0.

● In JV, TJ Park & Lamichhane placed 2nd.

● Overall, TJPD won the Policy Sweepstakes Cup and contributed significantly to

winning the overall school Sweepstakes Trophy for debate.

Metrofinals (March) -

● Quick facts: TJ qualified more teams to Metrofinals than any other school, a

whopping 22% of the competition and winning the Policy Debate Sweepstakes

trophy for the 3rd year in a row, beating out the next best school with 168

sweepstakes points accumulated over the year.

● In Varsity, TJ’s teams of Vij & Kachru, Tian & Duong, and Khan & Medavarapu

all qualified to NCFL Nationals (taking place just a few days from now).

● In JV, TJ Baruah & Yang placed 5th, rounding out a successful year.

On the VHSL circuit, TJ could only enter two teams out of everyone in the club, but as

usual, they both took the top spots at every level:

● At districts, regionals, and super regionals, TJ teams Kachru & Vij and Duong &

Medavarapu placed first and second.

● Kachru & Vij won the final round for the State Championship against Duong &

Medavarapu, with SJ additionally getting 1st speaker, Aaraj getting 2

nd speaker, and

Reena getting 3rd

.

● This is the fourth year in a row we’ve won the State Championships.

As the tournament schedule winds down for all except those preparing for nationals in

May, the team continues to meet to start working on research for next year. In addition,

many plan to attend away debate camps ranging 4-7 weeks – a work ethic & level of

dedication that has lead to TJ Policy Debate’s success and will ensure they continue to

win in the future.

Public Forum Debate Team

TJ Public Forum Debate (TJPF) has consistently shown its

strong team pride and dedication at numerous local and national

tournaments over the last year.

At the Washington-Arlington Catholic Forensic League

(WACFL) 1, we had a very strong showing across all three

divisions. In the Varsity division, Siona Prasad (11) and Nira

Nair (11) won 2nd place with a record of 4-0, while Bindu Srinivasa (11) and Nidhi

Talasani (11) won 4th place with a record of 3-1. Both teams fully qualified to Varsity

Metrofinals. Sanjana Meduri (10) and Arnav Bansal (10), along with Aditya Koneru (11)

and Naman Rai (11), each secured a half-qualification with records of 3-1. In the Junior

Varsity (JV) division, Neel Mandapati (10) and Varun Bhatnagar (10) qualified for JV

Metrofinals by winning 5th place. Rishi Lahoti (9) and Somashekar Patil (9) won 2nd

place in the novice division with a record of 4-0 and moved up to Junior Varsity.

At the Capitol Beltway Fall Classic, Siona Prasad (11) and Nira Nair (11), as well as

Sophia Pentakalos (11) and Vivian Lin (11), broke to octafinals with 4-2 preliminary

records. For speaker awards, Siona Prasad (11) won 8th place, and Nira Nair (11) won

9th place!

At WACFL 2, in Varsity, Meghana Boojala (12) and Maddie Min (12) won 6th place and

secured a full qualification to Varsity Metrofinals. In JV, Chetan Dokku (11) and Gabi

Fowler (11) gained a half-qualification with a record of 3-1.

We sent teams to a couple of national tournaments in the beginning of December. At the

George Mason University (GMU) Patriot Fall Classic, Nidhi Talasani (11) and Bindu

Srinivasa (11) broke to double-octafinals, with a preliminary record of 3-2. Naman Rai

(11) and Arravind Sudhakar (11) broke to triple-octafinals, with a preliminary record of

3-2. At the Princeton Classic, Arnav Bansal (10) and Sanjana Meduri (10) earned a

winning record of 4-3!

At WACFL 3, in Varsity, Arnav Bansal (10) and Sanjana Meduri (10) won 2nd place and

secured a full qualification to Metrofinals with a record of 4-0. In JV, Richard Song (9)

and Arjun Aggarwal (9) won 2nd place. Ankush Dasari (11) and Nihal Reddy (11)

secured a half-qualification to JV Metrofinals with a record of 3-1.

At WACFL 4, in Varsity, Aditya Koneru (11) and Naman Rai (11) won 2nd place and a

full-qual to Varsity Metrofinals. Arjun Aggarwal (9) and Richard Song (9) received a half

qualification to Varsity Metrofinals with a record of 3-1. In JV, Rishi Lahoti (9) and

Raunak Daga (9) won 2nd place and Gabi Fowler (11) and Chetan Dokku (11) won 6th

place. Both teams gained full qualifications to go to JV Metrofinals. In the Novice

Division, Shruthi Rajesh (9) and Joshua Huang (9) received 5th place and a half qual to

JV metros.

At the Broad Run Invitational Spartan Classic in January, Bindu Srinivasa (11) and Nidhi

Talasani (11) won 5th place in Varsity and Raunak Daga (9) and Rishi Lahoti (9) won 6th

place in the JV division!

At WACFL 5, Arjun Aggarwal (9) and Richard Song (9) placed 5th in Varsity and

completed their qual to Varsity Metrofinals! In the same division, Sophia Pentakalos (11)

and Vivian Lin (11) placed 7th, and Rishi Lahoti (9) and Raunak Daga (9) secured a half-

qual to Varsity Metrofinals with a record of 3-1. In JV, Arsh Ganjoo (11) and Rohan

Puvvada (11) placed 8th, and Yash Arora (10) and Ritvik Jayakumar (10) half-qualified

to JV Metrofinals.

At Metrofinals, the final tournament of the year, our PF team had excellent standings

across both divisions. In the JV division, Neel Mandapati (10) and Varun Bhatnagar (10)

won 1st place, and Rishi Lahoti (9) and Raunak Daga (9) won 4th place. In Varsity,

Arnav Bansal (10) and Sanjana Meduri (10) won 3rd place and qualified to go to the

National Circuit Forensic League Tournament in May. Meghana Boojala (12) and

Maddie Min (12) were selected as runners-up for NCFL as well. Overall, TJ Public

Forum Debate won 1st place for the Seward Sweepstakes Award and 2nd place in the

individual sweepstakes awards!

The consistent strength of our team has been demonstrated throughout this year, with

awards at nearly every local and national tournament. We are incredibly proud of our

team and its dedication displayed at every tournament this year. As a team, we hope to

continue to bring pride to our debate team and school!

Special thanks to team sponsor, Ms. Jennifer Seavey!

Quiz Bowl

Quizbowl participated in four regular season events this

season: Maryland Fall, Centennial Invitational, VHSL 5C

Regionals, and VHSL Class 5 States. At Centennial

Invitational, we qualified five teams for nationals, while at the other three events, the A

team compiled an undefeated 23-0 record. The victory at States is our third straight

championship and our fourteenth overall, further cementing the dominance of TJ

Quizbowl at the state level. Our club also hosted TJMST, our annual middle school tournament, and TJIAT, our

annual high school tournament. Both tournaments served the dual purpose of fundraising

and outreach, giving 161 students the chance to demonstrate knowledge in categories as

diverse as physics, fine arts, and and pop culture. The question set used at our high school

tournament was written by TJ students and played all over the country including at MIT

and the University of Illinois, reaching a total of 400 people. Funds generated from these

tournaments will power TJ Quizbowl’s journey to nationals. We are sending four teams to NAQT’s High School National Championship Tournament

in Atlanta, and five teams to PACE’s National Scholastic Championship in Reston. The

students representing TJ Quizbowl at nationals are: Nishanth Anand, Sathya

Gnanakumar, Walker Haynes, Rohan Hegde, Alex Howe, Anuraag Kaashyap, Vishal

Kanigicherla, Vance Kreider, Siddharth Krishnakumar, James Kuang, Grant Li, Joshua

Lian, Prithvi Nathan, Karthik Prasad, Alan Qi, Suchet Sapre, Andrew Wang, Kevin

Wang, William Wang, Benjamin Xu, Ryan Xu, Fred Zhang, Kevin Zhang, and Julia

Zhou. We are ready to cap off our year of studying with strong national performances. TJ Quizbowl has also enjoyed success on the TV show It’s Academic, winning our first

two matches to advance to the semifinals. The videos for our first two matches can be

found on Youtube and our semifinal match will air on May 26th at 10:30 AM on NBC4. This year, TJ Quizbowl wrote and staffed for TJ’s inaugural trivia night. We hoped to

promote intellectual curiosity, reward and encourage people to pay attention to the world

around them, and otherwise indulge in entertaining, amusing, and sometimes comical

facts. The event met with great reviews. All of our players have improved immensely over the course of the season, and we are

proud to reflect on a productive year of learning, playing, and growing. Special thanks goes out to our sponsor and coach, Mr. Laffey.

Rubik’s Cube Every year, the TJ’s Rubik’s Cube Club sends eight members to

participate in the You Can Do the Rubik’s Cube team competition.

Teams compete to solve 25 Rubik’s Cubes as fast as possible.

This year, the TJ team came in 1st place in the world, with a World

Record time 49.126 seconds, almost a 10 second improvement from

our time of 58.851 from last year!

Results over the years:

● 2011: 1st place

● 2012: 1st place

● 2013: 1st place

● 2014: 2nd

place

● 2015: 2nd

place

● 2016: 1st place

● 2017: 1st place

● 2018: 1st place

2018 TJ Team Senior Captain: Shreyan Jaiswal (Senior)

2018 TJ Team Members:

● Shreyan Jaiswal (Senior)

● Justin Gou (Junior)

● Andrew Nam (Junior)

● Erick Tian (Junior)

● William Yao (Junior)

● Ajit Kadaveru(Sophomore)

● Ray Bai(Sophomore)

● Justin Choi (Freshman)

Student Team Coaches: Roger Zeng (Sophomore) and Shreya Wadehra (Senior)

Team Sponsor: Christine Conklin

Members of the TJ team first meet through tryouts, which are often hosted in January.

Candidates are selected on the basis of a combination of speed, which is gauged through

solve times, and teamwork, which is noted through club participation and availability.

After the tryout period, team members spend the next two months practicing together

three times a week before attending the competition!

Additionally, all individual members of the club are encouraged to participate in

competitions hosted by the World Cubing Association. These are official competitions

where people meet other Rubik’s Cube solvers and break records!

In fact, this year, TJ hosted its second official World Cube Association (WCA)

competition: TJHSST Fall 2018! The event was very successful and profitable, and we

are excited to continue hosting competitions.

In April four members of TJ Cubing attended the first ever North American School

Rubik’s® Cube Championship with Ms. Conklin. The event was sponsored by Hasbro

and it was held at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. All of the boys from

TJ earned their way into the Finals by clever clicking and GPerms. It was very exciting!

William Yao, 11th

grade, earned 2nd

place in the High School Division. He earned a

medal, trophy, and a Hasbro prize package worth $250.00.

Justin Choi, grade 9, earned 3rd

place. His average during the preliminary rounds was a

low of 11.12! Ajit Quintus Kadaveru, 10th

, earned 4th

place. And Roger Zeng, grade 10,

earned 6th

place.

The team would like to thank the club sponsor Ms. Christine Conklin for an incredible

amount of work towards keeping the club together, the parent volunteers who graciously

offered to help with transportation, and club officers Shreyan Jaiswal and Kieran

Beaumont!

We are incredibly sad that our Senior members (Shreyan Jaiswal, Shreya Wadehra,

Kieran Beaumont, and Faris Awan) are leaving for college. Their enthusiasm for TJ

Cubing and dedication to teaching new members has been outstanding!

Science Olympiad

Captains: Nina Chung and John Krause-Steinrauf

Communications Director: Christopher Yuan

Publicist: Rachel Eom

Webmaster: Cathy Liang

Building Event Leaders: Vikram Arunachalam and

Matthew Cox

The TJ Science Olympiad team had an outstanding season this year! We kicked off our

series of tournaments by competing at the Virginia Tech Invitational in December, with

our three 15-member subteams capturing 1st, 3rd, and 4th places. Shortly after the VT

Invitational, we participated in the Fairfax HS Invitational and won 1st, 2nd and 4th out

of 60 other teams across Virginia. We successfully wrapped up our three-team season by

winning 1st, 3rd, and 4th places at the Charlottesville Regional tournament. Throughout

this chapter of the year, all three TJ teams swept the top 3 medal placings in more than 7

out of 23 individual events, and collectively earned more than 90 medals.

Our state team, which consists of 15 members, competed at UVA for the Virginia State

tournament in April and won 1st place overall; in this tournament, we medaled (ranked

top 6) in 19 events, with 7 out of 19 medals being 1st place awards. As winners of the

Virginia division, we have earned the privilege of representing the state at the Science

Olympiad National Tournament, which will be held in Colorado later this month;

students are currently preparing for this final competition.

Medals and extra knowledge weren’t the only things we “won” throughout the season.

Our team members claim that one of their favorite, if not their absolute favorite, aspects

of TJ Science Olympiad was the bonding experience they’ve had over after school

meetings and tournaments. The idea of a team opened a community of people with

similar interests to join together, pursue what they are all passionate about, and make

close friends with others across grade levels.

We’d like to recognize all of the team members for the successful 2017–2018 year!

Seniors: Nina Chung, Katherine Du, John Krause-Steinrauf, Vishnu Nair, Paarth

Jain

Juniors: Vikram Arunachalam, William Chen, Jiny Cho, Matthew Cox, Alex

Downey, Rachel Eom, Rushil Joshi, SJ Kachru, Jocelyn Liu, Sheral Patel, Rohan

Puvvada, Sylesh Suresh, Athilesh Thanigai, Christopher Yuan

Sophomores: Megan Li, Sherry Guo, Sydney Szabos, Omkar Bhalerao, Sneha Iyer,

Jerry Li, Khushi Chawla, Rohan Voddhi, Sarah Wang, Cathy Liang, Faaiz Memon,

Anvita Anumolu, Yoseph Mak, Gaurav Mantri, Havish Malladi

Freshmen: Olivia Ma, Marian Qian, Eugene Choi, Alvin Meng, Thomas Lu, Vagul

Mahadevan, Yana Patel, Aaliya Hussain, Rishubh Kaushal, Aryan Joshi, Nate

Joachim

TJSO continues to hold the Virginia record for the best placing at the National

tournament of 23rd

place despite being one of the youngest Division C teams in the state.

The 2017–2018 season showcased one of TJ’s strongest teams in school history. The

team is full of talented juniors, sophomores, and freshmen, promising a bright future. We

hope to improve next year and become a strong team on the National level.

Thanks so much to our wonderful team coach and dedicated sponsor, Mrs. Holman!

Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Team

Faculty Sponsor:

Ms. Lisa Wu

2017-2018 Student Officers:

Co-Presidents: Sebastian Criado, Vasil Iakimovitch

Technical Leads: Henry Nester (Electronics), Patrick

Mullin (Programming), Joshua Gong (Mechanical)

Finance Officers: Arnold Zhang, Tommy Park

Outreach Officer: Anoushka Chintada

Mechanical Engineering Subteam: Sebastian Criado, Vasil

Iakimovitch, Lucas Buermeyer, Arnold Zhang, Cutler Williams,

Joshua Gong, Anoushka Chintada, Catie Granum, Sophia Kianni

Electrical Engineering Subteam: Henry Nester, Connor Larkin,

Akhil Marapaka, Timothy Mooney

Software Engineering Subteam: Patrick Mullin, Kevin Wu, Bryan Zhang, Neil

Rayala, Mitali Gandhe, Sahra Yusuf

Fundraising/Marketing: Tommy Park

The Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Team competes in the MATE

Underwater ROV Competition, an engineering competition where teams build robots

capable of completing challenging tasks in an underwater environment.

This year, the team competed in the MATE Pennsylvania Regional Competition on May

12 at Villanova University. During the competition, the team used its ROV to complete

challenges in the university’s pool, presented to a panel of judges, displayed a technical

poster, and presented comprehensive technical documentation. The team received

extensive praise from the competition judges for its innovative and professional ROV

design. The team’s sponsor, Ms. Wu, was awarded the Coordinator’s Coach Award for

her success in inspiring the team in science and technology.

The team’s 2018 ROV incorporated a number of new advancements in design and

fabrication. The mechanical systems of the ROV and its accompanying control station

were fully designed in 3D modeling software before being fabricated using a number of

computerized machines such as a CNC router, laser-cutters, and 3D printers. The

electronics subteam developed custom circuit boards for the ROV’s onboard electronics

and implemented new electronics waterproofing methodologies. Furthermore, a custom

graphical user interface as well as an improved remote communication protocol were

developed by the programming subteam.

Academic Boosters Donors, 2017-2018

Academic Boosters appreciates all our members and volunteers. We would like to especially recognize

those donors who were able to give more than the basic membership. Thank you very much for your

generous financial support. TJ academic teams' continued success depends upon you.

Diamond ($1000 and above)

Families of:

Arthur Browne (2018)

Anuraag Kaashyap (2021)

Platinum ($500 – $999)

Families of:

Vikram Bala (2021) Ralph Nester (2020)

John Erskine (2018) Sylesh Kyle Suresh (2019)

Ajit Kadaveru (2020)

Gold ($250 – $499)

Joseph Amsbary (2020)

Scott Becker (2018)

David Chen (2020)

Justin Han (2020) & David Han (2021)

Michael Huang (2020)

Megan Li (2020)

Tristan Ma (2021)

Alyssa Nash (2019)

Prithvi Nathan (2020)

Yu Oyama (2019)

Athilesh Thanigai (2019)

Franklyn Wang (2018)

Jeffery Yu (2018)

Richard Zhan (2020)

Fred Zhang (2019)

Silver ($100 – $249)

Nishanth Anand (2019)

Ray Bai (2020)

Kieran Beaumont (2018)

Omkar Bhalerao (2020)

Lucas Bronistein (2020)

Katherine Cheng (2018)

Cole Christensen (2021)

Claire Cofield (2019)

Debbie Dong (2019)

Katherine Du (2018)

Stephen Marzen and Louise K Epstein

(alumni parents)

Luca Frix (2018)

Daniel Fu (2021)

Joshua Fu (2021)

Laura Gersony (2019)

Merriman Goldring

Lexa Hummel (2019)

Brian Jacob (2021)

Gwendolyn Jacobson (2019)

Advika Jhingran (2021)

Aryan Joshi (2021)

Benjamin Kang (2020)

Kavya Kopparapu (2018) and Neeyanth

Kopparapu (2020)

John Krause-Steinrauf (2018)

James Kuang (2019)

Eugene Lee (2020)

Yujung Lee (2019)

Grant Li (2018)

Kathleen Li (2020)

Jenny Li (2020) and Jerry Li (2020)

Ethan Liu (2018)

Jing Liu (2021)

Alexander Liu (2019)

Bryan Lu (2020)

Edwin Lu (2021)

Thomas Lu (2021)

Richard Lun (2019)

Havish Malladi (2020)

Gaurav Mantri (2020)

Rahul Daniel Mittal (2020)

Manu Onteeru (2020)

Justin Paul (2021)

John Pendergrass (2021)

Addison Phelps (2020)

Thomas Porter (2019)

Marian Qian (2021)

Austin Shi (2021)

Sadhana Suri (2018)

Jialin Tso (2020)

Rohan Voddhi (2020)

Jason Wang (2021) and Jeffrey Wang

(2018)

Kevin Wang (2019)

Lilian Wang (2018) and Richard Wang

(2020)

Andrew Wang (2018) and William

Wang (2021)

Grace Weisman-Fleischer (2020)

Camden Wiseman (2019)

Ethan Wu (2018)

Wenbo Wu (2019)

James Xiao (2018)

William Xu (2020)

Nathan Xue (2019)

Ruiran Xun (2018)

Justin Zhang (2018)

Alan Zheng (2019)

Bronze ($50 - $99)

Shresta Bangaru (2019)

Praveen Balakrishnan (2020)

Arnav Bansal (2020)

Naman Baraya (2018)

Meghana Boojala (2018)

Jason Cheah (2021)

Edward Chen (2019)

Eric Chen (2020)

Yukta Chidanandan (2019)

Eugene Choi (2021)

Dahyoung (Joy) Chung (2020)

Alexander Davis (2021)

Dinan Elsyad (2021)

Sherrie Feng (2020)

Krish Ganotra (2021)

Kyle Gatesman (2018)

Jeffrey Gerber (2020)

Neal Gross (2019)

Arjun Guidruz

Vihini Gunasekera (2021)

Amey Gupta (2020)

Caroline Hatcher (2018)

Olympia Hatzilambrou (2019)

Oliver Hayman (2020)

Sneha Iyer (2020) and Sheila Iyer (2020)

Katherine Jia (2021)

Rushil Joshi (2019)

Amitesh Kotwal (2018)

Vance Kreider (2021)

Bhanu Kumpati (2019)

Annabel Li (2020)

Vivian Lin (2019)

Helena Liu (2021)

Philip Lu (2021)

Zoe Lu (2021)

Rachel Ma (2018)

Vagul Mahadevan (2021)

Yoseph Mak (2020)

Priyanka Mehta (2019)

Mahesh Menon (2019)

Madeleine Min (2018)

Elena "Laney" Moy (2020)

Derek Ni (2019)

Whitman Ochiai (2021)

Sophia Pentakalos (2019)

Rakesh Pillai (2021)

Ajay Prabhakar (2021)

Mark Putman (2019)

Rohan Puvvada (2019)

Shreya Raghuram (2020)

Emerson Rodriguez (2021)

Neil Shah (2021)

Bindu Srinivasa (2019)

Brianna Ta (2021)

George Tang (2019)

James Veccia (2020)

Emily Xiong (2019)

Hita Yalla (2021)

Benjamin Yam (2021)

Daniel Yang (2018)

Kaien Yang (2021)

Michael Yang (2018)

Faculty & Staff

An anonymous sponsor teacher

Matching Companies

* These organizations supported Academic Boosters by matching funds donated by boosters.

Freddie Mac

Microsoft

TJ Academic Boosters

Membership Form 2018-2019

TJ Academic Boosters’ mission is to support TJ’s many outstanding academic teams,

including Aerospace Initiative, Biology Olympiad, Botball (Robotics), Certamen (Latin),

Chemistry Olympiad, Chess Team, Computer Teams, Debate Teams, Future Problem

Solvers, History Quiz Bowl, Japan Bowl, Math Team, Physics Team, Quiz Bowl,

Underwater ROV, Rubik’s Cube, and Science Olympiad. We aim to cover tournament

entry fees, teacher travel costs, and other expenses as our funds permit.

We encourage every TJ family to support TJ’s academic teams by supporting

Academic Boosters.

Join now! May/June memberships count for 2018-19!

Membership Category:

□ Bronze - $50

□ Silver - $100

□ Gold - $250

□ Platinum - $500

□ Diamond $1000 & up

Donations to TJ Academic Boosters are fully tax-

deductible. All donors/donor families will be recognized

on our website and in the booklet for Academic Boosters’

annual Awards Banquet for TJ’s Academic Teams.

Donations of $250 and greater will also be acknowledged

with a letter as required by the IRS.

Student(s) Name and Grade:___________________________________________________________ Student’s team (if any):_______________________________________________________________ Parent’s Name(s):___________________________________________________________________ Parent’s Phone: _____________________________________________________________________ Parent’s Email: _____________________________________________________________________ Form of Payment (circle): Check PayPal Cash MasterCard Visa Amex Name on account: ___________________________________________________________________ Account number (if using credit card): ___________________________________________________ Expiration Date:_____________________________________________________________________ CVC Number:______________________________________________________________________

If your company has a matching gifts program, please ask your employer how to make your contribution go twice as far!

Volunteer!

Academic Boosters runs on parent volunteers! It’s a great way to get to know some other parents and the

school! Please check the box if you’d be willing to volunteer in some capacity. We’ll follow up!

□ Yes, I’ll help! Contact me to discuss how at ____________________________________________________.

Academic Boosters, Inc. https://academics.tjhsst.edu/aboosters/

LIKE or FOLLOW our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TJAcademicBoosters

Academic Boosters Board 2017-2018

Officers

President Tatsuya Oyama

Vice President

Secretary

Joan Pepin

Ed Fleischer

Communications Danielle Zhu, Valerie Weisman

Treasurer Ella Xiao, Yanfei Xia

Treasurer June Wang

Webmaster Vacant

Chairs

Membership Ram Yalla

Events

Merchandise

Fundraising

Kiran Gunnam, Zinnia Zhang

Lavanya Adusumalli

Vacant

Faculty Liaison Christine Conklin

Alumni Reps Natalie Goldring

Angela Wilkes

Louise Epstein

Lynne Hamrick

Christine Hood

Beth Liebmann

Susan Snyder

Linda Loffredo

At Large Raji Bala

Missy Le