American Heritage Schools Claims Top Honors in STEM Competitions
The prestigious American Heritage Schools, ranked among the top private schools in Florida in STEM according to Niche – the market leader in connecting colleges and schools with students and families – is proud to announce its recent STEM accomplishments including No. 1 at the State Science and Engineering Fair, No. 1 and No. 2 private school in math at the Florida Association of Mu Alpha Theta (FAMAT) statewide math competition, and event champions at the FIRST Robotics Regional Competition in Las Vegas.
American Heritage Schools earned first place at the State Science and Engineering Fair in Florida – a three-day display of science project exhibits prepared by aspiring scientists and engineers in grades 6 through 12. Four high school students from American Heritage Schools, Broward Campus and Palm Beach Campus, qualified to move on to represent Florida in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Each year more than 1,800 9th through 12th graders earn the right to compete at Regeneron ISEF by winning a top prize at a society-affiliated local, regional, state, or national science fair. Regeneron ISEF finalists compete for nearly $5 million in awards, prizes, and scholarships.
The American Heritage Schools finalists who qualified for ISEF include:
· Nolan Wen, Palm Beach Campus – Best in Show and Grand Award Winner in Chemistry
· Tara Muthuswamy, Palm Beach Campus – Second Place in Biomedical and Health
· Malcolm Owusu, Broward Campus – Second Place in Behavioral & Social Science
· Calvin Mathew, Broward Campus – Second Place in Chemistry
Additionally, American Heritage Schools’ Broward and Palm Beach math teams competed at the Florida Association of Mu Alpha Theta (FAMAT) statewide math competition. They finished second and third place overall in the State of Florida and were ranked the No. 1 and No. 2 private school in the competition.
Saathvik Selvan, a senior from American Heritage Schools, Broward Campus, who has been accepted to the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley, said, “I’ve competed in these types of competitions since middle school, so I’m used to the pressure, but it is always exciting to compete. Mu Alpha Theta has created a lot of enthusiasm for math in general and has generated a common bond among the math community.”
American Heritage Schools, Broward Campus, brought 56 math competitors to the Rosen Hotel in Orlando where they joined 605 students from 24 other high schools. Four students from the Broward campus achieved “perfect scores” on their tests including Xuzhou (Tiger) Ren, Aaron Zhang, Nicholas Darosa, and Jack Finneran. Out of the 40 different contests at the state level, American Heritage Schools finished in the top ten in all but one category. The Broward campus earned 168 trophies total, with 79 in the top ten and 28 in the top three and brought home 12 first-place prizes. American Heritage Schools, Palm Beach Campus, also brought home five first-place prizes in Geometry, Matrices and Vectors, Statistics, Statistics Bowl, and Computer Competition.
Lastly, American Heritage Schools, Broward Campus, Robotics Team, The Ninjineers, competed in the FIRST Robotics Regional Competition in Las Vegas along with 44 other teams from around the world. The Ninjineers ranked first as Alliance Captain with three other teams and won the regional competition. This win provides the team a spot to compete at the world championship in Houston.
The Ninjineers also won the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award, sponsored by NASA. The Regional Engineering Inspiration Award celebrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school or organization and community.
“We are very proud to have our students win each of these prestigious honors for their various accomplishments in our STEM programs,” said Dr. Doug Laurie, president of American Heritage Schools. “These students are model ambassadors for American Heritage Schools. Each of them embodies our values of knowledge, integrity and compassion, and their hard work and dedication to their educational pursuits are admired.”
American Heritage Schools in Broward, Florida, is the No. 1 high school in Florida for the highest number of National Merit Scholars; the school’s Palm Beach campus is No. 2 in National Merit Scholars out of all schools in Florida. Their combined students from both campuses comprise 9% of all National Merit Scholars Semifinalists throughout the 2,227 public and private schools in Florida.