Student Achievements
WorldQuest National Champions
Hundreds of Plano ISD students captured awards during the 2013-14 school year. The next few pages include
For the second consecutive year, a team from Plano West
Senior High School captured the Academic WorldQuest
national championship. The annual event is hosted by the
National World Affairs Council in Washington, D.C. The
team competition tested high school students’ knowledge
of international affairs, current events and foreign policy
issues. Plano West bested 45 other regional champion teams
from 25 states across the United States to bring home the
national trophy. This year’s categories focused on the six top
national security issues for the president in 2014, voted on
and chosen by the leaders of world affairs councils across
the country. These six issues are cybersecurity, U.S. energy
policy, global economic realignment, the Middle East, global
environmental issues and U.S. education. Also included was
the UN Millennium Goal 1, geography, global health and
current events.
several of the significant honors earned by top achieving students.
Intel Science Talent Search Finalist
Lisa Michaels, Plano West Senior High School, was selected
among 40 finalists for Intel Science Talent Search 2014 for
her research entitled: Pan-Neuronal Over-Expression of the
GCLc Gene to Mitigate Redox Stress and Mitochondrial
ETC Complex Dysfunction in Alzheimer’s Disease. Student
Rachana Vemireddy, Plano East Senior High School, was
named a semifinalist in the competition. The Intel Science
Talent Search (Intel STS) is the nation’s most prestigious
pre-college science competition. Intel STS alumni have made
extraordinary contributions to science and hold more than
100 of the world’s most coveted science and math honors,
including the Nobel Prize and the National Medal of
Science.
Alex Spiride, Plano East Senior High School student, was invited to exhibit at
the 2014 White House Science Fair.
Plano ISD Student Invited to Exhibit at White
House Science Fair
International science fair competitors: Swapnav Deka and Alicia D’Souza,
Plano East Senior High School; Ria Chhabra, Jessica Hong and Ahneesh
Mohanty, Plano Senior High School; Caroline Gao, Mokshin Suri and Anoop
Vemulapalli, Plano West Senior High School; Avni Nandu and
Stephanie Vu, Clark High School; Wenjia (Dara) Li, Jasper High School;
Michael Saber Farid, McMillen High School; and Nirali Thakor,
Shepton High School.
I-SWEEEP Olympiad
Eighteen Plano ISD students
were invited to attend the
2014 I-SWEEEP (International
Sustainable World Energy
Engineering Environment
Project Olympiad)
competition. Students from
66 countries and 44 states
participated in the event.
Among the many awards
captured by Plano ISD
students were gold level
awards won by Elisabeth
Ashmore, Plano East Senior
High School (engineering);
Anoop Vemulapalli, Plano
West Senior High School
(energy); and Vishal and
Nisha Rajesh, Jasper High
School (environment).
Intel International Science & Engineering Fair
Thirteen Plano ISD students, representing 10 projects,
attended the 2014 Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair in Los Angeles, CA. The annual event is the
world’s largest international pre-college science competition,
providing an annual forum for more than 1,700 high school
students from over 70 countries, regions and territories to
showcase their independent research and compete for more
than $5 million in awards. Cash awards earned by Plano
ISD students totaled more than $35,000. A list of awards
follows:
• Ria Chhabra – Plano Senior High School, 1st place in biochemistry
• Jessica Hong – Plano Senior High School and Alicia Danielle D’Souza, Plano East Senior High School, 2nd place in chemistry
• Ahneesh Mohanty – Plano Senior High School, 2nd place in Elisabeth Ashmore was selected as
the one student to be featured in a
video shown at I-SWEEEP. Her project
involved a computer-brain interface
for persons who are quadriplegic.
Siemens Competition in Math, Science &
Technology
medicine and health
• Swapnav Deka –
Seven Plano ISD students captured semifinalist standing
in the prestigious Siemens Competition in Math, Science
& Technology. The premiere science research competition
for high school students seeks to promote excellence by
encouraging students to undertake individual or team
research projects. Congratulations students:
• Alicia D’Souza – Plano East Senior High School
• Jessica Hong – Plano Senior High School
• Wenjia (Dara) Li – Plano West Senior High School
• Sachit Menon – Jasper High School
• Linda Phung – Plano East Senior High School
• Sairaj Sajjath – Plano West Senior High School
• Anoop Vemulapalli – Plano West Senior High School
Plano East Senior High School, 2nd place in microbiology, Consortium for Ocean Leadership award, China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) 1st place award
• Wenjia (Dara) Li – Jasper High School, and Anoop Vemulapalli, Plano West Senior High School, 3rd place in plant sciences, Arizona State University Scholarship, Ricoh Sustainable Development award
• Caroline Fang Gao –
• Mokshin Suri –
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Plano West Senior High School, 4th place in energy and transportation
• Nirali Thakor –
Plano West Senior High School, 3rd place
in chemistry
Student Alex Spiride was among a select group of students
invited by President Barack Obama to exhibit his science
fair project at the 2014 White House Science Fair. A
competitive swimmer at Plano East Senior High School, Alex
studied the movement of squid to create an efficient, yet quiet
underwater engine. The 2013 Google Science Fair named
him a finalist for his discovery. The White House exhibitors
were invited to hear remarks from the president and interact
with other students, professional scientists, senior government
officials and private sector representatives.
WorldQuest teammates Qianqian Yang, Jeffrey Chang, Catherine Zhang and
Sidharth Kapur are pictured at nationals with teacher/sponsor John Scott.
Students Excel at Regional, State & National STEM
Competitions
Plano ISD students excelled at the following 2014 regional,
state and national STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math) competitions.
Career & Technical Education
•ExxonMobil State Science & Engineering Fair – 4 first place grand prize awards
More than 190 Plano ISD Career and Technical Education
students advanced to state level competitions in 2014.
Congratulations to students, faculty and student organizations
for their successes:
• BPA (Business) – 58 students competed at area with 40 advancing to state.
• DECA (Marketing) – 32 students competed at area with 30 advancing to state.
• FCCLA (Food Sciences/Culinary) – 4 students competed at regionals.
• HOSA (Health Care) – 120 students competed at area with 61 advancing to state.
• SkillsUSA (Culinary) – 12 students competed at regionals with 8 advancing to state.
• SkillsUSA (Auto Tech) - 5 students competed at regionals with 5 advancing to state.
•Texas Junior Academy of Sciences – 2 first place grand prize awards; 13 first place awards advanced to
national fair
•Texas Middle School MATHCOUNTS – Advanced one student to nationals; 1st Place Team; Advanced three middle school teams to state
•BroadcomMASTERS – Seven middle school students
captured semifinalist standing in this national
STEM contest.
•Secondary Regional Science Fair – 83% of senior division awards; 62% of junior category awards; 3 of 4 grand prize awards; All runner-up grand prize awards; Advanced 11 students to international fair
•Elementary Regional Science Fair – 3 of 4 grand prize awards; Entered 130 of 400 projects
Shepton High School, Mu Alpha Theta award, Ashtavadhani Vidwan Ambati Subbaraya Chetty Foundation award
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Academic & Extracurricular Awards
State VASE Art Competition
Plano ISD student artists captured eight “Gold Seal” state
medals at the 2014 State Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE)
competition. At the state event, 70 percent of Plano ISD
students captured state medals. Nearly 27,000 students
across the state participated in regional VASE contests. From
that group, students advanced to state, where only 152
students received gold medals.
JROTC Battalions Retain ‘Honor Unit with
Distinction’ Designation
All three Plano ISD JROTC battalions (Plano, Plano East
and Plano West senior high schools and their high school
feeder schools) retained the “Honor Unit with Distinction”
designation in 2013-14. Junior Leadership & Academic Bowl
teams from all three battalions advanced in 2014 to Level II
of competition.
DMA Young Masters Exhibition
Dallas Area Regional History Day Competition
Twenty Plano ISD senior high school students’ art projects
were selected for the 20th annual Young Masters Exhibition
hosted in 2014 by the Dallas Museum of Art, O’Donnell
Foundation and AP Strategies. Student artists were presented
with awards at a reception and ceremony held at the
museum.
Several Plano ISD students placed at the 2014 Dallas Area
Regional History Day Competition. Students who won 1st
or 2nd place advanced to the state Texas History Day
Competition. First place winners at regional were teammates
Johanna Waters, Naveen Inim and Manisha Gupta, Plano
East Senior High School; and individuals Rahul Gupta, Plano
East; Jonathan Kim, Plano East; Mohit Gupta, Otto Middle
School; and Halle Miller, Murphy Middle School.
2014 girls’ doubles state gold medalists: Plano West Senior High School
teammates Tiffany Hollebeck and Alahna Reto with Coach Morgen Walker.
2013-14 Athletic
Achievements
UIL One-Act Play Competition
Collin County Spelling Bee Champion
Plano ISD fifth graders headed back in time to the 20th century, with the first
annual Decades Fair. Each class group selected a decade to study between
the 1910s and 2000s and presented their social studies findings to their
classmates in a variety of creative ways.
In keeping with Plano ISD’s spelling legacy, Neha Thomas,
sixth grade student at Rice Middle School, advanced to the
Regional Spelling Bee after capturing the championship at
the 2014 Collin County Spelling Bee.
With an incredible display of artistry, Plano Senior High
School’s production of “The Shadow Box,” under the
direction of Lance Morse, earned the cast and crew these
awards at the area contest: best actor, honorable-mention
all-star cast and outstanding technician. Plano Senior High
and Plano East Senior High School productions advanced
to the area competition from the district event.
Baseball – Plano advanced to regional finals
Basketball – (girls) Plano West advanced to
state; Plano advanced to regional quarterfinals;
(boys) Plano West advanced to regional
quarterfinals; Plano East advanced to area
The Otto Middle School Treble Choir, directed by Vanessa
Chavez, and the Robinson Middle School Mixed Choir,
directed Kimberley Ahrens and Alex Morgan, were invited to
perform at the National Conference for Choral Music at the
University of North Texas in Denton.
Fine Arts Awards
Sixty-seven All-State Musicians, Three Select
Groups Perform at State Convention
Sixty-seven Plano ISD band, choir and orchestra students
earned positions in 2014 all-state music ensembles
sponsored by the Texas Music Educators Association
(TMEA). These students joined other elite high school
musicians from around the state to rehearse with nationally
famous conductors and present performances for the TMEA
membership during their annual convention in San Antonio.
In addition to all-state musicians, three musical groups from
Plano ISD presented concerts at the TMEA clinic/convention.
Congratulations 2014 honor ensembles:
Cross Country – Plano West and Plano East
boys advanced athletes to state
Football – Plano and Plano West advanced to
playoffs
Golf – (girls) Plano West advanced a medalist to
state; (boys) Plano West advanced to state
National AP Studio Art Student Exhibit
Artwork by Samuel Hersh, Plano
Senior High School Class of 2014
was selected by The College Board
for inclusion in the AP Studio Art
Student Exhibit. Only 30 pieces
were chosen for the national
traveling exhibit from about 49,000
student portfolios.
• Jasper High School Full Orchestra, Directors Ryan Ross and Jackie Digby
• Robinson Middle School Full Orchestra, Directors Mary Havenstrite and Kimberly Hernandez
• Vines High School Women’s Choir, Director Christopher Ahrens
Soccer – (girls) Plano West advanced to state for
3rd consecutive year; (boys) Plano West advanced
to regional quarterfinals
Softball – Plano West advanced to the regional
final; Plano advanced to the regional quarterfinal
round
Swimming / Diving – (girls) Plano won a state
bronze medal in diving; (boys) Plano placed 4th
overall in team results, collecting two silver medals
and one bronze medal at state
Artwork by Samuel Hersh, Plano Senior
High School, in traveling exhibit
Track – (boys) Plano East won a bronze medal
at state in 100-meter dash and 6th place in
200-meter dash; (girls) Plano West won 7th in
100-meter dash
Texas State Capitol Art Exhibit
Artworks designed by five Plano ISD students were selected
by the Texas Art Education Association for exhibit at the
Texas state capitol building in Austin during 2014 National
Youth Art Month. Exhibiting artists included Christina Lu,
Rice Middle School; Taylor Morgan Nix, Plano West Senior
High School; Mary Casillas, Plano Senior High School;
Julia Nguyen, Schimelpfenig Middle School; and Samantha
Firmin, Boggess Elementary School.
Choral Music Group Invitations
Three choral ensembles received invitations to perform for
choral organizations at their 2014 regional and national
conferences. The Plano West Senior High School Chorale,
directed by Kathy Hackett and Sarah Council, was invited to
perform for the Southwestern Division of the American Choral
Directors Association conference in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Tennis – Plano West girls’ doubles won a state
gold medal; Plano West’s team advanced to state
Volleyball – Plano advanced to the regional
finals
Wrestling – All three senior high schools
advanced athletes to regionals; Plano ISD
advanced three girls to state; Plano East and Plano
West boys advanced to state
Plano ISD’s secondary schools are hosts to multi-award-winning theatrical casts
and crews. Take a behind-the-scenes view of the stage in “Theatre Techies”
spotlighting senior high school theater students, including Mattie Keeter, Plano
West Senior High School.
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