News of the achievements of local students and members of the Armed Forces.
- Benjamin Ayanian and Elizabeth Bucy of McLean and Yasmin Mohran and Hunter Slingbaum of Vienna have been named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
- Jesse Anderson of Tysons has been named to the dean’s list for the fall semester at Palmer College of Chiropractic.
- Meagan Connolly of Vienna and Caroline French of McLean, students at Elon University, have been named to the Omicron Delta Kappa national-leadership honor society.
- Jaiden Saran of McLean High School and Tara Prakash at Sidwell Friends School were jointly named an honorable-mention recipient in C-SPAN’s 2022 StudentCam competition.
Students around the world were invited to produce a short documentary that explored a federal policy or program and addressed the theme “How does the federal government impact your life?” More than 1,400 entries from students in middle and high school were submitted.
“The winners showcased exceptional research and production values as they wove personal stories with historical or contempoary issues,” said Craig McAndrew, director of C-SPAN education relations.
The Saran/Prakash entry focused on the U.S. Postal Service. They were among 300 students from across the nation to win cash prizes ranging from $250 to $5,000.
For information on the initiative, see the Website at www.studencam.org.
- A total of 153 students from 12 Fairfax County Public Schools high schools were recognized as competitive-event winners at the Virginia DECA State Leadership Conference, held in Virginia Beach March 2-6.
Award-winning students earned the right to compete at the DECA International Career Development Conference April 23-26.
Among the 30 first-place recipients in various categories were the following students from the Sun Gazette coverage area:
• George C. Marshall High School: Sylvia Cheng.
• James Madison High School: Sara Lo, Salma Simab, Abigail Kaizer, Kate Kaizer.
• Oakton High School: Ishika Lal, Dustin Tran, Shradha Gandotra, Cindy Li, Esha Lohiya, Aditi Yadav, Tina Gao, Anjana Rajesh, Zach Dekoven, Hailey Khetan, Michelle Kwak, Leen Atari.
In addition, Olivia Zhang and Morgan Link from McLean High School tied for second place in the FIDM Entrepreneur of Tomorrow Challenge sponsored by FIDM/Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. They will be recognized at the DECA International Career Development Conference.
Two FCPS students were elected to state office: Camryn Owens of Lake Braddock Secondary School was elected president, and Lauren Calhoun of Madison was elected vice president of Region 2.
- Students from 23 Fairfax County public schools have been named recipients of the 2022 Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County, designed to recognize young people who work as peacemakers.
Students from the Sun Gazette coverage area earning the awards included Caroline Martell of Langley High School, Maya Kanaan of George C. Marshall High School, Olivia Zhang of McLean High School, Sara Boddie of Oakton High School, Damilola Awofisayo and Christopher Array of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, as well as the Junior Civitan Club (Olivia Bell, Laura Guertin, Anika Gupta, Layla Ibrahim, Kate Laing, Bella Mack, Clare Shannon and Kieran Warner) of James Madison High School.
The Student Peace Awards of Fairfax County were begun in 2006 to encourage people to think more about peace as both a means and an end, and to recognize young people who work as peacemakers. Every year, the high schools in Fairfax County are asked to select one junior or senior, or a group of students, whose work has promoted peace.
The project is organized by volunteers and funded by donations from 17 secular and religious sponsoring organizations. Recipients were recognized at a reception on March 13.