On April 16, Brian Zhou participated in the 2016 Johns Hopkins University Science Bowl Competition and won first place!
On March 16, US Math League announced 2016 Grade 6 Math League contest results, Brain got full score 35/35 and ranked number 1!
Way to go Brian. Congratulations!
The official announcement can be found at HERE.
This past weekend, students competed in the DCUDL Holy Trinity Championships! The topic was a difficult one: To alleviate income inequality in the United States, increased spending on public infrastructure should be prioritized over increased spending on means-tested welfare programs.
Nysmith had two teams in the finals going head to head for 3rd and 4th place spot! Excellent job debaters!!!!
3rd place school, Most wins over the school year- Nysmith
4th place Speaker Award, Open – McKenzie Hiek
4th place Team, Open – Sarang Arun and McKenzie Hiek
3rd place Team, Open – Justin Ward and Bhavjeet Sanghera
DCUDL Coach of the Year-Maria-Theresa Dragg
Congratulations to our students and Ms. Dragg!!!!
The Nysmith School had 9 students participate in the History Bee Regional Finals and all advanced to the National Finals in Chicago from June 9th-12th!
Congratulations to Aaron Joy, elise Bejtlich, Sean Bender-Prouty, Misha Brancato, Anand Advani, Anuraag Kaashyap, Vance Kreider, Casey Willard, and Justin Ward.
Aaron Joy & Elise Bejtlich were Regional Finalists and Aaron Joy won the Regional Champion for the Elementary Division! Anuraag Kaashyap & Vance Kreider were also Regional Finalists & Anuraag won the Regional Champion for the 7th grade division!
Congratulations to all the students and coaches!
For more information about the History Bee click here
The National Science Bowl® (NSB) for middle school was established in 2002, and is a competitive event for middle school students. School teams compete in a fast-paced question and answer format to solve technical problems in the science and math fields. More than 4,500 middle school students compete each year in the NSB. This is one of the nation’s largest science competitions and was created by the Department of Energy to encourage students to excel in math and science.
Each school that participates has a team of 4 students with one alternate and a coach. The team that represented Nysmith School consisted of Vaibhav Sharma, Ajit Kadaveru, Anusha Allamsetty, Ishaan Kumar, Kaien Yang and Coach Venkata Allamsetty.
The Middle school competition that Nysmith students competed in, consisted of two types of competition – Academic Science and Math Competition and an Electric Car Race Competition.
The Nysmith team performed very well in the round robin stage of the Academic Competition and secured 3rd place in their division. They lost only to Fort Settlement Middle School of TX (last year’s champions) and to Marshall Middle School from IL (lost by a margin of only 4 points).
In the Electric Car Race Competition the students were given the motor, battery and parts and were asked to design, build, and race their car. Nysmith team built a car with an innovative gear design. This was a great hands-on experience where their creative engineering skills would come in to play. The Nysmith students missed advancing to the next round by 1 second.
This was a wonderful experience for all students. The students had a taste of what it is like to compete at the National Level with the best teams that represent each state. Most importantly, they had lots of fun, staying in their dorms and sleeping in their bunk beds, playing pool, basketball and volley ball in their free time, wearing a different science bowl t-shirt each day, and enjoying unlimited desserts.
A big congratulations to the students, coach Venkata Allamsetty and parents that showed commitment and dedication.
More information is available on the NSB website: http://www.science.energy.gov/wdts/nsb/.
Congratulations to our Nysmith team who placed second overall in the Virginia State Math contest held this past weekend. The Virginia State Math contest was for students in grades 3-6. The team consisted of Ryan Kim, Aiden Kim, Vidhi Sharma and Zani Xu. They did an excellent job!
Additionally, these students also competed individually. Zani won the first place at 4th grade, Vidhi won the 6th place at 4th grade, Ryan won the 7th place at 4th grade, Aiden won the 4th place at 6th grade. Zani and Aiden, both advanced to next level, and are qualified to go to the National contest on June 11th, 2016 at Houston, TX.
Great job and Congratulations!
Nysmith students excelled at the 3rd Annual Fairfax County Elementary and Middle School Science and Engineering Fair organized by Pinnacle Academy, Broadcom MASTERS and College of Science, George Mason University on Saturday, May 7, 2016. The competition includes three divisions Division I (grades 1-3), Division II (grades 4-5), and Division III (grades 6–8) with two categories in each division: Earth and Life Sciences, Physical Science and Engineering.
Kaien Yang placed 1st in Division III Life and Earth Sciences and won special award from George Mason University for outstanding application of mathematics in the project. In addition, Kaien Yang was nominated by the judges to participate in the premier national science and engineering competition for middle school students Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering Rising Stars).
Luke Thistlethwaite won 3rd place for Division III Life and Earth Sciences, Annabel Lian won honorable mention for Division III Physical Science and Engineering, Broadcom MASTERS nominee.
Awseome job to all the Nysmith students who participated this year including,: Anand Advani (6th), Alex Misiaszek (7th), Ella Greene (4th), Kirthi Kumar (8th), Neha Bhat (8th), Neil Morgan (5th), Caroline Kaczmarskyj (6th), Arielle Kouyoumdjian (3rd) .
The Nysmith School fourth graders participated in the WordMasters™ Challenge this year. This national competition tests students on analogies with 75 vocabulary words. There were three challenges during the school year. We are happy to announce that for the third and final challenge, Nysmith placed first in the nation in the Gold Division! These students scored a perfect score on the third challenge: Aanya Kolli, Amal Wooldridge, Cameron Ake, Claire Tarallo, Clara Yu, Dishaa Bhat, Ella Bentley, Hannah Park and Hillary Yoon.
Additionally, Nysmith placed first overall with a score of 581! Special recognition is given to those who score the highest out of a possible 60. Congratulations to Amal Wooldridge with a score of 59, Claire Tarallo and Sammy Cottrell both with a score of 58, and Cameron Ake, Ella Greene, Aanya Kolli and Hannah Park with a score of 57! Congratulations to all the fourth graders on their hard work. We are very proud of all of you.
CLick full HERE to see results.
The Noetic Learning Math Contest (NLMC) is a semiannual problem solving contest for elementary and middle school students. The goal of the competition is to encourage students’ interest in math, to develop their problem solving skills, and to inspire them to excel in math.
During the contest, students are given 45 minutes to solve 20 problems. Many problems are designed to challenge students and to enrich their problem solving experiences.
Nysmith 5th grade students participated in the spring contest. This year we had one perfect score, 10 students who placed on the National Honor Roll with a score of 85 and above, and 30 students who were given Honorable Mention with a score of 55 and above.
Congratulations 5th graders!
For more information: http://www.noetic-learning.com/mathcontest/
The 6th grade Odyssey of the Mind team, the Nysmith Brainy Bunch, had a flawless presentation last week at the Odyssey of the Mind World Finals at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. Over 800 teams from around the world gathered in Ames to compete in the OM World Championship. The Nysmith Brainy Bunch kicked off the competition as the first team to present their long-term presentation, a creative solution to the Division 2 Problem 2 technical problem entitled “Something Fishy.”
The team’s solution took the judges on a Mars Odyssey to find life on their life-like set resembling the surface of Mars. Their innovative catch devices caught moving items that appeared at different distances throughout the set. The team used a complicated remote reaching device with a handcrafted claw, a pulley system driven Mars rover, and a crab trap inspired entrapment device to catch moving items that were set in motion by team created automata devices.
The team created an amazing illusion of a required “weather change” by use of camouflage, magnets, and pulley devices that simulated a Martian dust storm. The team also used artistry, engineering, origami, live music, as well as a song and dance to present their long-term solution.
Sixth grader Sean Gillen narrated the presentation as the humorous “catch character” Chewy Beldar–Martian extraordinaire. Christian Schipma played “Dave,” the astronaut fisher character who along with Astronauts Chandler Wimmer and Ashley Nguyen “Cosmo Couture” worked to operate the team’s technical devices. Spencer Huang played multiple characters including the “PAL 9000,” “Siri,” and “Agent Moulder–FBI.” Emma Jing played the role of Mission Control wowing the crowd with her live piano performance throughout the presentation of the theme song from “2001 A Space Odyssey,” the theme song from the “X-files,” and an Etude by Chopin to accompany the team’s weather change.
The teams devices, set, and costumes were made with recycled trash with a total value less than $145.00 dollars.
This first-time World Finalist team has worked for countless hours since the first weeks of school to research and create their long term solution and to practice spontaneous problem solving skills to earn the Regional and Virginia State titles, prerequisites to achieving a World Finalist slot.
The team had an excellent showing at Worlds, competing against highly competitive and seasoned 6-8th grade teams from 50 states and 25 countries, placing 13th in the world. Thanks to coaches Scott Schipma & Jackie Becker, as well as the parents of all of the team members who worked together throughout the year to coach spontaneous problem solving multiple days each week.
Congratulations Sean, Christian, Ashley, Chandler, Emma, and Spencer on a job well done and for representing Nysmith with pride!!!
Nysmith students Ajit Kadaveru (8C) and Kaien Yang (7A) were invited to compete as part of a 15-person Fairfax American Regions Mathematics League (ARML) team at Penn State University. The Fairfax team won 1st place in the Nation among the 42 Division B teams and ranked No. 25 among all 131 teams competing in the nation.
“The ARML holds annual competition for high school students, although some exceptional middle school students attend each year. The competition consists of several events, which include a team round, a power question, an individual round, two relay rounds, and a super relay. Simply put, ARML is the World Series of mathematics competitions.”
Additional information about the competition and the 2016 results can be found HERE.
This past weekend Ben Silverman, Tarina Ahuja, and Yash Somaiya competed in the ESU MSPDP National Tournament in Allentown, NJ! The topics were:
The US should establish a no-fly zone in Syria.
The US should have compulsory voting in general elections.
Schools should require cameras in classrooms.
Justice Antonin Scalia’s Supreme Court career did more good than harm.
Scientists should use cloning technology to resurrect animals made extinct by humans.
The US should adopt the metric system.
A big congratulations to team SAS as they brought home Top School in the Nation and Top School for the DC League!!
Kaien Yang was named one of the top 30 finalists in the nation in the 
Broadcom MASTERS®, the nation’s prestigious Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) middle school competition. Finalists were selected by a panel of distinguished scientists and engineers from among 300 semifinalists and record high of 2,343 applicants in 49 states and four territories.
Kaien will compete in DC from October 27-November 2, 2016 in the final competition for some amazing opportunities and scholarships. This competition will test students’ abilities in STEM, critical thinking, communication and collaboration.
Kaien’s project description: iDiagnostic: Invention of an Early Detection Tool for Major Depressive Disorder, will be showcased October 29th, 1-4pm at the National Geographic Society in DC.
“The Society is proud to celebrate this impressive group of middle school scientists and engineers. Middle school is an important age to encourage participation in STEM subjects and create science minded citizens. The top 30 finalists will make a great impact—as role models in their communities inspiring younger students to try their hands at independent research projects, and will change the world with their big ideas,” said Maya Ajmera, President and Chief Executive Officer of Society for Science & the Public and Publisher of Science News.
Additional information about the competition can be found HERE.
Congratulations to 8th grade student Kaien Yang, for winning 3rd place in the nation at the 2016 3M Science Competition held in St. Paul Minnesota . Kaien developed a way to use pumpkin seed oil to create both a biodiesel and bioplastic that reduces emissions and pollution from plastic.
Since its inception in 2008, the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in student prizes, paired students with world-renowned scientists to give them real-world insights and delivered much-needed science resources to millions of students, teachers and families across the country. It targets students in the years when research indicates their interest in science begins to wane and encourages them to explore scientific concepts and creatively communicate their findings. Winners have gone on to be featured in Forbes magazine’s annual “30 Under 30” list, speak in front of members of Congress and attendees at the United Nations, meet the President of the United States, and demonstrate inventions on national television programs.
For more information on the 2016 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge and to learn more about this year’s finalists, go to www.YoungScientistChallenge.com.
Congratulations to the Nysmith 7th grade Parliamentary debate team, consisting of Emma Jing, Ethan Yu, and Christian Schipma for accomplishing an undefeated, 4-0 record, at the Sidwell Quaker debates.
In addition, they received awards for finishing 5th place overall in the tournament. Emma Jing won the award for Best Speaker! They all worked very hard over the past few weeks and we are very happy to share their wonderful accomplishments!
Nysmith student Kaien Yang was awarded the $10,000 Marconi/Samueli Award for Innovation for his vision and promise as an innovator who, in the spirit of radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi, demonstrated aptitude and skill in technical and mathematical concepts both with his science fair project and throughout team challenges. Kaien created an app that uses statistical data to predict the risk for major depressive disorder with an accuracy of 93 percent.
Broadcom MASTERS winners were chosen from the 30 top
finalists (15 girls and 15 boys) from 15 states, 28 public and private schools and one home school. Winners were selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, engineers and educators. The finalists were selected from 2,342 nationwide competitors nominated by judges at 300 state and regional science fairs from 49 states and 4 US territories.
Congratulation Kaien!
For more information go to: https://www.societyforscience.org/content/press-room/broadcom-masters-awards-100000-prizes-2016-national-middle-school-stem
The Nysmith School Debate Club competed in the Metro Speech and Debate Association Emerson Preparatory School Public Forum Tournament! Thirty teams and seven different schools participated debating the topic:
Resolved: On balance, the benefits of the Internet of Things outweigh the harms of decreased personal privacy.
A big congratulations to the Nysmith Debate Club for the following achievements:
Varsity Category
1st Place- Anuraag Kaashyap and Alex Joel
3rd Place- Vikram Bala and Alex Misiaszek
Novice Category
3rd place- Emma Bennett and Tanvi Bhave
Fabulous job by all those who participated!
This past weekend the Nysmith Debate Club participated in the Public Forum DCUDL Maya Angelou French Immersion School Tournament. Students debated the following topic:
Resolved: The United States should end Plan Colombia
Congratulations to the following students:
Varsity Level: 1st place team
McKenzie Hiek and Sarang Arun
Novice Level: 2nd place
Emma Bennett and Tanvi Bhave
Congratulations to our winners and all of our participants! Job well done!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 2017
A team representing Nysmith School achieved Highest Honors in the recent WordMasters Challenge™—a national vocabulary competition involving nearly 150,000 students annually. The fourth grade team scored an impressive 185 points out of a possible 200 in the first of three meets this year, placing third in the nation.
Competing in the very difficult Gold Division of the WordMasters Challenge™, fourth graders Rishabh Kumaran and Nicholas Toskey each earned a perfect score of 20 on the challenge. Nationally, only 22 fourth graders achieved this result. Other students from Nysmith School who achieved outstanding results in the meet include fourth grader Ananya Kakayadi.
The WordMasters Challenge™ is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships. Working to solve the analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically. Although most vocabulary enrichment and analogy-solving programs are designed for use by high school students, WordMasters Challenge™ materials have been specifically created for younger students in grades three through eight. They are particularly well suited for children who are motivated by the challenge of learning new words and enjoy the logical puzzles posed by analogies.
The WordMasters Challenge™ program is administered by a company based in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is dedicated to inspiring high achievement in American schools. Further information is available at the company’s website: http://www.wordmasterschallenge.com.
Congratulations to the Nysmith teams who placed 1st in their divisions at the DC Urban Debate League Tournament at Holy Trinity School on Saturday, Feb. 4th.
Alex Joel and Caroline Huber placed 1st in the Varsity division. Ben Joel and Aaron Joy placed 1st in the Novice division. Both teams debated five rounds undefeated and won the champion round!
For more information, please visit: http://www.dcudl.org/
Congratulations to the Nysmith School MATHCOUNTS team, consisting of Kaien Yang, Whitman Ochiai, Anuraag Kaashyap, and Anand Advani for advancing to the State Championships in March!
Whitman Ochiai won a team-high score and placed in the top 16 in the Fairfax chapter.