• Yishu Qiu of McLean was one of 438 Des Moines University Medicine and Health Sciences students from five programs to receive their white coat during the university’s annual White Coat Ceremony on Sept. 13.
The ceremony is the true start of a student’s medical education to becoming a compassionate and competent health-care provider. Qiu is part of the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine program.
• Anshu Singh of McLean earned a master of business administration degree during recent commencement exercises at Trine University.
• Andrew Baker of Vienna, Malcolm Burbano of Vienna, Caledonia Hamilton of McLean and Stirling Hamilton of McLean have been named to the president’s list for the summer semester at James Madison University.
Alexandra Gound of Vienna, Vijay Krishnan of McLean, Curtis Lee of Vienna and Samantha Leech of McLean have been named to the dean’s list for the summer semester at James Madison University.
• Anderson Hauptli of McLean has earend the William Davisson Prize at the Marlboro Institute for Liberal Arts & Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College.
• Thomas Takis of McLean, a graduate of Potomac School, was presented the Oren Root Prize Scholarship during convocation ceremonies held recently at Hamilton College, where he is studying mathematics and physics.
The scholarship is presented to the two juniors who have the best records in mathematics during their first two years at the college.
• A total of 191 students from 19 Fairfax County public schools have been named National Merit Semifinalists, and will compete for $26 million in scholarship awards to be announced next spring.
The number of semifinalists countywide was down from 264 last year, owing to a large drop (from 165 to 81) among students attending Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology.
Among student from the GazetteLeader coverage area named among the nation’s 16,000 National Merit Semifinalists:
Langley High School: Katie Chen, Ariaana Downing, Leon Huang, Emily Hur, Zelmay Jan, Danna Jia, Arnav Ketineni, Amy Key, Chinmayee Lanka, Jayden Lee, Ethan Liu, Bryce Myers, Lindsey Newberg, Brendan Oakes, Vishwa Rakasi, Anniyah Rizvi, Riley Seewer, John Wu, Raymond Zhang.
James Madison High School: Ariel Chasin, Charlotte Feigin, Nathan Goss, Anika Krishnaiyer, Robert Martirosyan, Michael Papadakis, Neha Parameswaran, Joseph Stafford, Kyan Yang.
George C. Marshall High School: Shrey Desai, Gabriela Konde, Pradhyumnan Rajasekar, Ethan Stregack, Yue Xin Wang.
McLean High School: Anaya Batish, Aria Colaco, Andrew Egorin, Lisa Hu, Phoebe Jang, Axel Lundback, Rachel Noh, Blake Powell, Peyton Rydzewski, David Sheng, Jakob Siyoni, Thanh-Hoa Tran-Luu, Lauren Wood, Aileen Wu, Eric Xue, Claire Yan.
Oakton High School: Christopher Campbell, Isaiah Garrett, Benjamin Habyarimana, Bumkyu Kang, Adrian Li, Jackson Mika, Seth Parcell, Lisa Sun, Joshua Wang, Luke Whitlock, Ken Zhou.
Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology: Ryeen Afkhami Aghda, Ishan Ajwani, Nikhil Alladi, Arjun Babla, Akansha Bagga, Alex Bakalov, Sanchali Banerjee, Arnav Bhalla, Samarth Bhargav, William Black, Logan Bradley, Jude Caldwell, Rabia Chadha, Dhruv Chandna, Claire Chen, Julia Chen, Andrew Choi, Nathaniel Crescioli, Asha Das, Niels-Oliver DeChaine, Jacob Foster, Ashrita Gandhari, Avni Garg, Filip Georgievski, Claire Guo, Arnav Gupta, Deven Hagen, Jason Hao, Mandy Huang, Sophia Huang, Grace Im, Soham Jain, Chris Jia, Ashvin Kala, Hudson Keeler, Symthasree Koganti, Rohan Kotla, Siddarth Kumar, Rishabh Kumaran, Peter Laosiri, Abigail Lee, Justin Lee, Avery Li, Lucas Libelo, Sophia Lin, Aniketh Luchmapurkar, Jasmine Ma, Alexander Mather, Eloise Minnigh, Benjamin Moseley, Saanvi Nandikonda, Bryan Nguyen, Deen Noori, Abhinav Palikala, Phoebe Pan, Poorna Prakash, Samvrit Rao, Pratyush Saxena, Aaryan Shah, Shrey Sharma, Patrick Shi, John Shinkman, Aaryan Sumesh, Anish Suvarna, Simon Thomas, Nicholas Toskey, Ophelia Tulchinsky, Leonardo Valli, Avnith Vijayram, Anna Wisniewski, Anthony Xu, Gabriel Xu, Vivian Xue, Pallavi Yalamanchilli, Hui Peng John Yao, Drew Zauel, Leah Zhang, Ray Zhang, Victoria Zhang, Julia Zherdetski, Alan Zhu.
The nationwide pool of semifinalists, which represents less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.
• Officials at The Potomac School in McLean gave Intermediate School math teacher Sharyn Stein the 2024 Bill Cook Award for Excellent Teaching during the school’s opening assembly Sept. 6.
Named in honor of teacher and Assistant Head of School Bill Cook, who died in 2016, the award is presented annually to teachers “who exemplify the commitment to excellence and love of learning that define a Potomac School education,” officials said.
Stein graduated from Amherst College before receiving a master’s degree in math education from Smith College. She began teaching nearly 40 years ago and has been part of the Potomac School community for more than three decades.
Since 1992, she has taught math and served as an adviser, softball and soccer coach, club leader and Discovery Day Camp director at Summer@Potomac.
“Ms. Stein’s enthusiasm for learning can energize any classroom,” said Will Bennett, a Potomac School senior and former student of Stein’s. “She motivated me to try my best and give it my all. She made me a better math student.”
Others consistently describe Stein as “a loyal friend – funny, authentic and steadfast in her values,” said Head of School John Kowalik. “She brings the same passion and energy today as she did when she started teaching. If you ask, she’ll tell you she has the best job in the world.”
For almost 30 years, Stein has encouraged students to volunteer with the Little League Challenger Division, an adaptive baseball program for youths with physical and intellectual challenges. Last year, she officiated a wedding for two Potomac School alumni, Kowalik added.
“Sharyn’s generosity of spirit makes a lasting impact on all who meet her,” he said.
Asked her thoughts on being an educator, Stein boiled it down to optimism.
“What other career would allow and encourage me to surround myself with people, both young and old, who stand firm in their belief of seeing the world the way it should be and not the way it is?” she said.
