Florida
Records 61 through 70 out of 70

	Year: 2008 Ravi N. Sankar Oviedo, FL, Trinity Preparatory School of Florida College Plans: Stanford University   Ravi grew up with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Scooby Doo, Frodo, and Ender, seeing no difference between the fantasy worlds of animation and the literature he loved. His brother also forced him to read a science textbook in the third grade, noting that Ravi became a nuisance with excessive free time. Ravi excelled across creative/literary and mathematical/scientific disciplines from an early age. By tenth grade he would be taking math classes at a local university. He has also won class awards in English, Latin, history, and science. Ravi is one of the top-ranked Lincoln-Douglas debaters in the country and has placed well at tournaments at Harvard, Yale, the Glenbrooks schools in Chicago, and the Tournament of Champions. He has been recognized at the White House for his volunteer work teaching SAT math. Ravi loves sunshine but not humidity.
	Year: 2009 Priscilla Aleman Miami, FL, Design and Architecture Senior High College Plans: The Cooper Union   I like dissecting the human mind and thought process, anything that involves research and critical thinking; expanding and exploring the endless possibilities of everyday life and applying that to my art. It is one thing to be a “successful” artist, but another to question the process and continue practicing the true essence of art and the mind. My ultimate goal is to use my artistic ability to bring awareness to social conflicts locally and worldwide. It is an injustice to sit and watch strife, starvation, and genocides happening in other countries and not see that it is relevant to us or feel a need to take action. As stated by Martin Luther King Jr. in the Letter from Birmingham Jail, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly...”
	Year: 2009 Ernest Baker Opa Locka, FL, Miami Carol City Senior High School College Plans: Eugene Lang College-New School for Liberal Arts   “Our work is never over,” Ernest Felton Baker II once said. His glorifying hard work and devotion to the Arts has lured an intense drive for his divined present and far most, his future. He started with Martial Arts receiving a black belt in both Jujitsu and Go Ju Ru. He then began to entertain audiences from around the globe and help less fortunate communities. As for the many endeavors and accomplishments Ernest obtained, his hometown Opa Locka, Florida granted him with a Proclamation and bestowed January 23rd in his honor as ‘Ernest Felton Baker II Day’. Practicing for a karate tournament, sketching proposed designs for his portfolio, or rehearsing for a performance are daily tasks for Ernest. Either way it goes, effort is definitely an unequivocal thought in Ernest’s mind. For Ernest, dance isn’t just something he does for happiness; it’s something he can’t imagine himself living without.
	Year: 2009 Andrew Carmedelle Saint Augustine, FL, Saint Joseph Academy College Plans: Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering   Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
	Year: 2009 Fedja Kadribasic Boca Raton, FL, West Boca Raton High School College Plans: Stanford University   Originally, I am a war refugee from Bosnia who came to the U.S. ten years ago after living in Germany for 5 years. Moving around the world has endowed me with a cosmopolitan sense and fluency in Bosnian, English, Spanish and German. I love to travel with my family, play chess, solve math problems, read, and sing; I have been active in multiple honors societies, School Advisory Council, FJAS/AJAS, Swim and Track team, engaged as the Science Club president and awarded in chorus; yet, my deepest passion since early childhood is for natural sciences. In recent years, I did research at two state universities and received multiple awards at regional, state, national, and international levels. My goal is to become a research physicist and a professor. Perhaps, if my dream of becoming a Nobel-Prize Laureate does not come true, I will inspire one of my students enough to achieve it.
	Year: 2009 Elan Nguyen Bradenton, FL, Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School College Plans: Harvard College   I am the oddball in my family. Physically, it is clear why. Only my Dad surpasses me in height. My mom and even my two sisters, who are 7 and 13 years older than me, have to look up to talk to me. Also unlike the rest of my family, I love sports. I used to play football with the neighborhood kids, watch SportsCenter 24/7, and collect baseball cards. These days, I devote my energy towards just one sport – basketball – and hope to play competitively in college. But what’s most puzzling to my family is that I do not obsess over movies like they do. In spite of our differences, however, my family and I get along just fine. In fact, they made me who I am, and I owe my accomplishments to their unconditional love and support over all those years.
	Year: 2010 Brooke M.. Griffin Orlando, FL, Dr. Phillips High School College Plans: Harvard University   My friends would describe me as a hybrid of Isaac Newton and Angelina Jolie, with Newton’s innovative brilliance and Angelina’s unquenchable appetite for collecting small foreign children. While I can’t say I disagree with this statement, I like to think there’s more to me than that. For one, I’m a fervent disciple of the arts: I read Vonnegut, Salinger, and Camus; I play Debussy, Chopin, and Liszt; I watch Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, and Mel Brooks. Moreover, I like to collect prestigious titles to boost my low self-esteem, and thus I am proud to be named a National Merit Scholar, an AP Scholar with Distinction, and voted “Most Likely to Say Something Random” by the members of my high school band. I plan on spending the next decade earning multiple degrees to help me achieve my dream of becoming an art museum curator.
	Year: 2010 Blaine A.. Krauss St. Petersburg, FL, Gibbs Senior High School College Plans: University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music   Blaine has no doubt where his place in society lies. Born with the gift to perform, Blaine has been practicing musical theater since a very young age. His talents have allowed him to receive national recognition from the NFAA's YoungArts program as a Silver Winner in Musical Theatre, an international invitation to perform at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, and numerous local and regional honors. His interests in social change and politics have led to his community involvement with his local Boys and Girls Club of America, where he reached out to underprivileged kids in pursuit of their artistic dreams. He is president of his high school's Thespian society, a member of the Gay-Straight alliance, and maintains a high academic standard. Recently, he has realized that his place in today’s society will be to serve his community as best he can; whether it’s through his talents or his volunteerism, he will continue to give back all that he has received.
	Year: 2010 Tyler C.. Laprade Palm Bay, FL, Palm Bay High School College Plans: Massachusetts Institute of Technology   Sports are everything to me. I’d never even heard of a front headlock or topspin in middle school, and now I’m on Palm Bay High’s Swimming, Wrestling, Track, and Tennis teams. I don’t really know how I let my friend talking me into coming to Track, but it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, because I kept adding a sport each year, until I ended up with at least one of them being in season the entire year round. This gives me a ridiculously fast metabolism; I eat about as much as the rest of my family combined. I also devote much of my time to my church, Our Lady of Grace. I volunteer as an altar server and at Vacation Bible School. It is very important to me that no matter how far I get, I always keep in mind that the Lord has given me everything.
	Year: 2010 Patrick G.. Mangan Tallahassee, FL, John Paul II Catholic High School College Plans: University of Dallas    “The perplexity of life arises from there being too many interesting things in it for us to be interested properly in any of them.” I must confess that I am just as perplexed as Chesterton, for I lament that there are but twenty-four hours in each day and twenty-four million (give or take seven) things I would like to pursue. My chief interests are my Catholic faith, community service, reading and writing, economics, politics, and philosophy. Additionally, I enjoy many other areas of study, including mathematics, history, Spanish, and Latin. Sports have comprised a very large and rewarding part of my life, and I have played baseball, football, basketball, golf, and run cross country on a varsity level. I am a hard worker, and I enjoy spending time with my family and friends.

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