A Synopsis of Recent Blazer Accomplishments, Awards, Events, and Other Cool Things

• Blair's Ocean Bowl Team of Chris Silberholz, Elizabeth Fang, Sean McCanty, and Charles Kong won third place at the 2008 Chesapeake Bay Bowl
• Jonathan Haughton, Louis Varella, Chris Grindley, and Mohamed Mansaray captured the 4A Maryland State Indoor Track 4x200-meter relay title
• Blair teams took first and second place in the 2008 Loyola College High School Programming Contest; the team of Jacob Hurwitz, Nils Molina, Jennifer Wang, and Andrew Das-Sarma won the contest
• The Boys Swimming and Diving Team were the 2008 MCPS DIvision II champions
• Louis Wasserman was named one of 40 Finalists for the 2008 Intel Science Talent Search, receiving a $5,000 scholarship and competing for a $100,00 top scholarship in March; Andrew Kung, Benjamin Lee, Timothy Peng, and Jasleen Salwan were also named Semifinalists
• Seven of Maryland's forty-seven 2008 Presidential Scholar candidates are from Blair: William Burton, Benjamin Lee, Ryan Waldman, Thomas Warner, Julie Zhu, Christina Zou, and former Blazer Dawn Brimmer.
• Nilan Schnure and Hareesh Ganesan won 1st and 2nd place, respectively, at the 2007 Greater Washington DC Metropolitan Area Junior Science and Humanities Symposium and will compete at the National JSHS in Orlando in May.
• In 2007, two Blazers, Hannah Nelson and Peter Lansworth, won Honorable Mentions in Apple Inc.'s Voices for Innovation contest.
• Blazers Leah Gibbons, Caitlyn O’Donnell, Victor Wang, and Stevia Morawski were accepted into the 2007-2008 Maryland All-State Choral Groups.
• Juniors Christopher Hsing and Ben Zelinsky and Sophomores Rachel Gelfeld and Peggy Huong were accepted into the 2007-2008 All-State Senior Orchestra; Seniors Spencer Bonar, Owen Flannagan, Song Fu, and Sally Hardin, Juniors Jason Arora and Jaeho Kim, and Sophomores Jeechee Chen and Danielle Sok were accepted into the 2007-2008 All-State Senior Band.
• Ninth-grader James Chen was accepted into the 2007-2008 All-State Junior Orchestra and ninth-grader Michael Lee was accepted into the 2007-2008 All-State Junior Band
• Senior Charlotte Aldebron won the 2007 F. Scott Fitzgerald Scholar Award at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference; Senior Sara Cohen was named the 2007 winner of the F. Scott Fitzgerald High School Short Story Contest.
• Senior Louis Wasserman was named as a regional finalist in the 2007 Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Seniors Andrew Kung, Benjamin Lee, Boris Vassilec, and Yang Yang were semifinalists.
• Class of 2004 graduate Melis N. Anahtar was named a 2008 Rhodes Scholar.
• Blazer and Oboist Chao Xue was chosen to be the oboe soloist in Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C with the National Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the concert series for elementary students in 2007.
• The Cheerleaders are 2007 MCPS Division II champions; Cheer also took the 2007 Spirit Award .
• Class of 2007 grad Matt McCutchen placed ninth in the International Computer Science Olympiad in Zagreb, Croatia.
• Blazer Seniors Vijay Baharani, Jack Berry, Samuel Bullard-Sisken, William Burton, Jason Choi, Caleb Fan, Hareesh Ganesan, Priyanka Gokhale, Sarah Kinter, Andrew Kung, Kun Li, Laura Mirviss, Timothy Peng, Jocelin Potash, Molly Reed, Jasleen Salwan, Nilan Schnure, Rachita Sood, Thomas Stokes, Timothy Visclosky, Ryan Waldman, Jenny Wang, Louis Wasserman, Junqian Zhang, Lance Zhao, Julie Zhu, and Christina Zou were named finalists in the 2007 Maryland Distinguished Scholar Competition, and each is eligible to receive a $3,000 scholarship to a Maryland college or university.
• Forty-three Blair Seniors were named semifinalists in the 2007 National Merit Scholarship Program: Vijay Baharani, Jack Berry, Katherine Bertaut, William Bucher, Sam Bullard-Sisken, William Burton, Noori Chai, Jason Choi, Caleb Fan, Malcolm Foley, Hareesh Ganesan, Priyanka Gokhale, Walker Hatchett, Andrew Kannan, Sarah Kinter, Andrew Kung, Benjamin Lee, David Li, Kun Li, Zhengzhe Liu, Priyanka Nargundkar, Timothy Peng, Jocelin Potash, Molly Reed, Seth Reeker, Jasleen Salwan, Nilan Schnure, Noah Sennett, Christopher Silberholz, Rachita Sood, Thomas Stokes, Nitin Sukumar, Susan Thomas, Timothy Visclosky, Ryan Waldman, Jenny Wang, Thomas Warner, Louis Wasserman, Yi Yuan, Junqian Zhang, Cong Zhao, Julie Zhu, Christina Zou.
• Blair Senior Matt McCutchen has been awarded the Siemens Foundation's Award for Advanced Placement for the 2006-2007 school year.
• In 2007, Senior Meagham Mallari won a Silver Medallion in the Hispanic Heritage Youth Awards; she received a $2000 educational grant for her work in journalism.
• The Class of 2007's Jordan Turner and John Agard were among the eight MCPS students to win $2500 in the National Achievement Scholarship Program for Outstanding African American Students.
• Blair's SGA was one of three in the state awards the Simon Felix Award for Leadership and Service.
• Senior Audrey Kibetin was named 2007 High School Journalist of the Year by the Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Association.
• Senior Avi Edelman won the John Cannon Memorial Scholarship in 2007, a $40,000 prize for excellence in student filmmaking .
• Blair took 25 awards and honorable mentions in March's 51st annual Montgomery County Science Fair, including senior Vicky Yao's runner-up for the Grand Prize
• The Blair Computer Team of Edward Gan, Benjamin Li, Matt McCutchen, and Louis Wasserman earned a $2500 first prize at the 2007 University of Maryland Computer Programming Contest.
• Seniors Isaac Arnsdorf and Alie O'Hora were selected to represent Maryland at the 2007 Al Neuharth Free Spirit Journalism Scholarship and Conference. Arnsdorf was one of two top journalism scholars who won a $50,000 scholarship.
• Senior Ross Williams was named to the 2007 Montgomery County All-Star Basketball team
• Ten Blazers were named as 2007 Presidential Scholar semifinalists: Merlyn Deng, Andrew Durnford, David Goode, Kathy Jee, Julia Kaufman, Jisung Kim, Brian Lawrence, Benjamin Strauss, Eric Su, and Rebecca Vogel.
• The Blair Computer Team placed first at the Loyola College High School Programming Contest in February 2007.
• Blair's a cappella group, InToneNation, was nominated for the 2007 Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards for Best High School Album and Best High School Song; they also were featured the international student a cappella organization Varsity Vocals' Best of High School A Cappella 2007 album.
• The Blazer Pom squad placed 2nd in the 2007 MCPS Pom competition; captain Zoë Bell won the first place Captain Award.
• Brian Lawrence and Matt McCutchen of the Class of 2007 were named Intel Science Talent Search Finalists, receiving a $5,000 scholarship.