Everett Alvarez students advance to statewide Cyberpatriot competition

The computer science team of Everett Alvarez High School is participating in the top tier of the state round of CyberPatriot-X. It's believed to be the only one in Monterey County which made it this far in the competition.

The team is led by Chief Warrant Officer Edward Lawson and coached by math teacher James Clayton. Student members are Lenny Aleman, Ricardo Alvarez, Jose Lopez, Jasmine Montith, Xavier Avila and team captain Darren Osais. The team's performance earned it a spot on the state round, which concludes on Sunday.

“The team is currently in the middle of the state competition as I type,” Clayton wrote in an email. “Darren is working on Ubuntu 14, Jasmine is on Windows 2008 Server, Lenny and Xavier are on Windows 10 and Jose and Ricardo are working on the Cisco Quiz and Packet Tracer. It's a six hour marathon of fixing computer vulnerabilities. It's pretty exciting when they repair a vulnerability, a bell goes off indicating points being scored.”

The CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education Program was established by the Air Force Association to inspire students to pursue careers in cyber security and other careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The main competition challenges teams of two to six students across the United States, Canada and Department of Defense teams abroad to find cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated scenarios.

The Everett Alvarez team also has a friendly competition with other Monterey County teams, and for the second year in a row it's kept the ceremonial throphy that commemorates besting them all.

Good luck on the competition, guys and gal. Break a leg!

Highway 68 ROV Club Wins Again at MATE Underwater Robotics Competition

The Highway 68 ROV Club "Sea Sweepers" finished first overall for the fourth consecutive year in the MATE Monterey Bay Regional Underwater Robotics Competition in Aptos. The team now advances to compete in the International ROV Championship at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex., in June.

This year's competition simulates the use of underwater ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) in the Gulf of Mexico and on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Teams are required to complete several underwater mission tasks, submit a 25-page technical report, and make a technical sales presentation to working marine science and engineering professionals who serve as competition judges. The “Sea Sweepers” had the highest scores in two of the three competition elements.

The “Sea Sweepers” team includes Salinas High School students J.P. O’Dell, Tyler Allen, Michael Georgiarou, Jack Hyland, Hanna Hitchcock, Chase Oleson, and Brian Ishii, independent student Montana Sprague, and John Yeager from York School. Working in Yeager's garage beginning in the fall, the group designed and built a very sophisticated ROV that could be transported to Jupiter for exploration of Europa’s oceans.

The Highway 68 ROV Club is independent and privately funded, so they welcome contributions and local business sponsorships. For more information, click here or contact the team’s coach and mentor, Kurt Yeager at kurt@seasweepersrov.com .

Go Sweepers! Good luck fundraising and traveling to Houston!

York Students shine on "Chinese Bridge"

Three York students earned top spots at the “Chinese Bridge” U.S. West Coast Competition: Chanha Kim and Justin Wong tied for second and Genevieve Roeder-Hensley third place.

The "Chinese Bridge" language proficiency competition is a large-scale international contest assessing students' Chinese language proficiency and knowledge about China, Chinese cultural talents, and comprehensive learning abilities.

The competition was started to kindle interest and passion in foreign youth learning Chinese and to further their understanding of Chinese language and culture. Over 20,000 students from more than 50 countries around the world participated in the preliminary competitions.

To qualify for the U.S. West Coast Competition, students submitted a four to five-minute recording on Chinese language in their lives. Judges selected the best submissions to attend the competition where students delivered their original recordings in person. In addition, students prepared a two to three-minute presentation on a cultural activity or talent like the art of Chinese paper making or playing a Chinese instrument.

York School Chinese teacher, Lei Lei Bates, is understandably excited.

“I am so proud of our students," she said in a statement. "This is a highly competitive competition, and for our first time competing, I was very pleased with their preparation and results.”

Justin Wong , Chanha Kim , and Genevieve Roeder-Hensley

History Day winners go on to statewide competition

Over 130 middle school students from all around Monterey County participated in the 26th annual History Day.

In preparation for the competition, held March 12 at Los Arboles Middle School, students engaged in extensive research of primary sources in order to present papers, posters, exhibits, performances, documentaries, and websites based on the theme “Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History”. Students researched the impact, influence, and change that these events have had (or will have) on society, culture, and the course of human events.

The winners of the county competition will proceed to the California State History Day competition, which will take place May 5-7 in Rocklin, Calif.

County winners
Junior Individual Website:
Courtney Hand, “Exploring the Sewing Machine’s Impact on Women’s Work and the Clothing Industry.”
Broden Murray, “Exploring the Transistor’s Impact Upon Modern Computing.”

Junior Group Website:
Rose Akcan and Julia Alessio, “Exploring Pompeii: A City Rediscovered.”
Marshall Boen, Dante Garderet, and Viraj Shankar, “Exploring How the World Wars Affected Aviation.”

Junior Individual Documentary:
J.T. Byrne, “Exchanging Baseball Diamonds for Sandlots during World War II.”
Kate Popky, “Exploring the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

Junior Group Documentary:
Misa Franknedy, Suheil Ibrahim, Courtney Bishop, Kyle Bend, and Dale Sanchez, “Morris Frank and Buddy: How Guide Dogs Changed the World.”
Andrea Villa Cardenas, Joshua Berndt, Fletcher Gaucher, and Robert Flores, “The Gun That Won the West.”

Junior Group Performance:
Oakley Pelton and Angela Guevarra, “Adventures of Lewis Carroll.”
Nathan Bguyen, Mariana Gaytan Salgado, Kelly Lucha, and Kaylee Lucha, “Mozart: Exploring the Story Behind the Notes.”

Senior Group Performance:
Gabriella Flanders and Tara Smith, “From England to Salt Lake City: Exploring our Mormon Roots.”

Junior Historical Paper:
Heidi Hansch, “The City of Light: Baron Haussmann.”
Nina Harmer, “Revolutionizing Parenting: Dr. Benjamin Spock.”

Junior Individual Exhibits:
Mariah Trinity, “Exploring Radio: An Encounter with Better Communication.”
Graziella Cosentino, “Julia Morgan: Encountering Prejudice as the First Woman Architect in California.”

Junior Group Exhibits:
Riley Mann, Cameron Hill, Elijah Quenga, Sophia Boureston, and Isaiah Fuentes, “One Word… Plastics.”
Angela Zhang and Fei Wu, “Women’s Suffrage: Exploring Freedom for Women.”

Congratulations, winners! Have fun in Rocklin!

Hartnell speech team finishes strong its regular tournament season

The Hartnell Speech team finished its regular tournament season with nine individual awards and a second place overall team award at the Las Positas Invitational held Feb. 6 in Livermore.

Thirteen two-year and four-year schools from around the region competed on Saturday, including San Francisco State University, Diablo Valley College and Modesto Junior College.

Individual awards included:

Susana Alcantar, 1st Place, Informative Speaking
Marc Dover, 1st Place, Communication Analysis
Meritzy Ayala, 2rd Place, Communication Analysis
Esmeralda Ramirez, 3rd Place, Prose Interpretation
Sarina Atkins, 3rd Place, Persuasive Speaking
Jasleem Bonilla, 4th place, Persuasive Speaking
Adrian Flores, 5th place, Program of Oral Interpretation
Lourdes Tinajero, 6th place, Program of Oral Interpretation
Andrea Cervates, 7th place, Program of Oral Interpretation
The team will participate in the Northern California Spring Championships February 20 and 21 in Modesto. They will also attend the California Communication College State Championships March 9-13 at City College of San Francisco.

Stevenson's Chapman Caddell, a scientist in the making

Chapman Caddell, a senior at Stevenson School, was named a U.S. high school semifinalist for the Intel Science Talent Search earlier this year. The talent search is the nation’s oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition and it honors exceptional high school seniors for their scientific research and their potential as future leaders in the scientific community. Chapman received a $1,000 award from the Intel Foundation, and an additional $1,000 grant was made to Stevenson School.

He was one of 300 out of 1,750 that applied to qualify for this national contest, although he did not qualify to be one of the top 40 finalists. Quite an achievement, given that the application process is extensive and requires original research, multiple faculty recommendations, transcripts, AP test scores, standardized test scores, personal essays, summer institute participation, and a listing of awards.

Chapman’s apparatus that earned him this recognition resulted in his discovery of—among other things—methods to reduce the threshold “Leidenfrost Effect” temperature by half (from 650F to 300F) and condense airborne moisture, an important application in a drought environment.

I've written about Chapman's accomplishments in the past and no doubt we'll continue to hear about his success in the future. Way to go!

Carmel mock trial team outdoes itself in San Francisco

Last year, in their debut participation in Empire Mock trial in San Francisco, Carmel High students took fourth place.

This year, they snatched silver.

The team, composed of Mindy Morgan, Yuan Tao, Savannah Foster, Anna Gumberg, Madeleine Fontenay, Sara Phillips, Teejan Saddy, Becca Goren, Julia Sudol, Madi Brothers, Ian Geertsen, Alex Poletti, and Sarah Morgan, was undefeated in the preliminary rounds, reports team coach Bill Schrier. After earning a spot in the final, they finished second out of 22 teams from 6 countries.

That's not all. Teejan Saddy won best witness, while Anna Gumberg won best attorney.

Congratulations, gals and guys. Maybe you'll climb in state mock trial too? ;)

The Sea Sweepers team of the Highway 68 ROV Club is gearing up for an international competition in Canada after being named “All Around Champion” in the annual Marine Advanced Technology Competition held on May 9 in Aptos.

The team, comprised for JP O’Dell, Tyler Allen, Michael Georgariou and Kyle Nishimoto from Salinas High School; John Yeager and Kaden Agha from York School; and Douglas Jackson from Palma High School; was formed in 2010, and three of the members have been part of it since then.

Since the club was established by Kurt Yeager it has achieved first place overall in all three classes the regional MarineAdvanced Technology Education (MATE) ROVcompetition offers.

The international contest takes place June 25-27 in Newfoundland. Go Sweepers!

Carmel mock trial team places 6th in California tournament

Speaking of remarkable guys and gals, the team members of the Carmel High mock trial team placed 6th in California's tournament, competing against 33 other teams from all over the state.

The tournament took place Sunday in Riverside. 

"It's actually a much bigger deal than Empire because every team at state is already a champion," wrote the team's coach, government and politics teacher Bill Schrier. If you've read my previous stories and posts, you'll remember that Schrier credits "Empire" a prestigious, invitation-only mock trial tournament, with giving Carmel the edge. The team prepared over the summer to compete in Empire in the fall, which Schrier help them better prepare for the countywide competition.

And the statewide.

 "California is widely recognized as he best state for mock trial in the country,"  Schrier said.

California Mock Trial officials "award medals to the top 8 teams. We came in 6th, and that hasn't ever happened to a team from Monterey County," he wrote!

Way to go, team. You make Monterey County proud!

Hartnell's speech team improves performance at state competition

It's the third time that Hartnell Speech Team competes at the state level, and the guys and gals did not disappoint. They competed with 27 other colleges and universities at the California Community College State Championships March 11-15 in Woodland Hills, California, and two of the team members got second-place rankings in the preliminary round.

Victoria Garcia and Joy Jubane received 2nd place rankings in the preliminary round. Garcia competed in Communication Analysis on the current trend of women and men seeking surgeries to become ‘Human Barbies,’ attempting to look like the iconic dolls Barbie and Ken. Jubane competed with her interpretation of the humorous prose, “The Pony Problem.” She portrayed a young New York woman with a secret collection of ‘toy ponies.’

“The team was excited for Joy and her performance,” said Coach Jason Hough. “This was the highest ranking she had all year, and for it to happen at state was a great way to end the season.”

Front L to R: Tanaya Landry, Lourdes Tinajero, Andrea Cervantes, Adrian Flores, Victoria Garcia, Joy Jubane. Back L to R: Christopher Rendon, Marc Dover, coach Jason Hough, Meritzy Ayala, Sarina Atkins.

To reach the finals and qualify for the national tournament, students must earn a combination of 1st and 2nd place rankings in all three rounds. “Last year we had one student come close to qualifying for the national tournament,” said Hough. “This year, we had two. We now have our sites on next year’s state tournament and our goal of attending the national tournament.”

The following students received a 3rd place ranking in preliminary competition:

Adrian Flores, Poetry Interpretation
Andrea Cervantes, Communication Analysis
Christopher Rendon, Dramatic Interpretation
Christopher Rendon and Lourdes Tinajero, Dramatic Duo Interpretation
Lourdes Tinajero, Prose Interpretation
Meritzy Ayala, Informative Speaking

Also competing for the team were Marc Dover, Sarina Atkins, and Tanaya Landry. The Hartnell Speech Team will host a showcase performance from 7 to 9:15 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, at Steinbeck Hall and is open to the general public.

Sofia Chang is Pacific Grove's young entrepreneur of the year

About 123 Pacific Grove Middle School students entered the Pacific Grove Young Entrepreneurs Award.

And the top honor went to Sofia Chang, with her business "Solely Sofia," through which she designs, manufactures and markets tiny crocheted animals.

Sofia, you rock. And your tiny animals too.

Second place went to Matthew Rivera, for his business idea "Pinch Pot Party" which brings arts and crafts  parties where guests leave with a souvenir of their making to take home.

The third place went to Chris Matthews, whose business essay "Red Wedge" proposes how a small idea can have big potential with a smart marketing program.

Students earning honorable mentions were:

Fiorin Ballerini, "Fiosters" Coasters mad from used Legos.
Camryn Wood, "Bee Chill Beauty," A Beauty Product Line.
Jacob Alt, "CA Bike Cam," A website for mountain bikers to sample the trails via GoPro video before they go.
Luke Herzog, "Bookmark it," Custom bookmarks made on-line.
Max Afifi, "Dryer Dryer Scent Pillows," Lavender sachets sturdy enough for the dryer.
Beckett Sobok, "Kits for Kids," Kits filled with activities and smiles for kids in the hospital.
Madeline Ericson, "Comics for a Cause," A series of comic books geared towards teaching valuable lessons about nature.
Freddy Albert, "Doggie Packs," Custom made dog back packs.

Launched in 1996, the Young Entrepreneurs Award stimulates Pacific Grove students’ interest in business and serves to better prepare them for entering the work force or college. The awards presentation was held this year on Tuesday at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History in Pacific Grove. The presentation acknowledged approximately 123 Pacific Grove Middle School students who entered this year’s competition. The top three winners earned $300, $200, and $100 respectively, and each honorable mention $25.

Carmel's practice on "Empire" gives them edge in Monterey County mock trial

If you read the story that my fine colleague Peter Funt wrote a few weeks ago, you already know Carmel emerged champion of the Monterey County high school mock trial. If you missed the story, here it is.

It had been a few years since Carmel won the tournament. In fact, Pacific Grove had been the winner for the three previous consecutive years. So what made the difference? Carmel High government and politics teacher Bill Schrier credits "Empire."

 "Empire" is a selective mock trial competition that's been taking place in New York since 2007, and it was held for the first time in San Francisco last fall. It was the first time Carmel participated, and the team earned forth place among 24 teams that came from different parts of the United States and abroad. 

And that gave them the edge, Schrier said.

" Empire was instrumental in providing the students experience in a high level competition prior to County.  It also allowed the team to bond earlier.  I honestly don't know how we'd have done it without Empire," Schrier wrote in an email.

So there you have it. Carmel is now getting ready for the statewide tournament, after getting some deserved recognition by the Carmel City Council. Way to go ladies! Can't wait to hear how it goes in Riverside. 

Stevenson's Emma Morgan a finalist in national competition

Stevenson Junior Emma Morgan was recently selected as one of six finalists in MIT's nationwide THINK scholarship competition. The MIT team reviewed papers submitted by over 100 top high school students from across the country. Of these entries, six including Emma’s were selected as finalists, and three will be awarded the opportunity to work with MIT faculty and students to develop the idea in the laboratory. Final selections will be announced late this week.

As one of the six finalists, Emma won an expenses-paid trip to MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts to present her paper, Artificial Musculature: A New Approach to the Linear Solenoid, to the THINK team (a panel of MIT professors, alumni, and students) and was interviewed extensively by the selection team on Wednesday.

The competition consisted of three parts: a written 10-page paper with concept drawings describing the idea, a 25-minute personal presentation at MIT, and an extensive interview with the selection team.

Each paper proposed an innovative idea in science, engineering, or math that was in the early concept stage and had yet to be developed. Emma's inspiration for her paper came while she was trying to build an autonomous robot toy and discovered existing solutions were not very good at simulating the linear movement created by a natural muscle contraction.  (Submitted by Elena Mueller)

Congratulations, Emma! Pretty impressive! It will never cease to amaze me to see what young people are capable of achieving when given enough love, attention and resources!

Students from Monterey Bay Charter school conquer MATHCOUNTS

Monterey Bay Charter School won first place at the MATHCOUNTS regional competition held Saturday at San Benancio Middle School. Monterey Bay Charter officials are delighted in the win, as it's the first time the school achieves this feat.

"We got the team award, and one of our team members got third place award," said Kristi Heath, the school's administrative coordinator. "It's pretty exciting. This was really a big win, specially as a small school."

In the past, the school has won individual trophies and a third place team award but it’s the first time the school will go on to the state competition, Heath said.

Members of the winning team -- coached by Sandra Boyd -- are: Pavel Hickman, Tomas Hickman, Eugene Pastor, and Andrew Simpson. The team will now advance to the state competition, to be held at Stanford University on March 21.

San Carlos School came in second place, followed by Santa Catalina School.

MATHCOUNTS is a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students. More than 6 million students across the U.S. have participated in MATHCOUNTS programs. Leadership at the local levels of the MATHCOUNTS Competition Series is provided by members of the California Society of Professional Engineers.

Greenfield's Jocelyn Sosa wants to compete in Australia

Greenfield's cross country star Jocelyn Sosa has been invited to compete in Australia with the Down Under Sports Organization. In the wake of a great season, Jocelyn and her parents believe this is a good opportunity for the studious athlete to polish her running skills.

"I was doing very well since the beginning, I was getting first place a lot," said Jocelyn, a junior at Greenfield High School. She finished the season in 18th place out of 200 runners, and overall, she had a great year which she wants to cap with a trip in the summer.

 Jocelyn needs $5,000 for her trip, and she's hoping community members will help her cover her costs. She'll be having car washes, bake sales, everything that low-income students do these days to raise money. Her mother Alba Sosa asked me if I could do a write up for her in hopes that people donate to her cause. Sure, I said. So here it is.

One of these days, Jocelyn may open up a GoFund me or another social media donation campaign. In the meantime, you can send your donations addressed to Jocelyn Sosa, PO Box 1592, Greenfield CA 93927. Or you can donate directly to the Down Under Sports here. It's not tax deductible, unfortunately.

HEART of Hartnell wins 2014 Mock design competition in Chicago

Hartnell Students took the Windy City by Storm! They earned first prize in the 2014 Mock Firms International Skyscraper Challenge in Chicago. If you missed the initial article about their trip, you can find it here.

While in Chicago, they were wined and dined by former Hartnell President Phoebe Helm. She was on hand to see their triumph. And Tuesday, Hartnell will celebrate the students with a press conference in their honor. Will have to miss it, but what a wonderful achievement, guys and gal. We're proud of you!

Robotics teams make the Monterey Bay proud

The competition in St. Louis came and went, and the boys and girls from York, Seaside, and Carmel robotics teams did great.

As you probably remember from my earlier reporting, the three robotics teams earned the right to advance to the final competition in St. Louis, Missouri. They left last week, competed, and had time to tour around (judging by the photos posted by Tom Clifford, Carmel's coach extraordinaire. You can look at his blog here.)

Katy Castagna, York's mom extraordinaire, accompanied her son and all the teams through their adventure. She reports that the Seaside Bay Bots had the best record, with six wins and four losses. York's Deus Ex Machina and Carmel's Rocking Bots both had four wins and six losses.

"We should be very proud to have three local teams compete among 400 of the best from all over the world," Katy wrote.

Indeed, we are.

(Photos courtesy of Tom Clifford and Katy Castagna)

Winners of the U.S. Constitution project earn trip to D.C.

Sixteen Monterey County students from four middle schools throughout Monterey County were  recognized on March 11 by the Monterey County Office of Education and the Dan and Lillian King Foundation for their participation in the second annual Monterey County United States Constitution Project.

The project was launched by the Monterey County Constitution Project Committee two years ago to enrich the lives of Monterey County 8th graders through greater knowledge of the U.S. Constitution. The primary goals of the project include curriculum development, materials and demonstration lessons.

In its second year, the program was expanded to include four middle schools. The 8th grade U.S. history teachers implemented the curriculum, activities and U.S. Constitution writing competition. Students were challenged to express their ideas through various U.S. Constitution writing and speaking projects, including short persuasive essays, spoken word poetry, and small group and individual debates.

The top essay winner from each school has been awarded a scholarship for a trip to Washington, D.C. Students have the opportunity to visit the nation’s Capital and Philadelphia to witness the documents, buildings and monuments that have shaped our history with their own eyes.What an opportunity for these youngsters! Way to go!

The winners are:

Los Arboles Middle School
Monterey Peninsula Unified School District
Kailani Gilbuena
Drake Johnson
Zena Lababidi
Alexander Soria

Main Street Middle School
Soledad Unified School District
Jesus Enrique Cuevas
Michelle Reyes Ortiz
Elena Rose Meza
Robert Wayne Santa Ana

North Monterey County Middle School
North Monterey County Unified School District
Isidoro Barragan Mendez
Andy Chhoun
Cassady Healy
Katelyn James

Washington Middle School
Salinas Union High School District
Sophia Arredando
Darcy Davis
Edward Trujillo
Andy Zheng

Monterey Peninsula Robotics teams need your help

The news has spread like wildfire. Three robotics teams from the Monterey Peninsula earned a pass to the national competition by showing how good the students are with engineering and science. You can read my story about it here. The teams from Carmel, Seaside, and York are raising funds to fly to St. Louis, Missouri, later this month and compete in the national FIRST robotics tournament.

And they're turning to the community for help. You can contribute to their efforts by sending a check to their respective schools, or by pledging funds to this joint Indigogo campaign .

Carmel High ASB
PO Box 222780
Carmel CA 93922

Seaside High School
Attention Robotics Club
2200 Noche Buena St
Seaside, CA 93955

York School
Attention: Robotics Team
9501 York Rd
Monterey, CA 93940


Go teams! I can't wait to see how far you get.

Monterey County teens compete in Robotics in Sacramento

California Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson will attend the Sacramento Regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition at UC Davies.

High school students from 55 California schools will compete for $19 million in scholarships -- and I know we have several students from local high schools in the mix. Good luck, guys and gals! Let me know how well you place in the competition.