28 • Thursday, September 20, 2018
SCHOOLS
OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL
OTM Schools Name National Merit Semifinalists
William Davis, Kendall Owens, Spencer Robinson, Sarah Simmons and William Smith. Baynes Autrey, Holly Brown, Denson Camp, Benjamin Fu, Katelyn McInerney and Anna Rooney.
ALABAMA SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS:
OAK MOUNTAIN HIGH SCHOOL:
THE ALTAMONT SCHOOL:
SPAIN PARK HIGH SCHOOL:
Arrington Harper, William Price and Aiden Yoder.
Asher Desai, Amrita Lakhanpal, Vivek Sasse and Spencer Skidmore. BRIARWOOD CHRISTIAN SCHOOL:
John Kynerd.
JOHN CARROLL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL:
Lucy Spero.
HOMEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL:
Riley Abney, James Brabston, Ian Crawford, William Keith,
David Barrett, Michael Colby and Anatha Korrapati. Lauren Choi, Benjamin Hartwiger, Rory Luthin, Manish Nagaraj, William Schoel, Zachary Shaw, Bryce Thornton and Anastasia Zellner. VESTAVIA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL:
Colin Bamford, Rachel Bates, James Hogland, Bryce Hutchinson, Alison Levine, Nicholas Muscolino, Lauren Nelson, Sydney Nelson, Ritika Samant, Julia Stewart and Xiaochi Zhang.
Homewood: Front: Eliza Thornton, Samantha Le and Riley Abney. Back: Jackson Wallace, Collins Keith, Ian Crawford, Campbell Brabston and Allain Rapadas.
Hoover: Front: Anna Muthalaly, Abhinav Venkatesan and Shehzan Maredia. Back: Ronald Yuan, Hubert Couch, Emily Hagood and George Chen.
Vestavia Hills: Front, from left: Ritika Samant, Rachel Bates, Alison Levine, Julia Stewart, Lauren Nelson and Sydney Nelson. Back: Bryce Hutchinson, Cross Hogland, Colin Bamford, Walter Zhang and Nicholas Muscolino.
Photo courtesy Hoover School System
MOUNTAIN BROOK HIGH SCHOOL:
The Altamont School: Vivek Sasse, Asher Desai, Amrita Lakhanpal and Spencer Skidmore.
Photo courtesy Vestavia Hills High School
INDIAN SPRINGS SCHOOL:
Spain Park: Zachary Shaw, Rory Luthin, William Schoel, Anastasia Zellner, Lauren Choi, Manish Nagaraj, Benjamin Hartwiger and Bryce Thornton. At press time photos from Alabama School of Fine Arts, Briarwood Christian, John Carroll Catholic, Indian Springs, Mountain Brook and Oak Mountain were not available.
Spain Park Senior Wins Finalist Slot in Change the Game App Competition
Keeping it classy! CUSTOM MONOGRAMS, ILLUSTRATIONS, PAPER GOODS AND MORE
!
205.870.1097
WEEZIEBDESIGNS.COM
Spain Park High School senior Lauren Choi recently earned one of five spots in the Change the Game finals, a game design competition for women sponsored by Google Play. According to school officials, Choi’s game, “Palette,” was inspired by her experiences in her art class, mixing paint colors. In the game, players are given a color and must mix other paint colors together to match the target shade. Over the summer, Google HQ staff visited SPHS to interview Choi about her game, during which time she demonstrated her painting skills, discussed her artwork and explained her game. Though she did not win the grand prize, as a finalist Choi went on an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles to attend the E3 event and showcase her design, which will soon be available on Good Play. While in LA, she attended a ceremony for women in gaming, toured Google Los Angeles and earned a scholarship to attend Girls Make Games Summer Camp.
Catfish and Cattle Farms in Eutaw. According to MBE guidance counselor Anna Carlisle, Beeker spoke to the fourth- through sixth-grade students about his passion for farming, which led him away from his originally intended career in more traditional business. Beeker encouraged the students to find their passion and pursue it, regardless of whether it is traditional work. Beeker said it was because of his small business that he saw a need to have a bigger voice, and that led him to run for the PSC. Beeker was joined by his grandson, current MBHS senior Patton Browning, who shared his experience learning about farming with his grandfather.
Photo courtesy Moountain Brook Elementary
George Chen, Hubert Couch, Emily Hagood, Shehzan Maredia, Anna Muthalaly, Abhinav Venkatesan and Ronald Yuan.
Photo courtesy The Altamont School
HOOVER HIGH SCHOOL:
Photo courtesy Homewood High School
Samantha Le, Allain Rapadas, Eliza Thornton and William Wallace.
Photo courtesy Hoover School System
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation released its annual list of semifinalists on Aug. 12, recognizing students throughout the Over the Mountain area. These students are among the 16,000 semifinalists chosen from schools throughout the country who represent less than one percent of the 1.6 million students who took the Preliminary SAT / National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test in 2018. Finalists will be announced in early 2019 and those students will eligible for about 7,500 scholarships worth more than $32 million, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
MBE Hosts September Speaker Series Featuring Chip Beeker
Kicking off the school’s Career Speaker Spotlight Series, Alabama Public Service Commissioner Chip Beeker visited Mountain Brook Elementary this month to discuss his work on the PSC and as owner of Beeker
Diana Browning, center, with Teresa and Chip Beeker.