Year-End Awards and Recognitions

Special Honors from Outside Organizations

National Merit Scholarship

Robert Cui, Senior

Among all students who entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program, only about 16,000 were named Semifinalists. They were designated on a state representational basis, in proportion to each state’s percentage of the national total of graduating high school seniors. In order to advance in the competition and be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, a Semifinalist had to become a Finalist by fulfilling several requirements that included submitting a detailed scholarship application and presenting a record of very high academic performance. All winners of about 7,250 National Merit Scholarships were chosen from the group of more than 15,000 distinguished Finalists.

NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing Contest

Sophia Cheng, Junior

Sophia was awarded a First Class designation (the highest level) in the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English) Achievement Awards in

VEX Robotics World Championship

Alexander Dayanov, 8th grade

Alexander, his brother, Timur (former Pinewood student), and their robotics team won the VRC High School World Championship in Dallas, Texas. Alexander is a driver and builder on the team.

Margaret Thompson Essay Contest

Adeline Xie, 5th grade, 3rd place

Mitali Anandikar, 6th grade, 1st place (tie)

Shanku Parameswaran, 6th grade, 1st place (tie)

Mac Zang, 6th grade, 3rd Place

Children from grades three through six are invited to participate in the Margaret Thompson Essay contest through their schools. Essays are written covering a specific theme. Each year hundreds of essays are judged by community members and prizes are awarded in the spring.

A list of the 2023 essay winners and their essays can be viewed here

Tech Challenge

Jonathan is sending individual names from the award-winning teams.

A record-breaking 11 teams from Pinewood took part in the Tech Challenge–facing off against 300+ teams–and three teams came home with top awards! Our students showed incredible dedication, courage, and collaboration throughout the four-month-long preparation process leading up to the annual designengineering competition.

NASA Langley Student Art Contest

This year’s competition attracted students in grades K-12 from across the country and highlighted the talents of those students in both digital and traditional art. The theme this year sparked an abundance of inspiration and the artwork submitted combines aeronautics, earth science and exploration to help us take a peek into the future at “What’s Next!” (artcontest.larc.nasa.gov/)

These awards were shared with Pinewood's Communications Office via outside organizations, teachers, administrators, and parents. The list is not exhaustive of all Pinewood students who have received an award this year. If your student wins an award in the future and you would like it shared with the community, please let us know at communications@pinewood.edu.