Discus Awards

Technology

Much of my high school career revolves around my technological creations. To start, I have self-published two iPhone apps to the iTunes App Store: World Trivia, a quiz on national/global issues, and OopgaJump, a fun physics-based game. I am the founder and president of TechAction(programming club), and here I led the creation of a time management web app for the school’s counseling department. The first version of our app is currently on the front page of the school website, and counselors are using the tool to guide freshmen. Moreover, I have worked four months as a software developer in a tech startup, and I am also the webmaster for The Talon, our school newspaper. Finally, I have placed 2nd in a FBLA state competition for web site design; I also created our FBLA chapter website.

Academics

We can start with my stats: 4.51 GPA(4.0 unweighted; valedictorian), 2400 SAT’s. Eight AP tests by the end of junior year (5’s on seven of them), five SAT Subject Tests (800’s on four of them). My school performance has led to numerous awards, including National AP Scholar, National Merit Semifinalist, and the Harvard Book Award. I was also chosen as the delegate from our school for California Boys State.

But I also demonstrate academic excellence beyond the classroom. This past summer I participated in science research at the Garcia Summer Research Program, where I developed a computational model to analyze the physical properties of silicon nanowires. I submitted a research report to the prestigious Siemens Competition and was named as a semifinalist.

Work

From August to December of 2011, I worked as a software developer at Tackable Inc, a startup that created photojournalism apps for mobile devices. By the end of the first month, I had single-handedly finished the social media functionalities of their new iPad app. Then one day, I had a novel idea while sitting in a company meeting: why not develop an Android app as well? No employee had looked at that before, and after I suggested it to the boss, he made me in charge of its development. My inventive gears rapidly churned, and by the end of the second month I had developed that fleeting idea into the concrete foundations of an entirely new project. This 4-month stint at Tackable gave me valuable insights into new technological markets and the operation of startups.