I-SS board recognizes student achievements

Posted on by Mike Fuhrman

BY KARISSA MILLER

The Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education recognized students who have gone above and beyond to achieve academic excellence in spelling, science and math — and archery — during the board’s March meeting.

District Spelling Bee

Pictured (from left) are Superintendent Jeff James, Harini Jayakumar, the district and regional spelling bee winner, and school board member Brian Sloan.

The district spelling bee was held on February 13 at Unity Center in Statesville.

The competition lasted 20 rounds. The event concluded with the championship word “leviathan” securing the win. The champion advanced to the regional competition at the Carolina Panthers Stadium in Charlotte.

The first- and second-place finishers were recognized during the I-SS Board of Education meeting:
• First Place: Harini Jayakumar, 8th grade, The Brawley School
• Second Place: Teertha Doddipalli, 8th grade, Woodland Heights Middle School

“We are incredibly proud of these outstanding students and their achievements,” said Kelly Hinson, director of AIG, IB and Virtual Learning. “Congratulations to both students for their hard work, dedication and academic excellence.”

Jayakumar also won the regional competition and will advance to the national spelling bee in May.

Science & Engineering Fair

A total of 15 projects in elementary, middle and high school will represent the district March 21 at the state competition.

Following a rigorous round of virtual interviews and research presentations, a group of I-SS students secured their spots at the North Carolina State Science and Engineering Fair. The event was sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Due to the virtual format, participants were required to defend their research before a panel of judges using a “quad chart.” This is a professional-grade four-quadrant summary of their scientific findings.

The Junior Division saw a dominant performance by The Brawley School, which swept multiple categories. Notably, five projects from the school earned the prestigious Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators recipient status, marking them as some of the top middle-school researchers in the region.

At the High School level, South Iredell High School students continued their streak of excellence, taking home top honors in Biology, Technology and Engineering.

A total of 15 projects from the Elementary, Junior and Senior Divisions will now represent the district at NC State University on March 21.

The students include:
• Elementary: Spencer Meier (Lakeshore) and Keya Kolekar (Lake Norman).
• Junior: The Brawley School students Harini Jayakumar, Aryan Sharma, Varshitha Gopalakrishnan Swathika, Sahasra Nagarajan, Samritha Kumar, Aaryan Mansukhani, Raghav Garg, Aarav Talaviya, Lakshmanan Annamalai, and Obed Nayak.
• Senior: South Iredell High students Anish Banerjee, Harshith Dadi, Advaith Sudev, Nicholas Moore and Pooja Suresh.

Special Recognitions

While these students may not be moving to the state level, their research earned high praise from the UNCC judges.
• NASA Earth System Award: Advaitha Nithin (iAcademy)
• NOAA Award: Thanvi Majeti & Daya Raghava (Earth & Environmental)

Elementary Honorable Mentions

• Biology: Maia Stevenson, Emerson Walker (East); Kennedy James (Troutman)
• Chemistry: Aayansh Khandelwal (Coddle Creek)
• Physics/Math: Cooper Ward, Liam Redmond (Union Grove)
• Engineering/Tech: Maddox Warren, Wyatt York (Cool Spring)

Archery Winners

The members of the Cloverleaf Elementary School archery team were recognized for making it to the state competition this year.
Pictured at the team members of the Union Grove Elementary archery team. They advanced to state this year.

Union Grove and Cloverleaf Elementary Schools were both recognized for excellence in archery. Both schools advanced to the state competition this year.

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