Gunn Student Achievements

Submitted by Miriam Rotman

Spectacular Achievements by Gunn Students -

Languages - French - 100 Gunn students scored in the upper 80th percentile of the National French Exam. Several Gunn students achieved honors: Emily Aiken, Vicky Sun, Angela Chen, Angeliki Ionnidis, Emma Marriott, Demetri Nicolaou, Angela Chen, Nabil Hamade, Devyani Bhadkamkar, and Varun Bhadkamkar. In the National German Exam, 15 Gunn students won gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 9 bronze medals. The National Spanish Exam garnered Gunn students 50 gold medals, 70 silver and 47 bronze.

Music Program - Gunn’s Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra both received Unanimous Superior ratings at the California Music Education Association’s Orchestra Festival May 4. All Gunn’s instrumental music ensembles (bands, orchestras and jazz) received the highest honors at CMEA Festivals this year. Gunn remains one of the few California schools to achieve this honor.

National History Day competition - 14 Gunn students placed or won their categories in the Santa Clara countycompetition and advanced to the California State History Finals competition held in Riverside in March - Jessica Sheng, Emily S. Wang, Gavin Baker, Anna Dang, Aaron Miner, Erica Watkins, Olivia Zunino, Annie Hamburgen, Francesca Macrae, Tahra Knudsen, Maya Rotman, Anton Oyung, Jack Jaffe, and Lukas Dorward. Emily S. Wang won the award for “Best in County and advanced to the National Competition.

Oracle - Gunn’s newspaper, The Oracle, earned first place for General Excellence in the Peninsula Press Club’s journalism contest. Winning awards for their reporting were Cooper Aspegren, Jean Wang, Amrita Moitra, Ashley Ngu and Wendy Qiu.

Gunn Robotics - The Gunn Robotics Team got six straight wins at the FIRST Robotics Championship in St. Louis, but narrowly missed the Elimination rounds. Gunn won the National animation award for the second year running. Way to go!!

English - Juniors Roya Huang and Amy Creasey won the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) awards for superior writing. A total of 1,107 juniors were nominated nationwide to participate in the 2012 program, and 274 were chosen as outstanding writers.

Essay Contest for Juniors

ESSAY CONTEST OPEN TO ALL JUNIORS IN THE PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
THE TOPIC: COMPROMISE VS. CONVICTION
"No society . . . can fail, in time, to explode if it is deprived of the arts of compromise, if it knows no way of muddling through. No good society can be unprincipled, and no viable society can be principle-ridden." Alexander M. Bickel (U.S. legal scholar, 1924 -1974)
What is the proper balance between conviction and compromise? Using examples from American history and current events, discuss the benefits, limits and dangers of compromise.
PRIZES
Essays will be judged on development of topic, supporting information, reasoning and writing skills, and originality. Source material and direct quotes should be acknowledged. Winning essays will be printed in League publications and on our website.
• Length: 600-800 words.
• Due: October 26, 2011.
• Send essays to the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto:
lwvpaoffice@gmail.com
• Submit your entry, double spaced, as a pdf or doc attachment
or text within the email. • Include your name and school.
SPONSORED BY
THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF PALO ALTO
First $500 Second $300 Third $200
www.lwvpaloalto.org

ESSAY CONTEST FOR STUDENTS ON THE LIMITS OF FREEDOM

An essay contest for juniors in the Palo Alto Unified School District will examine “The Limits of Freedom.”. The sponsor is the League of Women Voters of Palo Alto.

Contestants will discuss in 600 to 800 words, aspects of the tension between individual freedom and the needs of society as it relates to one or more of the contemporary political issues. Prizes for winning essays are $500, first, and $300, second. Entries are due no later than November 10, 2010 . Information is now available at schools or from lwvpaoffice@gmail.com. Also visit their website at http://www.lwvpaloalto.org/ESSAYCONTEST.htm

“Students, like the rest of us, are part of a national discussion on how to maintain personal freedoms while providing for the common good,” said Nan Prince, contest chair. “We look forward to a number of thoughtful entries.”