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Tri-Valley students were recently recognized for their efforts to find solutions to real-world challenges at the 12th Annual DreamMakers and RiskTakers Awards.
Student projects that were honored during the ceremony hosted by the Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group include immunotherapeutic research and designing electric aircraft.
“Growing up in a region with world-renowned scientists and entrepreneurs turning out global solutions cultivates inquisitiveness,” Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group CEO Lynn Naylor said in a statement. “The Tri-Valley’s award-winning school districts, top-tier educators and a deep community investment in innovation gives our students the power to tackle the world’s toughest challenges with confidence.”
The ceremony was held at the Palm Event Center in the Vineyards in Pleasanton on May 4 where 18 young leaders were honored for their impactful projects using innovation, creativity and empathy.
The young innovators recognized during the event include:
* Taris Keiper of Tri-Valley ROP’s Middle College who invented an eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft whose remote-controlled prototype will be tested later this year.
* Meghana Dwaram, Aadya Tomar, Anjana Kidambi and Rhea John of Dublin High School who managed to get a bunch of Tri-Valley kids out of the house and onto the basketball courts for some post-pandemic team building and exercise. Their DubShot camp was such a hit, they were able to donate $10K in proceeds to the Bay Area Challenged Athletes Foundation.
* Devon Welborn of Las Positas College who is studying microbiology and also serves as a research intern at Sandia National Laboratories where she works on groundbreaking CRISPR gene editing research projects that promise to revolutionize medicine and cure genetic conditions previously untreatable.
* Angad Bhargav of Amador Valley High School who found a way to help his peers view grade trends and set academic goals by creating an alternative interface for Pleasanton’s grade operating system. By building a layer on top of the current system, Angad upgraded the student experience and found a solution for kids wanting to strategize their academic progress.
* Srinikesh Kanneluru of California High School who leveraged the collaborative spirit of his peers by co-founding Cal Commit, a Cal High computer science collaboration that teaches tools and skills to students through hack-a-thons and other tech-themed events and programs.
* Annika Armstrong, Shrish Premkrishna, Justin Blanton, Thaarak Sriram, Josh Armstrong, Rohan Samtani, Cody Jackson, Ronan Tolla, Daniel Oskolkov and Vincent Nguyen of Livermore High School’s GravitechX Robotics team who took the club to new heights this year at the Sacramento Regional First Robotics Competition where they competed with robots designed to move cones and cubes into strategic locations.
* Tony Wang of Amador who received the 2023 Digital Dreamer award for his work closing the STEM opportunity gap for Tri-Valley students by founding the Alameda County Science and Engineering Fair Student Leadership Board, a team of 50 students representing 20 schools offering free STEM workshops and mentorship programs at Title 1 schools across the region.
