2015's best and brightest: Introducing the Daily Herald Academic Team
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The 2015 Northwest suburban Daily Herald Academic Team is pictured outside the Wojcik Conference Center on the Harper College campus in Palatine. Front row, from left: Jennie Yang and Soumyaa Mazumder, both of Fremd High School; Melissa Tran, Schaumburg High School and Haenah Kim, Hoffman Estates High School. Back row, from left: Zane Kaiser of Bartlett High School; Michael Nimerfroh and Selena Groh, both of Buffalo Grove High School; Kevin Chang, Conant High School and Eduard Popa, Wheeling High School. Not pictured: Michael Morikado, Prospect High School. Patrick Kunzer | Staff Photographer
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The 2015 DuPage County Daily Herald Academic Team assembles for a photo at College of DuPage. From left: Tyler Rusnak of Willowbrook High School; Joy Chiu, Naperville Central High School; Tony Zhou, Naperville North High School; Priya Pillai, Hinsdale Central High School; Avik Laha, Metea Valley High School; Siqi Liu, Naperville Central High School; Giovanni Basso, Lake Park High School; Armghan Ahmad, Neuqua Valley High School; and Calvin Chu, Waubonsie Valley High School. Not pictured: Joseph Palasek, Montini Catholic High School. Bev Horne | Staff Photographer
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The 2015 Lake County Daily Herald Academic Team gathers for a photo at University Center of Lake County. Kneeling from left: Athithan (Athy) Ambikkumar, Warren Township High School and Emily Michael, Lake Zurich High School. Sitting from left: Nicole Hefner, Carmel Catholic High School; Alyssa Remshak, Grayslake Central High School; Justin Hyunwoo Yim, Vernon Hills High School; Noel Brindise, Lake Zurich High School; Gretchen Metzger, Lakes Community High School. Standing from left: Tara Gill, Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart; Raphael Rouvinov, Mundelein High School; and Ankur Rastogi, Libertyville High School. Steve Lundy | Staff Photographer
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Meet six members of the 2015 Daily Herald Fox Valley Academic Team. From left: Robert V. Stephens Jr., from Marmion Academy; Quinn Lewis, Illinois Mathematics & Science Academy; Jaafar Zaidi, Hampshire High School; Alex Vonderhaar, Aurora Central Catholic High School; Harry Hochwarter, Huntley High School; and Tara Cornwell, Cary-Grove High School. Not pictured: Hallie Gaitsch, Batavia High School; Iva Gramatikov, St. Charles East High School; Parth Patel, Huntley High School and Rachel Valiunas, Geneva Community High School. Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer
They've had straight A's throughout high school, enviable ACT and SAT scores and they volunteer for their school and in their community.
They are the 40 members of the 2015 Daily Herald Academic Teams, graduating high school seniors in the Northwest suburbs, DuPage County, Lake County and the Fox Valley who have achieved extraordinary academic records in four years.
The backgrounds, dreams and motivations of the Academic Team members and the Honorable Mentions are as different from each other as night and day. But what they have in common is a sense of purpose -- a belief that high school was a valuable steppingstone to their future lives as engineers, researchers, teachers, artists and writers -- and a quiet confidence in their own abilities.
Hear what some of their teachers say:
"Alyssa is a reminder of why I chose teaching as a profession."
"Noel is intuitive, quirky and wise beyond her years. … She is also the only student I've had who is the midst of completing her first novel."
"He'll be a household name in a few years and I'll sit back and say, 'Yep, I know that kid.'"
"Her questions are so good I sometimes have to look up the answer that night and get back to her the next day."
Each high school in the Daily Herald coverage area is permitted to nominate two students for the Academic Team. The "blind" nominations are read and evaluated by suburban high school educators and from their scores, the top 10 are chosen as the Team.
We're proud to bring you the 2015 Academic Teams.
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