Potential Magazine Summer 2020 | Page 32

SAINT JAMES SCHOOL TEAMS QUALIFY FOR NATIONALS Four groups of Saint James School students competed in TEAMS (Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Math, and Science) on March 4, 2020. The participants completed two parts of the competition: the problem- solving component and the design-and-build component. In the attached photo, the 11th and 12th grade team (Team A) from Saint James is shown with their load-bearing crane construction. Team A (Jack Branham, Na Yoon Kang, Andrew Kellum, Ellie Kim, Trevor Otis, Gayeon Paek, Alex Whisenhunt, and Su Yun) earned the 3rd place trophy for the problem-solving component with an excellent score of 55. (The first place team had a score of 57!) The team has qualified to compete in the TEAMS National Competition in late June in Nashville. The statewide ranking for the three components of the competition will be available in late April. PCA STUDENT SELECTED FOR UA LEADERSHIP ACADEMY TWO MONTGOMERY ACADEMY STUDENTS NAMED NATIONAL MERIT FINALISTS Montgomery Academy seniors Femi Adediji and Kelly Yoon have been named Finalists in the 65th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These academically talented students have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $31 million that will be offered this spring. Over 1.6 million juniors in about 22,000 high schools entered the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2018 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/ NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. Maddie Jeffery was a key contributor in PCA’s Division B Science Olympiad team’s success during its 2018-2019 season, and one of the top female runners on PCA’s cross country team this past season. She has been selected to participate in the University of Alabama’s Capstone Leadership Academy (CLA) later this spring at the Hotel Capstone, located in the heart of campus. Every year, the CLA welcomes just 100 sophomores from across the state, and this year, Maddie has been invited to attend this prestigious conference. L12 | Summer 2020 www.potentialmagazine.com