Scots Have Scientific Method For Winning State

From left: Science team members Craig Yeh, Tianen Li, Kevin Yan, and Navin Pathak, with chemistry teacher Wenzen Chuang

Until I saw them being honored at Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting along with the state champions from the boys golf and girls tennis teams, I had no idea that Highland Park High School’s science team also won a state title this month — their fifth in a row!

The team’s coach, chemistry teacher Wenzen Chuang, said there’s a reason their accomplishments fly under the radar. He said the UIL State Academics Meet happens during AP testing, when the high school has no bells or announcements so students can concentrate.

I asked Tianen Li, who won his second individual state title after being the runner-up his sophomore and junior years, if his classmates are aware that he’s a two-time Texas champion in science. He couldn’t speak for the entire student body, but “my friends know, and the people in my classes know.”

Well, now you know. Read more about the science team’s achievement in this week’s edition of Park Cities People.

By Dan Koller May. 21, 2010 | 8:20 am | 11 Comments | Comments RSS
11 comments to "Scots Have Scientific Method For Winning State"
  1. DemBones @ May 21, 2010 at 10:46 am
    These kids and their teacher are not only very smart and diligent, but they are also nice and unassuming. Thanks for highlighting their accomplishment.

  2. A. B. @ May 21, 2010 at 11:58 am
    Thanks for a break from sports, sports and more sports. Much more interesting to highlight these students–they are the ones who will shape the world!

  3. D @ May 21, 2010 at 12:24 pm
    Good point, A.B. Congratulations to the team, 1 is great, 5 in a row is epic.

  4. Steve @ May 21, 2010 at 3:46 pm
    What did it take for these tremendous students to win state? I’ve watched the spelling bee movies and it takes tons of work to excel in that arena. The same goes for sports. Did they do a lot of work on their own after school? Get tutors? Congratulations! Where are they going to college?

  5. Dan Koller @ May 22, 2010 at 1:25 pm
    @Steve: Tianen told me that he and his teammates were well prepared by their AP classes. The after-school time they devoted to studying for this competition was only an hour or two a week, he said.

    FYI, the competition consists of answering 60 multiple-choice questions in two hours. The questions are evenly divided between biology, chemistry, and physics.

  6. E @ May 22, 2010 at 5:28 pm
    Tianen is going to Harvard next year.

  7. peter griffin @ May 24, 2010 at 11:31 pm
    way to go scots!

  8. laurie @ May 25, 2010 at 10:42 am
    These kids certainly aren’t at the Palladium on Thursday nights! Congratulations!!

  9. AD @ May 25, 2010 at 1:16 pm
    @laurie. You are right. The Senior boys at the palladium will be the next wave of SMU graduates who continue their electrifying careers as real estate moguls in the park cities.

  10. laurie @ May 25, 2010 at 5:06 pm
    And sadly (or not so sadly depending on your POV), they’ll live in nicer, bigger homes, have nicer, bigger cars, and take nicer, longer vacations. Such is life.
    But thank god, we still have kids who aspire to be great scientists and mathematicians.

  11. HPHS Parent @ May 31, 2010 at 8:23 am
    Good job, team! NOTE: Tianen Li is valedictorian of HPHS 2010.

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