As part of our mission to improve STEM education, we've held numerous hands-on, interactive workshops for middle school students. These workshops would not be possible without our team of instructors; scroll down to read more about them.

Conner Yin

Conner Yin is a rising senior at Monta Vista High School with a passion for programming. He is currently an AP Computer Science TA and a USACO Gold contestant. Last summer, he attended the Video Game Design cluster at COSMOS and also hosted the first TeamsCode coding competition in California. In his free time, he loves to compose songs for his YouTube channel and loves to play all kinds of video games and board games.​​

David Ziwei Smith

Tournament Director of 2020 STEMBoost Invitational, and Event Supervisor for Bomilever and Experimental Design at Kennendy Invitational (2019,2020).   Competed in Science Olympiad from 2014 to 2018. National Medalist in 2018, and State Medalist since 2015.  Served as Team Captain, and has won numerous medals at Regional, State and National, including multiple championships in various physics and engineering events, and Experimental Design. Has mentored  Kennedy Science Olympiad  to achieve Invitationals, Regional, State and National Championships. Has also won Hackathons and the TEAMS national championship in the Presentation category and Third Place overall.

Eshani Patel

Eshani Patel is a rising senior at Monta Vista Highschool and has participated in Science Olympiad for the last 5 years(In B and C divisions. Sbe is Science Olympiad medalist for several biological events at the regional, state, and national level from 2017-2020. She is a Kennedy Science Olympiad alumni, as well as a current member and officer of Monta Vista Science Olympiad.

Flora Huang

Competed and medalled in Science Olympiad and Science Bowl, with a focus on Earth Science and Chemistry. Avid researcher and coder, President of the Girls Who Code San Jose club and Secretary of Lynbrook Science Club. 

Grace Kuo

Competed in Science Olympiad 2016 to 2018. State Medalist since 2017, and National Competitor in 2018. Serves as the PR for LEO Club, and an editor for La Pluma. Enjoys doodling, watching sad movies, and failing spicy noodle challenges.

Nishanth Arumugam 

Joined SciOly in 2015, and has competed since. Medalled in various types of events, from physics to inquiry-based, in Regionals, States, and Nationals. By mentoring, captaining, and working with the team and the community, he pursues his love for STEM!

Saarang Kashyap

Senior at Monta Vista High School. Won National Science Olympiad State/Regional medals since 2017 (Div C/B) and National Competitor in 2018. Additionally a 2-time USA BioOlympiad semifinalist and Toronto National BioOlympiad Honors Scholar. President of Monta Vista Bio Club and Vice President of Monta Vista Science Olympiad Club. Mentors SO teams and loves teaching science.

Aseem Rajopadhye

Aseem Rajopadhye is an incoming junior at Monta Vista High School. He has participated in Science Olympiad for the past five years, appearing twice at national competitions and won countless medals in Geology, Paleontology, Biology, and Astronomy fields, some of which on a State and National level. He was captain of the team that won the 2018-2019 Science Olympiad Division B Nationals and has been selected for a Rosetta Institute Program for Bioinformatics of Cancer

Deetshana Parthipan

Deetshana is a rising junior at Monta Vista High School. She was the life and earth science event captain for the national-winning Kennedy Science Olympiad team. She has won numerous medals for biology and earth science events at the regional, state, and national levels. Deetshana is also a competitive speaker winning many medals at competitions. She was a branch head at the Monta Vista Speech and Debate Team and Kennedy Middle.

Dylan Yang 

​Competed in Science Olympiad in 2017 and 2018. Won multiple medals at State and National competitions.  Competed in chemistry, engineering, and inquiry-based events. Mentors Science Olympiad teams and is interested in chemistry. 

Edwin Xie

USPhO Semifinalist, Science Olympiad National medalist in Engineering and Physics events, and USAJMO Qualifier, mentored for junior Science Olympiad teams. 

Leela Srinivas

Leela Srinivas is a rising junior at Monta Vista High School and is the Vice President of Engineering in Monta Vista Science Olympiad. She's participated in Science Olympiad for the past four years and has competed at the national level twice, winning multiple medals and helping Kennedy win the 2019 National Tournament.

Ryan Li

Ryan Li is a rising junior at Monta Vista High School. He has been a TA for 9th Grade Biology, and is very passionate about the fields of biology and chemistry. Ryan is also a Scholastic Writing Awards winner and has two sci-fi books published. He is looking forward to giving incoming freshman an overview of 9th grade Biology.

Amol Rama

Amol Rama is a rising sophomore at Monta Vista High School. He has participated in Science Olympiad over the past four years, making two national appearances and winning numerous medals in Earth Science, Physics, and Chemistry events. In the 2019-2020 season, he was the co-captain of the Science Olympiad team. In addition, he has qualified for the AIME multiple times, been awarded the AMC 10 Distinguished Honor Roll multiple times, and made USAJMO in 2019. Furthermore, he has been a teacher's assistant in mathematics for the last two years.

Angela Zhang

Angela Zhang is a rising sophomore at Monta Vista High School. For two years on the Kennedy Science Olympiad team, she has medaled in almost every single event she has participated in, including medals at regionals, states, and nationals. She has also achieved the Semifinalist status in the USA BioOlympiad competition, and continues to mentor incoming Kennedy Gold team members.

Anusha Chittari 

Anusha Chittari is a rising sophomore who is passionate about STEM. She has four years of experience in Science Olympiad, including Division B and Division C competitions. Over the past four years she has competed and won medals in engineering, cryptography, programming, and ecology. At the National Divison B tournament she placed third in her engineering event, contributing to her team, which placed first overall. Anusha is looking forward to teaching students in the future.

Arthur Perng

Arthur Perng is an up and coming sophomore who has participated in Science Olympiad and won national medals. In high school, he has focused on programming and cybersecurity skill building. He founded the cybersecurity club Fweefwop, as well as qualified for AIME. Fweefwop placed in Platinum in CyberPatriot-XII and was a finalist in the Bay Area Regional contest.

Daphne Guo

Daphne Guo is a rising sophomore at Monta Vista High School. She participates in Science Bowl and Science Olympiad. Over the last two years, she earned many medals for Earth and Space events, and was the Event Captain for Earth, Space and Physical Sciences of the Science Olympiad National Champion Team. She also qualified for the AIME.

Eric Ju 

Eric is a rising sophomore at Monta Vista High School. He has been a part of the Science Olympiad for 3 years and has participated in the national tournament twice. He is also a key member of the cybersecurity club Fweefwop, where he focuses on cryptography. 

Iona Xia

Iona Xia is a rising sophomore at Monta Vista High School. She has participated in Science Olympiad for over four years, and went to nationals twice, winning numerous medals in states and nationals including a national champion medal. She has also qualified for AIME.

Jai Sharma 

Jai is a rising sophomore at Monta Vista High School. He loves puzzles, which is why his hobbies are chess and the Rubik’s cube. In 7th grade, he participated in the First Lego League (FLL) and the Tech Challenge (2018) outside of school. In 8th grade, he joined the Science Olympiad Gold team at Kennedy Middle School and went onto secure the 1st place title at the national Science Olympiad tournament along with his team. Most recently, he took part in the Synopsys Science Fair in 9th grade where he used machine learning to forecast air pollution for cities in India. He loves teaching math and science to aspiring students, which is why he has proctored several Science Olympiad tournaments and taught a class on mathematical proofs through STEMBoost.

Joseph Lee

Joseph Lee is an incoming sophomore at Monta Vista High School. He has won numerous Science Olympiad medals for biology, astronomy, and flight engineering events at the regional, state, and national levels from 2017-2020, participating at National Competitions twice. He medaled in all three of his events in the National Champion team, of which he was Co-Team Captain and Event Captain for Space, Biological Sciences, and Flight Engineering. He is also a mentor for the Kennedy Middle School Science Olympiad Gold Team.

Varun Kumaravelu 

Varun Kumaravelu is a Biology Event Captain with the Monta Vista Science Olympiad team, and has competed in Science Olympiad for four years, and was a member of the team that won the 2019 Division B National tournament. He has won innumerable medals in Paleontology, Herpetology, Astronomy, Genetics, and Ecology, including multiple at the Regional, State, and National level.

Visiting Instructors

​Gavin Yu

Gavin Yu is a USAPhO silver medalist, Physics Bowl Division 1 international first place team member, USAJMO qualifier, Piedmont Hills High School math team captain.

Stephen He 

Stephen He is a rising junior in Monta Vista. He achieved distinguished honor roll on AMC 10 and he is a 3-time AIME qualifier. 

Teaching Assistants

Ashley Zhou 

Ashley Zhou is a rising sophomore at Monta Vista High School. She is passionate about STEM, particularly biology. In her free time, she enjoys programming, math and science.