Brainy Bunch First Lego League Robotics Team Places 2nd in World Invitational!

The Brainy Bunch FLL Robotics Team, after attending 4 days of the World Invitational First Lego League Robotics Tournament in Florida, came in 2nd Place out of 59 teams in the Research category!  This means the judges were particularly impressed with their innovative solution to a real-world problem (milk contamination).  Their Terahertz device for detecting milk contamination and their subsequent pending patent really impressed the judges.   They also came in 2nd place overall during the first ever held Robot Derby (fastest robot out of the starting line).  What made this win special is how the kids rallied behind their French Alliance partners at the tournament and together they came in 1st and 2nd place!  Their team work and spirit was exceptional.


Congratulations to team members Aly Luckett, Andy Zhao, Dhriti Vij, Ryan Gottwald, Arthur Tisseront, Jordan Ganley and their coaches!


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Kilmer Student Wins Award in Junior Solar Sprint Competition

Kilmer student Kathleen Kim and her teammate (who does not attend FCPS) won first place for speed in the Junior Division at the Junior Solar Sprint (JSS) held on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology . Each JSS team is tasked with designing, building, and then racing a model solar electric car no larger than 30 x 60 x 30 centimeters powered by sunlight. 

The JSS is a satellite event of the USA Science and Engineering Festival and is sponsored by the U.S. Army Outreach Program. This year it was hosted by TJ STEMbassadors, Young Scholars Circle, Electric Vehicle Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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Kilmer Model UN Racks up Honors at RAMSMUN

Kilmer Model UN students took many honors at RAMSMUN at Rocky Run Middle School on Saturday, April 21:

• Peter Rohrer and Tom Freebairn took Best and Outstanding awards in the European Union Committee
• the teams of  John Han and Nic Thomas, and Numan Khan and Priya Krishna  took Best and Honorable Delegations for Disarmament and International Security Council; 
• the teams of Sarah Huffman and Bella Choi, and Millen Anand and Nikhil Sakhumuri  won Outstanding and Honorable Delegation awards in the World Health Organization;  
• and Nakul Dar was awarded Verbal Commendation in the Inheritance Cycle.  

Congratulations and great work to all students who participated as well as to Kilmer MUN sponsors, Ellie Altman and Kara Tichoc.

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Optimist Club Oratorical Contest

Congratulations to Clare McConnell and Thomas Mecherikunnel on advancing to the District Level in the Optimist Club's Oratorical Contest.  They took on the high school students at the Zone competition on Saturday, April 21, and came out on top.  This can be attributed to their hard work and the support of their parents and Kilmer's oratorical contest sponsors, Barbara Appling and Ellie Altman.

The District contest will be held in Richmond on Saturday, May 19.

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Kilmer Science Olympiad Places SECOND in State Tournament

Kilmer Science Olympiad came in 2nd out of 29 teams competing at the Virginia State Tournament on Saturday, April 14, 2012. 

The students (7th and 8th graders) on the team who medaled in one or more events were : Aly Luckett, Jordan Ganley, Shreya Bhatia, Sarah Huffman, Victoria Yang, Sophia Wu, Joyce Tian, Sophie Tian, Thea Prevalsky, Andy Zhao, Arthur Tisseront, Ryan Gottwald, Jake Cui, Kevin Lin, John Han, Keerthi Puvvada and Nakul Dar.

Kudos to all students who participated for their hard work and team spirit. They made Kilmer proud!

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Sucess at the Virginia MathCounts State Competition

Youngchan Lee and Kevin Lin from Kilmer MathCounts team competed as individuals on March 17th, 2012 with other mathletes from various Virginia chapters at the MathCounts State Competition held at Dominion Virginia Power’s Corporate Headquarters.

During a day-long competition they achieved the following:   
Youngchan Lee   1st place individual,  2nd place count down   
Kevin Lin       3rd place individual

Youngchan Lee and Kevin Lin will both be part of the Virginia Mathcounts team to compete at the National Mathcounts at Orlando Florida on May 10th. Congratulations to both of them!

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Vienna Optimist Club Oratorical Contest

On Thursday, March 15, Kilmer held a school level Oratorical Contest of the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna.

Congratulations to ALL 29 students who gave their speeches last Thursday before the Oratorical Contest judges. Everyone who heard them agreed that all speakers came prepared with very poised and professional speeches on the topic How My Optimism Helps Me Overcome Obstacles.

For the GIRLS, runners-up are SWETHA RAMESH and ISABELLE MARICOR.  Girl’s second place winner is ELIZABETH ELLINGER and girl’s first place is CLARE McConnell.

For the BOYS, runners-up are SAM HASSETT and DANIEL NEE. Boy’s second place winner is RAMEN KHANNA and boy’s first place winner is THOMAS MERCHERIKUNNEL.

Our best wishes go to Clare and Thomas as they compete at the next level against Luther Jackson MS and Thoreau MS.  GO KILMER!