Freshman in Running to Name Mars Rover
Freshman Akhil Ramidi has been selected as a semifinalist in the contest to name NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. His suggested name, Catalyst, was selected as Illinois’ winner in the high school category, and he joins 154 other students as semifinalists. More than 28,000 K-12 students submitted name suggestions.
Nine finalists are scheduled to be named today, and the public will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite name online before the end of the month. Poll results will be a consideration in the final naming selection, takes place in early March. The contest winner will receive an invitation to watch the spacecraft launch in July from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rover is expected to land on Mars in February 2021.
Scholastic Bowl Teams Sweep Loyola Titles
Stevenson Scholastic Bowl teams won both divisions at the 2020 Loyola Ultima tournament in Wilmette on Saturday. The A team of senior Govind Prabhakar, juniors David Lee and Daniel Ding, and sophomore Anish Arora went 11-0, defeating Barrington A, 455-245, for the Upper Division championship. The D team of sophomore Spandan Goel and freshmen Aadit Juneja, Rishabh Wuppalapati, Arunabh (Dev) Ganguli and Dhruv Pendharkar captured the Standard Division crown, finishing 9-0 and beating Evanston in the championship, 440-280.
SHS had two other teams entered in the tournament. The C team won six of nine contests in the Standard Division. Its roster included seniors Meehir Dixit and Healey Kogan, and freshmen Andrey Vlasov and Srikar Venkatesan. Also competing in the Upper Division was the B team of seniors David Holmquist and Akash Kumar, and juniors Billy Bratton and Allen Guo.
Three Debaters Reach Carolina Finals
Three Patriots reached the finals of the Cavalier Invitational Speech and Debate tournament at Durham Academy in Durham, N.C., last weekend. Senior Megana Adigal placed seventh overall out of approximately 110 students from around the country. Also reaching the finals were sophomore Samarth Arul and junior Sailaja Nallacheruvu.
Five other students from Stevenson progressed to the semifinals: senior Christie Lee, juniors Mahum Sheikh, Kevin Fei and Jeanette Han, sophomore Jesenia Parthasarathy, and freshman Lawrence Han. Other members of Stevenson’s 16-student contingent included: senior Neel Dutta, junior Krushank Bayyapu, sophomores Youssef Mansour, Anmol Dash and Nandhini Nair, and freshmen Arya Gupta and Riddhi Bhagwat.
Scientific Journal Publishes Alumna’s Article
SHS alumna Gillian Rubenstein (Class of 2017), a junior studying reproductive medicine at the University of Michigan, is co-author of an article published in the January 2020 issue of the Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry. Her work is intended to help researchers in their study of the ovary and issues related to fertility. The piece flowed from biomedical research work Rubenstein did with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. She was the first recipient of a Capstone Grant from the Histochemistry Society, which helped to fund the research. The article is the first by a Capstone recipient published by the journal.
Theatre Parents Fundraiser at Culver’s Today
The Theatre Parent Organization is holding a fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. today at Culver’s, 405 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Lincolnshire. Culver’s will donate 25% of sales to the theatre program. Mention “Stevenson TPO” or show this flyer when ordering.
How You Can Help SHS With Substance Abuse Prevention
Stevenson‘s Substance Abuse Prevention Coordinator, Dr. Cristina Cortesi, will share regular reflections during the school year in the Daily Digest. For more information on Dr. Cortesi and the substance abuse prevention program, visit her web page.
As part of the school’s long-standing dedication to substance abuse prevention, SHS surveys students to gather data which helps in our development of programming that responds to their health and safety needs. Students will be completing this survey during an activity period on Feb. 12. Parent feedback is also helpful for us, and you don’t have to wait until February. We invite you to complete this parallel survey created by the Stand Strong Coalition, which should take less than 10 minutes. The survey is confidential, and your privacy will be strictly protected.
Boys Bowlers Win Regional Championship
Stevenson won its second Illinois High School Association regional championship in the past four seasons on Saturday, cruising to the Glenbrook North Regional title at Bowlero in Mt. Prospect. The Patriots posted a six-game pin total of 6,400, the fourth-highest in school history, and more than 300 ahead of the host school. Coach Cody Mathias and his squad advances to the Elmhurst Sectional at Brunswick Lanes in Glendale Heights on Saturday. Official Regional Results
“It’s always nice to win,” Mathias told the Daily Herald. “We set a goal for 6,200 and just couldn’t miss all day. It was nice to see and obviously fun.”
Three SHS bowlers placed in the top six individually, led by junior Ryan Lerman, who won the regional championship with a six-game pin total of 1,405, 61 pins ahead of the runner-up from Glenbrook North. Ryan got stronger as the day wore on. After opening with games of 226, 215 and 225 for a 666 series, he shot games of 225, 254 and 260 in the afternoon for a 739.
Junior Nicholas Sternes finished fourth out of 70 bowlers with a 1,332 series and rolled the Patriots’ highest game, a 268. Joey Gluck, also a junior, was sixth at 1,258. Freshman Ender Starr and junior Ryan Grabiner placed 11th and 12th, respectively, with series scores of 1,204 and 1,201.
Varsity, JV Patriettes Win NSC Championships
The varsity and junior varsity Patriettes won North Suburban Conference competitive dance championships at Lake Zurich Friday night. At the varsity level, Stevenson posted a score of 95.23, comfortably ahead of second-place Lake Zurich (90.43) and five other schools. Coach Kristin Piekarski-Cook and her varsity Patriettes (pictured above) will seek their fourth consecutive Illinois High School Association sectional championship Saturday at Mundelein. Stevenson is scheduled to perform at 2:48 p.m. Click here to watch the NFHS video replay of Friday’s conference championships.
Monday’s Varsity Results
Boys Basketball
Stevenson 64, West Aurora 30: Senior Matthew Ambrose scored a season-high 22 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Patriots (15-3) at the MLK Day of Hoops at Geneva High School. Classmate John Ittounas added 18 points, while fellow senior RJ Holmes had 10 points and nine rebounds. – Daily Herald
Boys Ice Hockey
Carmel 4, Stevenson 1: Sophomore Rafael Biedron scored for the Patriots (23-18-2) at Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills, assisted by senior Andrew Slivka. Senior goalie Jeremy Riback made 29 saves, including 14 in the opening period.
Saturday’s Varsity Results
Girls Basketball
Stevenson 56, Palatine 26: Sophomore Ava Bardic and senior Avery King keyed a 9-1 run to open the second half as the visiting Patriots (17-6) pulled away from the Pirates (9-10) to earn their fifth consecutive victory. Ava scored five points and Avery added four during the burst, and each finished with 12 points in the non-conference game. Sophomore Simone Sawyer also scored 12 points. SHS forced 23 turnovers and held the Mid-Suburban League hosts to 10 points in the second half. – Daily Herald
Wrestling
Stevenson hosted SHS Quadrangular: The Patriots defeated Wauconda and Huntley, and dropped a tough decision to Deerfield in the Sports Center. The match against Deerfield finished in a 32-32 tie, but the Warriors got the win based on a fifth-level tiebreaker. In the Deerfield match, senior Matt Millman recorded a pin in his season debut. – @SHSPatWrestling
Cheerleading
Stevenson at Lockport Invitational: The Patriots finished their invitational schedule with a second-place finish among 19 schools. Next up for SHS is the North Suburban Conference championships on Friday at Warren. Stevenson, which was won the past six NSC titles, is scheduled to compete at 6:35 p.m. The JV will compete at 5:21.
Boys Diving
Stevenson at Hinsdale Central Diving Invitational: The Patriots captured the team championship for the first time since winning back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013. Team scores were determined by results in the varsity and freshman-sophomore levels. At the varsity level, sophomore Jack White finished third with an 11-dive score of 412.40, and junior Jaden Pazol was 27th. At the freshman-sophomore level, freshman Danny Silverstein finished fourth with a score of 360.25, and classmate Santiago Gonzalez was 11th with a score of 306.55 in the first 11-dive meet of his career.
Boys Swimming
Stevenson at 65th Annual Trevian Relays: At New Trier, the Patriots placed third among 16 teams with 175 points, behind Loyola Academy (190) and the host school (183). Sophomore Josh Song finished second in the 100-yard butterfly (50.85), and also swam on two second-place relays. He was in the 200 medley relay (1:37.72) with seniors Jack Zhang, Ari Zaritsky and Jake Kim, and in the 200 junior varsity free relay (1:31.35) with junior Dima Kobets, sophomore Brandon Xiong and freshman Jack Curtin. – Official Results
Girls Gymnastics
Stevenson hosted Lake County Invitational: The Patriots finished fourth out of 13 teams in the Field House. SHS recorded a final team tally of 140.675, behind Carmel (146.400), Lake Zurich (143.850) and Mundelein (141.950). Senior Emily Weinstein placed third on vault (9.5) and tied for fourth on uneven bars (9.35). Sophomore Ally Gitler was fifth in floor exercise (9.375) and tied for sixth on balance beam (8.95). Ally was sixth in the all-around standings (35.875) and Emily finished seventh (35.750). – Official Results
Friday’s Varsity Results
Wrestling
Stevenson 52, Mundelein 21 – NFHS Network replay
Boys Basketball
Stevenson 51, Waukegan 29: The Patriots (14-3, 6-0) maintained control of the North Suburban Conference with a convincing win on the road. Three seniors led the way in scoring for SHS: Matthew Ambrose had 13 points and six rebounds, John Ittounas added nine points and Matt Kaznikov contributed eight points and six rebounds. Waukegan fell to 1-16 and 0-4 in the NSC. – Daily Herald
Quick Hits
Tonight’s varsity and junior varsity girls basketball games against Mundelein will be streamed live from the Sports Center on Stevenson’s NFHS Network page. The JV game tips off at 5:30, followed by the varsity at 7 o’clock.
Stevenson Daily Digest 