On Saturday, April 13, 2019 Midwood students traveled once again to George Wingate High School in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn for the 31st annual New York City Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics. ACT-SO, as it is usually known, is an "Olympics of the Mind" where high school students compete for medals in STEM, humanities, fine arts, performing arts, and business categories.
2019 saw Midwood High School students compete and medal in a diverse range of categories. Return gold medal winners Rana Mohamed and Kiandra Peart lead the team — Rana in Engineering and Photography, Kiandra in Entrepreneurship and Sculpture. Chad Chasteau brought home gold in Instrumental Classical Music. Another 12 silver and bronze medals were collected by 10 Midwood students in Medicine and Health, Earth and Space Science, Biology and Microbiology, Spoken Poetry, Written Poetry, and Traditional Dance. Awards were announced on Monday, May 6, 2019 at St. Francis College in Downtown Brooklyn.
Gold medalists will be competing at the National ACT-SO from July 20–24. The National ACT-SO is a part of the 110th Annual NAACP National Convention, which is being held this year at the COBO Center in Detroit, Michigan. The five-day conference will bring together over 10,000 people including NAACP members and delegates from across the country. Rana, Kiandra, and Chad are sure to have an exciting time.
Gold Medal Winners
- Rana Mohamed won a Gold Medal in Engineering for her project "Energy efficient design for a partially actuated passive walker". Rana worked under the supervision of Mr. William Zhiren Peng and Dr. Joo H. Kim in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Rana also received a Gold Medal in Photography for her work entitled "Asymmetric reality".
- Kiandra Peart won a Gold Medal in Entrepreneurship for her independent business "Kustoms By Ki" and a Bronze Medal in Sculpture for a piece entitled "Taj Mahal".
- Chad Chasteau won a Gold Medal in Instrumental Classical Music for his piano performance of "The girl with the flaxen hair" by Claude Debussy.
Silver Medal Winners
- Ashley Chen won a Silver Medal in Medicine and Health for her project "The effect of interictal discharges on hippocampal oscillations and memory formation: A prospective memory study". Ashley worked under the supervision of Dr. Beth Leeman-Markowski in the Department of Neurology at NYU Langone Medical Center.
- Basimah Zahid and Zuha Ahmed won a Silver Medal in Medicine and Health for their project "Child maltreatment, adult attachment styles, and emotional dysregulation". Basimah and Zuha worked under the supervision of Dr. Sara Chiara Haden in the Department of Psychology at Long Island University.
- Anne Mania won a Silver Medal in Instrumental Classical Music for her piano performance of "Sonata in D Major" by Joseph Haydn and a Bronze Medal for her Original Essay entitled "Nuclear Weapons".
Bronze Medal Winners
- Susana Tzunun Yax won a Bronze Medal in
Earth and Space Science for her project "Analyzing the impact of Dendrobaena veneta earthworms on the bioavailability of heavy metals in soil" Susana and her partner Amy Chen worked under the supervision of Dr. Zhongqi (Joshua) Cheng in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Brooklyn College.
- Kenny Pierre Louis and Miguel Rendon won a bronze medal in Medicine and Health for their project "Sleep deprivation and stress: Their troubling connection in adolescents". Kenny and Miguel worked under the supervision of Dr. Steven Anolik in the Department of Psychology at St. Francis College.
- Nursat Jahan won a Bronze Medal in Biology and Microbiology for her project "Monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) audience effect on stick manipulation during nest construction". Nursat worked under the supervision of Dr. Frank Grasso in the Department of Psychology at Brooklyn College.
- Serena Duran won a Bronze Medals in Spoken Poetry her work entitled "Repeat" and a second Bronze Medal in Written Poetry for her piece entitled "Dusk".
- Kamille Shivwkumar won a Bronze Medal in Traditional Dance for her performance entitled "Pinga".
