MAY 2019 NEWSLETTER
APPLIED MATH, SCIENCE, AND ENGINEERING (AMSE) INSTITUTE
Preparing the next generation of Christian STEM innovators
FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT
This year, AMSE hosted its first annual Student Showcase in April. The evening featured student presentations and highlighted a year full of accomplishments, experiences and learning happening throughout all six AMSE programs. I am so very proud of our students and am thrilled at the positive feedback I have received from the attendees.

The evening included a formal presentation in which I was able to share the vision for the future of AMSE. Presentation highlights include:

  • Expanding the Ocean Discovery Program to include VCS Junior High and Elementary grades for a full K-12 program
  • Launching a new Agri-Tech Program which will include the former hydroponics club and expand to include aeroponics, aquaponics, and vertical growth towers; involve the VCS Junior High and Elementary school for K-12 coverage
  • Exploring the world of Digital Experiences; looking at the process of e-gaming, game design, engineering, and programming
  • Broadening the VCS Robotics program by continuing to build on our competitive strengths in First Robotics while developing a 3 -5 year plan to bring VCS to the FRC Hall of Fame. Utilizing innovation to build a world-class robotics program that includes research, commercial design, and intramural competitions to include as many students as possible.
  • Focusing on social impact through intentional partnerships with VCS organizations such as the WALK program, VCHS Biblical Leadership courses, and the Business and Entrepreneurship Initiative (BEI).

As the school year comes to a close, I wish to give a special thanks to our parents for your ongoing support of AMSE. The future of AMSE is brighter than ever! I wish you and your family a blessed and restful summer.

Danny Kim
VP & Director K-12 AMSE Institute
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
AMSE PROGRAM APPLICATIONS OPEN
SPACE IS LIMITED!
Have you applied to participate in an AMSE Program for the 2019/20 school year?  For your convenience, all programs can be applied to using one application.

International Space Station, Ocean Discovery & Robotics
Application Deadline: 5/30/2019

Agri-Tech, Astronomy Research & Math Team
Application Deadline: 9/13/2019
ANNOUNCING:
AMSE STUDENTS OF THE YEAR
Congratulations to  Ansel Austin, Robert Daigle ,  Kyle Lee, Atti Lau, Kassandra Nguyen, Sashrik Sribhashyam, and Vittal Thirumalai , our  AMSE Students of the Year.  

The AMSE Student of the Year award is presented annually to freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior AMSE high school students and were nominated for consideration by the AMSE Program Managers. 

This award recognizes AMSE students whose outstanding qualities of the “5Cs”,  creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking,  and  Christian character , have significantly contributed to programs that have positively influenced their fellow students and amplifies the reputation of Valley Christian Schools.
AMSE SHOWCASE HIGHLIGHTS
Over 300 students, parents, faculty members and mentors attended this year's AMSE Showcase! Attendees enjoyed the casual, student-centered event which featured student presenters from all AMSE Programs.

Program Managers, mentors, students, and the Class of 2019 were all honored that evening. Click on the button below to view event photos.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Congratulations to our VCHS International Space Station (ISS) students. Their custom experiments were aboard CYGNUS NG-11 which launched out of Wallops Island, Virginia on April 17th. These custom experiments from Valley Christian High School and Quest for Space partner schools arrived safely on the International Space Station on April 20th. Although a brief power problem occurred on the ISS, it did not affect the collection of data from our experiments, which is already available for observation and analysis.
MATH TEAM
Congratulations are in order for Mrs. Claudia Smith and our incredible Math Team students. In addition to the team accomplishments (listed below), several individual student awards were earned.

Purple Comet State Champions
3rd Place USA
Alex Gu, Janet Qian, Vittal Thirumalai, Brad Zeng, Kyle Lee, and Kadin Tang
National Statistics Contest - First Place
Janise Liang, Bobby Daigle , and Allison Lam 
State Champions
These Math Team members will head to Nationals in Missouri on May 18th!

2nd in California Redwood Region

Top 25 finishers: V ittal Thirumalia, Alex Gu, Kyle Lee, Kadin Tang
OCEAN DISCOVERY

MATE TEAM ATTTENDS FIRST COMPETITION
Students from VCHS's Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) team competed for the first time this past weekend in the regional competition held at Watsonville High School. The team received high praise on their technical presentation, where judges commented they were "very well put together for a first-year team."

The MATE team was able to successfully retrieve a water sample and participated in two product demonstration sessions, where they nearly doubled their score from the first to the second round. Overall, it was a great first effort and a learning experience on which to build for next year's competition season.
AWARDS & ACCOLADES
CONGRATULATIONS SYNOPSYS SCIENCE STUDENTS
This year, forty-five Valley Christian High School students submitted projects to the Synopsys Science Fair. VCHS had a record number of students who received top honors at the competition.

Ansel Austin
Honorable Mention, Physical Science and Engineering
Most Promising Young Scientist (Male)
"Clean Water For All: A Novel Filtration and Maintenance Mechanism for Improving India Mark II Water Pump Performance"

Shiva Balachander
Certificate of Achievement
"Analysis of Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network Structures on the Accuracy of Stock Price Predictions"

Abida Diep
2nd Place Santa Clara Valley Water District
1st Award, Physical Science and Engineering
3rd Place American Society of Civil Engineers
"Keeping the Ocean Clean: A Novel Self-Sustaining Boat that Collects and Sorts Trash in the Ocean"

Vittal Thirumalai
2nd Place Santa Clara Valley Water District
1st Award, Physical Science and Engineering
3rd Place American Society of Civil Engineers
Certificate of Achievement and opportunity to advance to national and international competitions.
Stockholm Junior Water Prize
"Keeping the Ocean Clean: A Novel Self-Sustaining Boat that Collects and Sorts Trash in the Ocean"

Edith Ramirez Kim
Honorable Mention, Biological Science and Engineering
"The Effects of Vitamins A, B and D on Colon Cancer Cell Line LoVo"

Raymond Kuan
1st Award Biological Science and Engineering
"Effects of Phycocyanin in Spirulina Platensis on Planarian Tumor Growth"

Wesley Liao
Certificate of Achievement, Society for In Vitro Biology
"Comparison of Beta Amyloid Production by BACE1 and BACE2 Enzymes"

Supriya Mula
2nd Award, Biological Science and Engineering
"The Effects of TNF-Beta on Harmful A1 Astrocyte Differentiation in Glial Scars"

Katelyn Stone
Certificate of Achievement, Society for In Vitro Biology
"Comparison of Beta Amyloid Production by BACE1 and BACE2 Enzymes"

Derek Tan
1st Award, Biological Science and Engineering 
"Effects of Phycocyanin in Spirulina Platensis on Planarian Tumor Growth"
OCEAN QUEST DOCUMENTARY
FILM FESTIVAL SUCCESS
The Ocean Quest documentary shares the experience of VCS Ocean Discovery students who advance to the semi-finals of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competition to map the ocean floor. Recently, the documentary has received acceptance and accolades at several domestic and international film festivals.

OFFICIAL FILM FESTIVAL SELECTIONS

ImpactDOCS ( Award of Excellence )
Durango Film Festival
Newport Beach Film Festival
Nice International Film Festival
The IndieFEST Film Awards ( Two Awards of Excellence )
Asia Pacific International Film Festival ( Award Winner )
Inspired Faith Film Festival
Accolade Global Film Competition
Silver Screen International Film Festival
Miami Independent Film Festival ( Winner - Feature Documentary )
Woods Hole Film Festival

DVDs will be available for purchase soon, and the documentary will also be accessible for viewing on Amazon Prime. Watch for more information coming soon.
LOCKHEED MARTIN
CODE QUEST AWARD WINNERS
Congratulations to three budding VCHS engineers, Cathy Chang , Alex Gu , and Brad Zeng! With flawless teamwork and a well-executed strategy, the team captured 1st place at the Code Quest competition. Code Quest is an annual programming competition where teams solve problems using JAVA, Python, VB.net, C, and/or C++ programming to complete the 15-20 challenging problems created by Lockheed Martin.
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
Psalm 139:8-10
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