CCHS student named state's top AP student

The fact that high school students often pursue a higher education is not uncommon, but the fact that a Churchill County High School student, Shankari Rajagopal, received the prestigious Siemens Award is.

The Siemens Award is based on advanced placement math and science scores. One boy and one girl from each state is chosen to receive a $2,000 scholarship. Rajagopal, a 17-year-old senior, is the one girl chosen from Nevada.

"I thought it was really neat when I heard I had won the award," said Rajagopal, "I didn't know it existed until I received it. Now that I have and I know what it's about I am very excited," she said.

Students do not apply for the Siemens Award. It is strictly based on test scores.During her junior year, Rajagopal took four AP tests, one in chemistry, two in calculus and the other in history.

She received a score of five (the highest grade possible) on each test.

She also received a five on a precalculus test that was taken in her sophomore year.

Founded in 1998, the Siemens Foundation provides over $4 million in college scholarships and awards each year for talented high school students in the United States.

Anna Wright taught precalculus to Rajagopal and statistics during her junior year. She received five on both tests.

"She is a teacher's ideal student," Wright said. "She is always on top of the material, always eager to learn."

Wright said her former student has an insight few adults have into mathematics.

"She worked with the other students and helped them," Wright remembers. "She is a great support system all by herself."

Her AP chemistry teacher Steve Johnson said he expected Rajagopal to do well in the advanced classes.

"Shankari is one of the most capable students I have taught in my career," said Johnson, who has been teaching at CCHS for 22 years. "She works extremely hard and is committed to excellence. She is eager to learn and delights in knowledge and thinking," stated Johnson. He said she is always prepared for class and her work is of the highest quality."

Her quality in her classwork has translated into a bright future. A National Merit scholar and a semifinalist to the Presidential Scholars program, she applied and was accepted to MIT. Rajagopal will also be one of two students from Nevada this summer attending the National Youth Science Camp in West Virginia.

Johnson said he enjoyed teaching Shankari. The chemistry teacher said Rajagopal is so academically talented that she challenges him to think more completely about problems and concepts.

" I have great admiration for students who use the gifts that they have been given, and achieve academically," stated Johnson.

Besides earning a five on her AP tests, she also earned a prefect score on the SAT II Chemistry sub test.

"Shankari is a very personable young lady, and I will miss her very much," Johnson said. "We share many interests. I have no doubt that she will achieve amazing things at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the next years. We may be reading about her Nobel Prize some day."