Santa Clara Boasts More Than Half of State's Semifinalists for Intel Contest

Silicon Valley Boasts More Than Half of California’s Intel Science Contest SemiFinalists

by Michelle C. Carr Crowe

Economists generally predict either technology or real estate will power the next wave of economic growth. With the recent announcement of fifteen Bay Area students chosen as the prestigious Intel Science Contest semifinalists, it appears Silicon Valley innovation may again power up the nation’s next economic growth cycle.

Fifteen high school seniors who call Silicon Valley home were named semifinalists in the prestigious Intel science contest. Of the fifteen, six were from San Jose's Lynbrook High School.

The six seniors recognized are David Liu, Tony Ho, Akshay Maheshwari, Ritik Malhotra, Tejas Navaratna and Raman Nelakanti.

Part of the well-known "Cupertino Schools," Lynbrook is one of five high schools in the Fremont Union High School District. Students attending Lynbrook reside in either Saratoga or San Jose.

The remaining nine Bay Area students came from Harker Academy, Palo Alto High , Foothill High and Mission High.

Each student was awarded $1,000 personally, as well as $1,000 for his or her respective school.

This year 1,736 entries were received. Of those, 300 semifinalists were chosen, and 28 of them were from California. California has historically received the highest number of semifinalists each year out of all 50 states.

More than half of all California semifinalists this year were from the Santa Clara County / Silicon Valley area, 15 out of 28.

On January 27th, a total of forty finalists nationwide will be selected to win an expense-paid trip for the final competition, held in the nation's capitol, Washington, D.C.