Cupertino Middle Schoolers Win Apple iPad Minis, Cash

Several Cupertino middle school students have taken home nifty prizes for their efforts in a summer contest sponsored by the Cupertino Library Foundation.

The S3-Super Science Searches Summer Contest is designed to assist middle-school students in doing primary research and learning how to access the Santa Clara County Library District’s online databases.

“This second year was quite an uptick in registrations,” said Eno Schmidt, president of the Cupertino Library Foundation. “We found getting the word about the contest directly to the parents really increased the response rate. This annual community activity not only gave the students a focus for the summer, it also is helping prepare them for the Common Core Standards in 2014.”

So who took home the loot?

• First Place-each receiving Apple iPad Minis are the team of Alexander Ivanov and Rajiv Nelakanti, both out-going 7th graders of Cupertino Middle School.
• Second Place-receiving $100 cash is Niyati Sriram, an out-going 8th grader from Cupertino Middle School
• Third Place-receiving $50 cash is Shivalika Chavan, an out-going 8th grader from Kennedy Middle School.

“I was amazed at the creativity in many of the presentations,” said Bev Lenihan, S3 project manager and Cupertino Library Foundation Board member. “These students are using tools like EZBib, Prezzi, and blog formats brand new to them. They just dove in and learned them. I love their enthusiasm.”

A celebration and awards ceremony to present the prizes was held Friday evening, Aug. 16.

“Our Cupertino students continue to amaze me,” said Orrin Mahoney, mayor of Cupertino and member of the Cupertino Library Foundation Advisory Council. “This S3 contest demonstrates how a good number of teens are willing to extend their own school year by digging deep into researching projects they may be working on in real life as adults.”

The Cupertino Library Foundation is a non-profit committed to extending life-long learning and self-improvement for all ages in the greater Cupertino community. Since 2003, the Cupertino Library Foundation has also raised over $600,000 for additional Library services and initiatives, including the new Library and a renovated Teen Room.

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