EXPLR ANNOUNCES TOP STUDENT INNOVATORS NAMED FIRST-EVER NATIONAL STEM CHAMPIONS

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Feb 13, 2024, 08:34 ET

126 students will receive expense-paid trips to the National STEM Festival in Washington, D.C., co-presented by EXPLR and the U.S. Department of Education.

EXPLR is founded by Jenny Buccos and co-founded by Kari Byron (former Discovery Channel Mythbuster) and Andrew Zimmern (Bizarre Foods)

NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- EXPLR announces the 126 student students whose outstanding performance in the National STEM Challenge has earned them the title of National STEM Champions. These students will be recognized at the first-ever National STEM Festival in Washington, D.C., co-presented by EXPLR and the U.S. Department of Education.

Each student and a guardian will receive an expense-paid trip, including lodging and travel, to attend the Festival and showcase their projects from April 12-13, 2024. In addition, each National STEM Champion will receive free access to EXPLR's educational streaming video and curriculum platform for the teacher of their choice.

The National STEM Challenge invited students in grades 6-12 from across the U.S. and its territories to conceive and submit STEM innovations, inventions, and research across six categories: Environmental Stewardship, Future Food, Health and Medicine, Powering the Planet, Space Innovation, and Tech for Good.

During the National STEM Festival, students will showcase their projects to top government and corporate leaders, as well as network with other exceptional students from around the country.

"Congratulations to all the students selected as National STEM Champions! EXPLR created the National STEM Challenge as a way to celebrate the nation's top young innovators. We found students who are dynamic leaders who created projects that can truly change the world. I'm thrilled to welcome our STEM Champions to the National STEM Festival this spring," said EXPLR Founder & CEO and National STEM Challenge Co-Director Jenny Buccos.

The following students were named National STEM Champions:

ALASKA
Elizabeth Shao Djajalie (Juneau), Gabrielle Okorodudu (Eagle River)

ALABAMA
Jon L Hand (Oneonta), Nikita Prabhakar (Madison), Kevin Yan (Auburn)

ARKANSAS
Aakash Bhattacharyya (Little Rock), Vishak Meenachi (Little Rock), Rohan Singh (Bentonville)

AMERICAN SAMOA
Skylar Nikaelm S. Montalbo (Pago Pago)

ARIZONA
Christopher Miranda (Yuma), Hannah Tapia (Yuma), Ashley Valencia (Yuma)

CALIFORNIA
Sania Bidurukontam (San Ramon), Leanne Fan (San Diego), Sarah Gao (San Diego), Ella Selina Lan (San Jose)

COLORADO
Jack Albenberg (Lafayette), Amrita Saini (Lafayette), Anirudh Rao (Lone Tree)

CONNECTICUT
Rhea Doshi (Farmington), Youlmin Lee (Woodbridge), Lily Zezula (Ridgefield)

DELAWARE
Riddik Sri Neetipalli (Hockessin)

FLORIDA
Jai Gupta (Lake Mary), Rudra Patel (Tampa), Dhruva Sharma (Fort Myers), Luis Villalobos (Longwood)

GEORGIA
Hannah Coley (Stockbridge), Prakash Gupta (Conyers), Kathryn Stoltz (Conyers)

GUAM
Andrew Gio Kang (Tamuning)

HAWAII
Claire Masquida (Kailua-Kona)

IOWA
Addison Hohl (Donnellson), Caedon Newton (Keokuk), Taylor Ommen (Stuart)

IDAHO
Adri Anderson (Grangeville), Logan Krohn (Idaho Falls), Jasmine Lima (Idaho Falls)

ILLINOIS
Abhinav Anne (Plainfield), Aarav Mittal (Oak Brook), Bricen Ward (Chicago)

INDIANA
Grace Choi (Bloomington), Joshua Kim (West Lafayette), Gavin Ruan (West Lafayette)

KANSAS
Elizabeth Rose Barnes (Shawnee)

KENTUCKY
Seth Niemann (Louisville), Vallabh Ramesh (Louisville), Gopalaniket Tadinada (Louisville)

LOUISIANA
Naya Ellis (New Orleans), Jayden Marion Hall (New Orleans)

MASSACHUSETTS
Johan Coisman (Weston), Yifan Evan Ding (Boston), Isha Nagireddy (Shrewsbury), Jacklyn Omere-Okundaye (Randolph)

MARYLAND
Jehan Idsassi (Laurel), Elizabeth Onafuwa (Baltimore), Agneya Tharun (Clarksburg), Megan Yeager (Gabrills)

MAINE
Riley Bosco (Bangor), Victoria Wahlig (Falmouth), Emma Young (Cape Elizabeth)

MICHIGAN
Sahiba Kaur (Midland), Abigail Konarske (Wyandotte), Tanay Panja (Ann Arbor)

MINNESOTA
Maggie Banks (Woodbury), Samuel Kaspar (Rochester), Muminah Nihaar Mohammed (Blaine)

MISSOURI
Alexander Perry (Festus)

MISSISSIPPI
Celia Lane (Ridgeland)

MONTANA
Nicole Nau (Sunburst)

NEBRASKA
Mercedes Renken (Omaha), Anuj Singh (Omaha)

NEVADA
Noah Lee (Henderson), Ivan R Sun (Las Vegas)

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Noah Chamberlain Clark (Warner), Aarna Puvvala (Nashua)

NEW JERSEY
Advika Vuppala (Morganville), Ananya Vuppala (Morganville), Sonia Leo (Moorestown)

NEW MEXICO
Clarisse Telles Alvares Coelho (Roswell), Mario Vargas (Taos), Benjamin Varos (Taos)

NEW YORK
Alisha Ahsan (Bayshore), Migual Mathis (Syracuse), Stephanie Pizano (Brentwood), Treyonna Sullivan Bunche (Bronx)

NORTH CAROLINA
Isabel Garcia (Wilmington), Hao Li (Chapel Hill), Varshith Vadlamudi (Apex)

NORTH DAKOTA
Kyler Sabin (Bismarck)

NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
Jedric Jizaiah Aniciete (Saipan), Gwanpil Son (Saipan)

OHIO
Kara Jones (Apple Creek), Haasini Mendu (Mason), Samhita Paranthaman (Mason)

OKLAHOMA
William Soranno (Tulsa)

OREGON
Anisha Dhoot (Portland), Yuxuan Liu (Beaverton), Emma Nordstrom (Bend)

PENNSYLVANIA
Taryn He (Gettysburg), Srilekha Mamidala (Garnet Valley), Tushar Mehta (Orefield), Sritej Sai Padmanabhan (Sewickley)

PUERTO RICO
Meghna Pramoda (Guaynabo), Siona Pramoda (Guaynabo), Victor Vasnetsov (Dorado)

SOUTH DAKOTA
Louis David Rancour (Wasta)

TEXAS
Lino Marrero (Frisco), Siddarth Nandyala (Frisco), Sarang Goel (Irving), Daniel Thomas (Colleyville)

UTAH
Alex Antonio Hernandez Juarez (Salt Lake City), Sanskriti Negi (Salt Lake City), Nina Zhu (Salt Lake City)

VIRGINIA
Archishma Marrapu (Chantilly), Linda Pistun (Gainesville), Yashvir Sabharwal (Bristow)

WASHINGTON
Advait Badrish (Redmond), Vedant Srinivas (Redmond), Shiv Vinodshankar (Redmond)

WISCONSIN
Mairin Castellano (Mequon)

WEST VIRGINIA
Alexandria Amaria Harper (Charleston), Miranda Leigh Harper (Charleston)

WYOMING
Shelby Scout Hoobler (Cheyenne), Bryce Newman (Lander), Padmalakshmi Ramesh (Laramie)

For media and interview requests or inquiries about National STEM Festival coverage, please contact Skai Blue Media at [email protected]

ABOUT EXPLR
EXPLR's mission is to help kids thrive in school and life by providing real-world, rigorous, and relevant educational resources. EXPLR is a streaming video and curriculum service for grade 5-12 students, teachers, and families that helps bridge critical gaps in K-12 education. It was co-founded by leading education and entertainment figures Jenny Buccos (founder of ProjectExplorer), Kari Byron (former Discovery Channel MythBuster), and Andrew Zimmern (TV personality, producer, and U.N. World Food Programme Goodwill Ambassador). Since launching in 2021, EXPLR is used in over 500 schools across 23 US states. For more information, visit EXPLR.com

SOURCE EXPLR