Protégé Award

The 2006 Quaqua Protégé is Joseph Byron Lambert of Temecula, California.  A graduate of home education, Joseph is now attending the prestigious United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.  He was one of 1,200 freshman selected from an applicant pool of about 12,000.

  Joseph was nominated by Congressman Darrell Issa to attend both the United States Military Academy and also the United States Naval Academy.  He chose the Military Academy and plans to major in engineering.  His admission was the culmination of a longstanding dream to "to serve and defend my country."  Joseph's interest in joining a service academy (and eventually, a military special forces unit) originally arose because he "want[ed] to fight for freedom and liberty around the world to keep my family and friends safe."

  Exceptional academic performance is crucial for admission to a service academy.  During his high-school age years, Joseph was enrolled with Sierra Springs Christian Academy followed by Calvary Chapel Christian Academy in Murrieta, California, both home education support groups. .  In 2006, he was named to the National Honor Roll and the National Society of High School Scholars.  Joseph also participated in the 2006 Naval Academy Summer Seminar (NASS).  He also took science and math college courses at Mt. San Jacinto and Palomar colleges.

  Military service academies also prefer applicants with a record of demonstrated athletic ability, team participation, and leadership acumen.  Joseph, who is 6'3", earned a varsity letter as starting lineman on his football team.  In the process, he received accolades from his coach for an exemplary work ethic, and he won the Scholar-Athlete Award from the Riverside Chapter of the National Football Foundation.  Joseph also earned a varsity letter in track and field, specializing in shot put and discus.  He participated in weight training, earned a black belt in karate, and was a karate instructor.

  Joseph also has been a leader in his school and community.  As President of the Associated Student Body for Calvary Chapel Christian Academy, he helped transition the organization to a student-led approach and more than doubled student attendance.  He was a member of the Church Leadership Team for the Stone Creek Bible Church in Temecula and participated in 1000 hours of church-sponsored community service in his high school career.  Joseph grew up in a family that emphasizes having a "servant's heart" and advocates living a "lifestyle of service" rather than a "country club lifestyle."

    Joseph has many other interests.  He personally designed and built the furniture for his bedroom, and taught classes about woodworking.  He has also given many public speeches for Toastmasters and on occasion has even participated in theater.

  Joseph is known for his perseverance, self-discipline, work-ethic, and commitment to excellence.  Those traits are likely to serve him well as he undergoes the extremely rigorous training regimen at West Point, serves a required five years of active military duty, and then completes three years of reserve duty.  His achievements demonstrate that home-educated graduates are gaining increasing access to professional military opportunities and are achieving excellence in the process.

      The Quaqua Society is pleased to honor Joseph Byron Lambert as the college-bound student who has best demonstrated the excellence of home education in action. The Society anticipates that he will continue to make many important contributions to home education and the general society for years to come.

2005

---

The 2005 Quaqua Protege is seventeen-year-old Michael Viscardi, a home-educated student from San Diego, California.

Michael was the 2005 National Individual Grand Prize Winner of the prestigious Siemens Westinghouse Competition for his mathematics research with real-world engineering implications. He received a $100,000 scholarship for his research paper, entitled On the Solution of the Dirichlet Problem with Rational Boundary Data. According to Siemens’ official website, Michael’s research offers solutions in complex analysis relying upon use of “rational functions,” which are particularly amenable to computer implementation. “Mr. Viscardi dazzled us with his creative use of the mathematical language,” said one judge, Dr. Steven Krantz, a Professor of Mathematics at Washington University in St. Louis. “His research is profound, substantial and complete, with potentially important practical applications in heat flow, magnetism, electrodynamics and other branches of physics. One important and exciting potential application of his work is in designing the shape of airplane wings.” Michael’s paper was published in COMPUTATIONAL METHODS AND FUNCTION THEORY, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2005. .

Michael’s mathematical prowess is the product of natural talent combined with hard work. In 2004, he earned a perfect 1600 on his SAT by answering every question correctly, along with an 800 on the Writing Subject Test. He has received numerous honors at MATHCOUNTS and various other mathematics competitions. As an 8th grader he won first place at both the Chapter and State levels of MATHCOUNTS and became a scholarship member of the 2003 National Championship Team. He was subsequently invited to the White House Oval Office to meet President Bush. Michael has qualified to take the USA Math Olympiad for the last 4 years and was invited to the Math Olympiad Summer Program in 2004. He composed a correct proof that was acknowledged and published in the January 2004 issue of AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL MONTHLY.

Since 2002 Michael has been taking mathematics courses, including graduate-level core courses, at the University of California, San Diego. He has earned straight A’s in every school or college course he has taken since 8th grade in mathematics or any other subject. Last November he was a guest speaker for a 1-hour address at the UCSD Math Department Seminar in Real Analysis. His second math research paper, entitled An Explicit Solution to the Dirichlet Problem with Rational Holomorphic Data in Terms of a Riemann Mapping, has been submitted for publication. Michael is currently continuing math research at UCSD with his mentor, Professor Peter Ebenfelt, to work on the Pompeiu problem, an unresolved conjecture since 1929.

In addition to mathematics, Michael excels in music (piano, violin, and composition) and enjoys writing fiction. He has been playing violin for 6 years and piano for 10 years, and currently studies violin with Hernan Constantino and piano with Dana Burnett. At age 11 he won Grand Prize on piano at the Collin County Young Artist Competition and soloed with the Plano Symphony Orchestra. Last year, he won 1st place at the MTAC Concerto Competition on violin and soloed with the Civic Youth Orchestra at Copley Symphony Hall. Michael also won first place in the Senior Piano Division of the 2005 Goodlin Competition, including the Chet and June Schmidt Scholarship Award. He was a winner of the keyboard division of the 2005 Musical Merit Scholarship Auditions and became a Fenstermaker scholar. Additionally, Michael was invited to solo on violin with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra in 2005 and 2006.

Michael is the concertmaster of the San Diego Youth Symphony (SDYS) and Philharmonia for the 60th anniversary season of the 6th oldest youth symphony in the nation, and holds the Jeffrey Dan Sollender Concertmaster’s Chair. He is also the first violinist in the La Jolla Trio and Ensemble. In June 2006, Michael will solo with the SDYS on piano at their season finale concert at Copley Symphony Hall, playing George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Michael loves to compose and conduct, and has been taking the SDYS conducting class with Artistic Director Jeff Edmons for the past three years. Michael has been very active performing on piano and violin at various community fundraising events, which he enjoys immensely. His list of other performances, awards, and distinctions in music is extensive.

Michael’s list of accomplishments will likely continue to grow. In 2006, he was named a National Merit Scholar and a Presidential Scholar Candidate. He was invited to meet President Bush again this year at the White House as a National Finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search. He won 1st place at the 2006 Southern California Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, and was a Sweepstakes Winner at the 2006 Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair. He also recently won the Best of Category Award in Mathematics at the 2006 International Science and Engineering Fair. He has been highlighted as “Person of the Week” on ABC World News Tonight, selected as one of Teen People Magazine’s “20 Teens Who Will Change the World,” chosen as one of “The Fast 50” by the national business magazine Fast Company, and featured in Mathematics People Notices of the AMS, Vol. 53, No. 3, 2006. In 2006, he was also selected as one of 20 members of the 20th annual USA TODAY All-USA High School Academic First Team.

Michael was born in Plano, Texas, and moved to San Diego, California, in 8th grade after living for two years in Tokyo, Japan. Michael, a graduating junior, was accepted Single Choice Early Action to the Class of 2010 at Harvard College, and was accepted to the New England Conservatory on both piano and violin. He was also recently admitted to the Harvard/New England Conservatory 5-year Joint Program, which takes no more than 4 incoming freshman each year. This fall he will major in Mathematics at Harvard, and will concurrently major in Violin Performance at the New England Conservatory, studying under Prof. Masuko Ushioda.

---

2004

---

The 2004 Quaqua Protege is sixteen-year-old Crystal Rosalie Senko, of Port Orange, Florida (near Daytona Beach). Crystal has never attended public school, and her two younger brothers are also home-educated according to what is commonly called the "ecclectic" pedagogical tradition.

Crystal recently achieved a perfect score of 1600 on the SAT test and answered every question correctly. She has also performed well on other standard examinations, including the SAT II, where she scored 800 on Math IIC, 800 on Writing, and 790 on Physics. She is a Presidential-Scholar candidate.

As one might expect, Crystal's scholastic preparation has been rigorous. She has been taking college courses since age twelve. She enrolled in Stanford University's program for gifted youth and has already completed Honors AP Calculus 3-term series, AP Physics 2-term series, an optics and thermodynamics college course, a modern physics course, and two computer programming courses. She has also taken classes at her local Daytona Beach Community College, including astronomy, college composition, literature and composition, history of western civilization, developmental psychology, and music appreciation.

Crystal has self-taught herself two-years of Latin. As an avid student of the United States space program, she has read extensively about the history of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. She has also read every book she could locate that was authored by astronauts, flight directors, and other participants of early space exploration. Mathematics is her favorite school subject.

Crystal's interests include music and dance. She took eight years of lessons in tap, ballet, pointe, jazz, and lyrical performance. She has competed as part of the Prima Dance Studio's junior dance team in Corona, California, performed as a solo dancer at an Ormond School of Ballet Concert, and performed at a charity ball to benefit the American Lung Association (Oxygen Ball). She sometimes plays the Celtic harp at cocktail parties.

Chess is another passion. Crystal won a 12th Grade "1st Under 1000" trophy at the National K-12 Chess Championships, was the Top 12th Grade girl in Florida from SuperStates II: Florida Scholastic Chess Championship, and led a four-person team at the United States Amateur Team South. She participates in three different chess clubs, teaches chess to home-educated students, and volunteers at Chess Camp at The Museum of Arts and Sciences at Daytona.

Other interests include forensics, butterfly study, ancient history (Greek, Mayan, Chinese, Egyptian, Inca, Aztec, Roman), cats, dog training, repairing pinball machines, and reading. Crystal enjoys the fantasy and science-fiction genres, including the Harry Potter series. Crystal also had a unique opportunity to learn first-hand about meteorology when three hurricanes swept through her neighborhood during a six-week period in 2004.

Senko has always demonstrated a bright streak. She could read sentences before she was age two, and as a toddler eagerly pressed her mother for more flash-card exercises. By age five she had become a Nancy Drew fan. Her precocious behavior led to the decision to utilize home education. "A lot of people think home school isn't as good as public school. But, obviously, it was at least as good for me," Crystal says.

For her undergraduate degree, Crystal plans to major in Physics and perhaps also Neuroscience. She has been accepted by several prestigious universities, but has not yet chosen where she will study full-time. She has expressed some interest in pursuing a graduate degree in medicine.

The Quaqua Society is proud to honor Crystal Senko as the college-bound student who has best demonstrated the excellence of home education in action during the past year. The Society anticipates that she will continue to make many important contributions to home education and the general society for years to come.

---

2003

---

The 2003 Quaqua Protege is eleven-year-old Andrew David Hsu, a home-educated native of Issaquah (Seattle), Washington. His two parents, who are immigrants from Taiwan, teach all of their children at home.

Andrew became the youngest winner ever of a grand prize in the Washington State Science and Engineering Fair. He represented his state at The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), the world's largest and most prestigious pre-college science fair, held in Cleveland, Ohio. The judges were so surprised by the graduate-college sophistication of the effort that they subjected Andrew to two rounds of unscheduled interviews to make sure that he had actually done the work himself.

His project was entitled Identification, Characterization, and DNA Sequencing of the Homo Sapiens and Mus Musculus COL20A1 Gene (Type XX Collagen) with Bioinformatics and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). It also garnered Andrew the President's Award - Biology Excellence Award, United States Army Award, The Office of Naval Research Naval Science Award, Art Anderson Associates Special Merit Award in Engineering, and the Senior Division Award: Medicine and Health - First Place. Andrew presented his results at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Press from around the world took notice.

Andrew describes his project as being "about a gene that I identified in the human and mouse genome called COL20A1, which encodes for the type XX collagen protein." To identify the genome, Andrew used bioinformatics, the process of searching computer databases and programs, and PCR, a laboratory procedure used to amplify targeted DNA sequences. Genes make proteins, and COL20A1 makes a type XX collagen which strengthens connective tissues, ligaments, bones, skin, and organs.

Andrew's interest in becoming a medical doctor and researcher intensified after his grandfather was confirmed to have Alzheimer's Disease. He hopes to find cures for devastating medical afflictions, possibly by first exploring diseases related to mutations in the type XX collagen. Andrew advocates the interdisciplinary approach to scientific research and problem-solving. He admires his father's blend of eastern and western philosophy, including ancient Chinese thought, and his "leading by doing" leadership style.

Andrew's preparation for a scientific career is solid. He studied mathematics and science with his parents, and utilized tutors for specialized English, French, and physical science instruction. He enrolled as a non-matriculated student in the University of Washington and completed Honors General Chemistry, Accelerated Honors Calculus, and Bioengineering Special Projects. His languages include English, French, and Chinese. He has a surprising amount of practical experience with mathematical modeling, computer programming, computer diagnosis, and advanced laboratory procedure, most of which is focused on university-level bioengineering and pathology.

As one might expect, Andrew scores well on standardized exams, achieving at above the 99th percentile on the American College Test (Composite Score 34), as well as score at the 99th percentile or above for the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test. His education also has a classical component, including the study of Shakespeare's complete works, Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the poems of Edgar Allen Poe, and Charles Dickens' David Copperfield. He also enjoys the English fantasy genre.

Swimming, an activity Andrew describes as the lab "science of hydrodynamics," is also a passion. He set nineteen team records at various age levels, took First Place in the 100 yard Butterfly for the 2004 West Coast All-Star Meet (which included California, Oregon, and Washington), and has always ranked in the top three in every Pacific Northwest Swimming event he has raced. Andrew has also won three gold medals and a silver medal in various triathlon races, and he enjoys rock-climbing and pottery-making.

Andrew also has a creative streak. He has helped his father, a software engineer who makes educational videos, write, direct, or edit various books, audio productions, video productions. Most of Andrew's work deals with short stories, poems, and vocabulary. He enjoys working with computers and producing DVDs.

Community service is also part of Andrew's repertoire. In addition to various service projects, he admires Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) and is interested in poverty-relief efforts for impoverished communities in East Asia and homeless populations in the United States. He has also expressed concern about pedophile exploitation of children in developing countries.

Andrew became a home-educated student after he skipped from first to third grade, but remained bored at school. His suggestion to other students is to 1) be resourceful, 2) find a subject that interests you, and work hard on it, 3) search for solutions when you run into barriers by persistently searching on the Internet, looking in the libraries, visiting the bookstores, asking your parents, contact mentors and teachers, and asking around for help, 4) be a pest with your pursuits, to the point where you make adults feel a bit uncomfortable, and 5) be humble.

Andrew says the best advice he ever heard was from his father. If you put fleas in a shallow container, they will rapidly jump out. But if you put a lid on the container for a short time, the fleas will hit the lid, learn to jump only so high, and give up the quest for freedom. After the lid is removed, the fleas will remain imprisoned by their own self-imposed limitations. So it is with life - most people let their own fears, or the impositions of others, imprison them in a world of low expectations.

Andrew certainly does not suffer from a lack of ambition. His goal is to become a full-time university student in the near future.

The Quaqua Society is proud to honor Andrew David Hsu as the college-bound student who has best demonstrated the excellence of home education in action during the past year. The Society anticipates that he will continue to make many important contributions to home education and the general society for years to come.

---

2002

---

The 2001 Quaqua Protege is George Abraham Thampy of Maryland Heights, Missouri.

Full Story Story & Photo During the summer of 2000 George electrified the nation by taking first place in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and second place in the National Geographic Geography Bee (where he participated as Missouri State Geography Bee Champion). His unusual double play received widespread attention from the major news media outlets, particularly since two other home-educated students placed second and third behind George in the spelling bee. George's accomplishment helped to substantially increase the general public's awareness about the benefits of home education.

George has many other less-publicized achievements. He took first place in the St. Louis Chess Competition for the "9th Grade and Under" category, earned magna cum laude honors for a perfect score on the 2001-2001 National Latin Exam, and scored a 560 verbal and 510 mathematics on the SAT while in seventh grade. As a member of Boy Scout Troop 529, George has already achieved the rank of Life Scout and served as Assistant Senior Patrol Leader.

A Christian of Asian-Indian heritage, George has served as an usher, Sunday School teacher, and youth-group leader for the First Evangelical Free Church of Manchester, Missouri. After studying at home from kindergarten through eighth grade, George now attends the Westminster Christian Academy in St. Louis, Missouri. He was a participant of the Duke University Talent Identification Program, has attended college classes at Appalachian State University, and hopes to eventually complete a graduate degree in medicine.

In response to the Quaqua honor, George stated: "Thank you very much for an opportunity to represent home school students. I am very happy to receive the annual Quaqua award."

The Quaqua Society is proud to honor George as the college-bound student who has best demonstrated the excellence of home education in action during the past year. The Society anticipates that he will continue to make many important contributions to home education and the general society for years to come.