Elite 2013 Students of the Year
Each year, Elite USA awards scholarships to a few of our students who most notably demonstrate the qualities that we hold dear: a sincere passion for learning, an exceptional work ethic, and a great attitude. Our 2013 Elite Branch Scholars have worked hard, overcome obstacles, participated in countless extracurricular activities, and excelled academically.
On June 1, Elite students and staff assembled at the Elite Teacher Convocation 2013 to celebrate the successes of the past year and recognize the efforts and achievements of this year's outstanding Students of the Year. Congratulations to all our 2013 Southern California Branch Scholars!
2013 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BRANCH SCHOLARS
Sophie Chung
Sophie attended Canyon High School and is this year's Branch Scholar from Elite of Valencia. Some of the items on her bucket list included bungee jumping, writing a book, and visiting the Mellisani Caves in Greece – and she's accomplished them all! Sophie looks forward to attending Amherst College in the fall.
Gilda Gallardo
Gilda attended the Elite Satellite Program at Kidworks in Santa Ana. Her favorite movie is The Sandlot("You're killin' me, Smalls!") and her favorite candy is dark chocolate. Gilda will be heading east to attend Georgetown University.
Isabel Fong
Isabel is a graduate of Los Angeles Leadership Academy, where she attended Elite's Satellite Program. Isabel's fun facts: "I am of Chinese heritage but was born in Colon, Panama. Spanish is my first language, Chinese my second, and English my third." Isabel plans to attend CSU Channel Islands in the fall.
Jakleen Lee
Jakleen Lee is an Elite of Fullerton’s 2013 Branch Scholar. Jakleen's fun facts: She dislikes Italian food and the color orange, and holds a black belt in taekwondo. She plans to attend UCLA this fall.
Andrew Ma
Andrew Ma is a graduate of University High School and attended Elite of Irvine. He's a true Californian: "I've been to over ten European countries, but my favorite food will always be In-N-Out." says Andrew. He looks forward to starting at Harvard College this year.
Paula Stephanie Nazario
Paula graduated from Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, where she attended Elite's Satellite Program. She loves creating ceramic sculpture, finding the process "relaxing and meditative." This fall, Paula will be going to UCLA.
Ada Jing-Yin Ng
Ada is this year’s Elite of San Diego-Rancho Bernardo Branch Scholar. "In whatever free time I can find, I enjoy swimming laps, reading fan fiction, stalking open houses, and demonstrating sentence parallelism," says Ada. She graduated from Westview High and will be attending UC Berkeley.
Patrick Nguyen
Patrick attended Elite of Fountain Valley and is a graduate of Troy High School. He speed-solves Rubik's cube as a hobby, and hasn't watched television for a very impressive three years. Patrick will be heading to Carnegie-Mellon in September.
Saatchi Patell
Saatchi attended Elite of Fullerton and is a Whitney High graduate. She love to sing (especially Disney songs and the Beatles songs her family plays on road trips), and during her travels, has been skydiving and bungie jumping. Saatchi is one of only ten students accepted to the UC San Diego Medical Scholars Program this year.
Yevgenia Rem
Yevgenia attended Polytechnic High and is Elite of Arcadia’s 2013 Branch Scholar. She's fluent in Russian, having lived in Russia for five years, and can Irish dance. Yevgenia will be starting at Dartmouth this year.
Ashley Shim
Ashley attended Elite of Torrance and Palos Verdes Peninsula High. She says, "Even when I was busy with Elite Winter Boot Camp, I still found time to participate in my favorite winter activity: snowboarding!" Ashley will be a freshman at Cornell University this fall.
Jarit Unrau
Jarrit attended Northwood High School and recently played Oberon in his school's production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He was accepted to the Biological Science/Pre-Med program at Chapman University and is this year’s Elite of Irvine-Northwood Branch Scholar.
Isaac Yi
Isaac is a graduate of LACES School and is Elite of Los Angeles’s 2013 Branch Scholar. Isaac's fun fact: "According to the Myers-Briggs personality test, I have the rarest personality among sixteen different types. I am classified as an INTJ – Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging." Isaac is looking forward to attending the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities starting this fall.
Anthony Yip
Anthony attended Elite of Rowland Heights and Troy High School. He has successfully cut his own hair since 8th grade. Anthony is one of only ten students in the world (two of them from Elite) accepted to the UC San Diego Medical Scholars Program this year.
Lily Zhou
Lily is this year’s Elite of Northridge Branch Scholar and this year's Southern California Elite Student of the Year. "Despite the fact I can't cook (yet), I love the movie Ratatouille and wish I had a little friend to help me around the kitchen," says Lily. She's a graduate of North Hollywood High School and was accepted to Caltech, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and MIT. She'll be attending MIT starting this fall.
