Pinnacle 2008 Winners

Monique Barrios is a senior at Ramona High School. Monique intends to pursue a career in biomedical engineering. Her goal is to help people by finding cures and creating artificial organs. She hopes to attend Stanford University in the fall. A school that she planning on attending since she was seven years old. Monique is the first in her family to attend college and her goal to attend Stanford drove her desire to be an academic success. Monique is also an accomplished athlete and is on the varsity cross country, water polo, and swim team. She was the president of Fusion-Interact – a campus and community service organization that incorporates tutoring, mentoring, and community service and campus beautification. She founded the “help the elderly program” and “student helping students” tutoring program. She also spends 15 hours per week tutoring middle school students. Monique’s counselor says – "Monique's in one of the top leaders I have encountered in 18 years in education. Although highly intelligent and a talented student athlete Monique’s greatest strength is her faith and steadfast character. She positively influences people and therefore impacts every organization, team, or group she is involved in." Monique has also won awards to her digital photography. She is truly multi-talented young lady.

Joyce Cheng is a senior at Torrey Pines High School. From her early childhood she wanted to be a doctor as noted in her preschool memory book. She plans to major in biochemistry, neuroscience, molecular biophysics, or molecular and cell biology. She has applied to UCSD, UCLA, Berkeley, Caltech, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, MIT, Penn, and Princeton. Her plan is to go onto medical school and go into cardiology, neurology, immunology, and/or surgery. She would like divide her time between practicing medicine, doing medical research, and doing volunteer work. Joyce came in second place in the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair in the medicine and health category and was a semi-finalist in the USA biology Olympiad. She has participated in the John Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth Summer programs. Her High School Counselor says “Joyce displays an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, the intellectual giftedness to quickly understand complex materials, and a strong motivational drive that pushes her to pursue a deep understanding of whatever material she is trying to master. Joyce does all of this with humility and kindness towards her fellow students.” She is also the president of the future leaders in the Field of Medicine Club. She is currently a volunteer research intern at the Whittier Institute for Diabetes at UCSD and volunteer three to four hours a week at Scripps Memorial Hospital. In here spare time, Joyce plays the piano, listen to music, and is thinking about writing a novel or screenplay.

Sarah Cheng is a senior at Westview High School. As an intern for Dr. Michael Sailor at UCSD Chemistry Department she was eager to pursue a career in chemistry. As part of her internship she joined Dr. Sailor’s sensor project to detect pollutants in the air. And with his encouragement she began her own project on the design and construction of a day-to-day sensor that she will enter in the Inventor’s Showcase competition in May. Sarah has also participated in the Science Olympiad from her freshman year in high school and in her junior year she became a five star science coach and in her senior year she became the Chemistry lab coach. Sarah is also an accomplished violinist and is second violin in the San Diego Youth Orchestra and has performed in the Pit Orchestra for the San Diego City Ballet Nutcracker performance for the past three years. She is also a graduate of the San Diego Hua Xia Chinese School and know instructs students in reading, writing, and speaking Chinese. Sarah founded Sweet Treats Baking a club dedicated to teaching others how to bake and provided baked goods to San Diego Rescue Mission. Sarah's AP Biology instructor says "Sarah is an extraordinarily gifted student and has the ability to integrate several ideas into a big picture. She has a wonderful personality and her academic team members, music program players, adult summer research team members, and social groups on our high school plaza, all count her as their friend and colleague." When she is not pursuing her next scientific discovery, Sarah likes to play the violin, listen to music, bake, figure skate, and read.

Alice Chung is a senior of Mira Mesa High School. In elementary school, Alice believed she had the magical power to cure anyone’s "boo boo" with her plastic Fisher Price stethoscope and a box of Band-Aids. No scrape on the knee or bump on the head was too big or too small for her. Soon her injury prone peers lined up to see her. Her desired to help others carries through to today when she volunteers at Rady Children's Hospital. She is also actively involved in the Key club, the art club, engineering club, ecology club and student council. Alice has also attended Chinese School and is fluent in Chinese and acts as a student mentor. She has also been Mira Mesa High Schools top scholar the last three years. She hopes to attend UCSD because of its strong reputation in the area of biology. She has also applied to UCLA, UC Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell. Alice's teacher says simply "Alice is one the best. Her extremely personable nature, outstanding performance in the classroom, and conscientious contributions to the learning community represent the epitome of what a high school teacher desires and expects from any high school student." In her spare time she like to read, watch movies, do yoga and Pilates, play the piano and spend time with family and friend.

Parima Shah is a senior at Canyon Crest Academy. Parima would like to attend college and double major in neurobiology and philosophy. After college she would like to attend medical school and become a physician. Her plan is to go to the tribal areas of Gujarat, India and found her own hospital and search that community. She has volunteered at the Seva Rural Hospital in Gujarat for the last three summers. Parima's extracurricular activities include an internship at the Haas Lab at UCSD where she researched Green Florescent Protein and Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts and the pathways between stem cells. She also helped publish a paper on this topic. She also has her own research project and written a paper on the effects of breathing techniques on test anxiety and is entering it in the Science Fair this year. At school she is actively involved on the Math Team, the Debate Team, and the Model United Nations Team. She is also an accomplished Kathak dancer and has performed all over the U.S. Parima has been accepted to UC Berkeley and has applied to USC, Washington University, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Tufts, UCLA, UCSD, Georgetown, Amherst, and Pomona College. Her first choice is Princeton because of it many opportunities to conduct research and the college’s commitment to diversity. Parima's counselor says "Parima is an outstanding example of a student with a genuine love of learning and unbridled boundless energy. She has demonstrated academic success and a level of dedication and resiliency unmatched by the majority of her peers." In her spare time Parima likes to run and teaches Kathak dance to beginners.