^{Northwood students qualify for the AIME}

Sophomore Chris Song and juniors Jason Yang, Lindsey Yi and Andy Zhu passed the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) exams administered by the Math Olympiad club on Feb. 4 and Feb. 10.

The top AMC test takers qualify to take the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) on March 10 and March 18, followed by the USA Mathematical Olympiad and Junior Mathematical Olympiad.

The Math Olympiad club prepared by participating in the California Math League Competition and holding monthly contests with local high schools.

“I’ve been humbled to see our members working so tirelessly to demonstrate their mathematical skills,” Zhu, the Math Olympiad president, said. “It’s extremely fulfilling to see their efforts pay off.”

^{Harrison Huai donates masks}

Sophomore Harrison Huai donated 2,400 masks to Northwood on Feb. 16 through his organization Repair the World, which he founded last December to donate masks to local schools and senior centers.

“During the second spike of the COVID-19 pandemic, I saw the challenges schools were facing to address the virus all while providing a high level of education to students,” Huai said. “I’m thankful for all the staff at school because they worked so hard to ensure the safety of students, and I wanted to do something within my ability to support them.”

Huai then negotiated with a mask manufacturing company to acquire 7,000 masks, 2,400 of which went to Northwood, 3,000 to Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School and the rest to assisted living facilities.

With Huai’s organization just budding, he hopes to continue serving the community by assisting retirement villages and working with the City of Irvine to promote awareness about COVID-19.

^{Speech & Debate State Quals}

The Northwood Speech and Debate team competed virtually at the Orange County Speech League (OCSL) State Qualifiers tournament from Feb. 26-28.

State qualifiers include sophomore Aniket Kamat in Congress and Lincoln-Douglas, sophomore Siddhanth Kumar in Oratorical Interpretation, sophomores Ananya Badari and Anthara Thirupathi in Public Forum and juniors Abigail Fang and Alexander Fu in Policy.

Following such a strong showing, the team is preparing for competing at the California High School Speech Association State Tournament from April 23 to 25.

^{Science Olympiad Regionals}

The two Northwood Science Olympiad teams placed 2nd and 30th overall at the Science Olympiad Socal Joint Regional competition on Feb. 27, with students placing in the top six for 21 events.

The competition featured students in groups of two to three participating in 23 events ranging from tests on genetics to inquiry events that analyze experimental data.

“Even though we’ve had to adjust to a lot of changes this year, I’m so proud of everyone on the team for working towards our 2nd place spot at this year’s regional competition,” Science Olympiad co-captain senior Andrea Huang said. “I’m so grateful for the enthusiasm and commitment everyone has been showing this year.”