LWSD students excel at state technology conference

Lake Washington School District (LWSD) students had another successful showing at this year’s Washington Technology Student Association (TSA) state competition. About 60 students finished in the top three during the April 15-18 event in Spokane. The categories are judged by technology educators and industry representatives. The top three in each category automatically qualify for the national conference in Washington, DC, June 22-26.

The annual conference brings together students from across Washington to compete in a wide range of STEM-focused events, including engineering design, robotics, problem solving, leadership and emerging technology challenges. This year, LWSD students delivered an exceptional performance across multiple categories:

• 26 First Place
• 19 Second Place
• 31 Third Place
• 249 Top 10 finishes overall

Special recognition
Bethany Kankelborg, Tesla STEM High School, was named WTSA Advisor of the Year, recognizing her exceptional leadership, mentorship and commitment to student success.

Here is a list of all the competitors who finished in the top three, along with their category and placing:

• Nancy Chen, Vicky Ding and Yu Tane Quah, Tesla STEM High School, Animation, First
• Aanya Panyam, Nicholas Tsai and Hana Zhou, Tesla STEM High School, Animatronics, First
• Diya Babu and Anika Bhadra, Eastlake High School, Animatronics, Second
• Shreshta Aithagoni, Elizaveta Glazunova, Shika Joshi, Meha Shrestha, Samantha Wong and Yenna Yun, Redmond High School, Architectural Design, First
• Samarth Appalabattula, Cleofus Balaranjith, Geeth Kandipilli, Junhyuk Lim, Yi-Ning Mei and Ishaan Verma, Eastlake High School, Audio Podcasting, Third
• Ahana Bhattacharya, Caroline Nandi and Richa Velagaleti, Kirkland Middle School, Biotechnology (MS), Second
• Iris Dey, Sia Gupta, Shreya Santhosh, Anisha Upasani and Adhrith Vutukuri, Tesla STEM High School, Biotechnology Design, First
• Tarah Bali, Dashiell Benson, Anusha Bharadvaj and Eesha Mehrotra, Lake Washington High School, Biotechnology Design, Third
• Zifeng Gao, Tesla STEM High School, CAD 3D Architecture, Second
• Emily Ma, Redmond High School, Career Prep, Second
• Neil Rawal, Eastlake High School, Career Prep, Third
• Aydin Emam, Kirkland Middle School, Career Prep (MS), First
• Enzo Ciabattari, Jonathan Kong, Sacha (Alexander) Pankov and Advik Sharma, Juanita High School, Catapult, First
• Sarah Fortman, Anya Lam and Mia Schwarzkopf, Lake Washington High School, Children's Stories, First
• Taras Abakumov and Franklin Chen, Juanita High School, Coding, Second
• Thomas Kaim and Advay Samnerkar, Redmond High School, Coding, Third
• Aydin Emam and Jack Little, Kirkland Middle School, Coding (MS), Third
• Sanaya Chakraborty and Sara Nur, Inglewood Middle School, Community Service Video (MS), Third
• Vicky Ding, Tesla STEM High School, Concept Art, Third
• Holly Hughes, Alice Lepofsky, Suravani Mehta, Tran Tran and Tue Tran, Finn Hill Middle School, Construction Challenge (MS), Second
• Aydin Emam, Kirkland Middle School, Cybersecurity Foundations (MS), First
• Simon Ahrensdorf, Kirkland Middle School, Cybersecurity Foundations (MS), Third
• Vijay Patankar and Karunya Penumalla, Juanita High School, Data Science and Analytics, Third
• Ahana Bhattacharya, Aaria Panchal and Richa Velagaleti, Kirkland Middle School, Data Science and Analytics (MS), Second
• Sanaya Chakraborty and Sara Nur, Inglewood Middle School, Data Science and Analytics (MS), Third
• Anisha Balahara and Namrata Kanakapally, Redmond High School, Debating Technology Issues, Third
• Leona Hart, Finn Hill Middle School, Digital Photography (MS), Third
• Kaira Massand, Kavya Shenoy and Adeline Wheeler, Tesla STEM High School, Digital Video Production, First
• Margaux Guibert, Finn Hill Middle School, Dragster (MS), Third
• Blake Huntington and Markus Leahy, Kirkland Middle School, Drone Challenge UAV (MS), First
• Tiffany Chi, Preetika Kaur, Manas Mishra, Aashrith Pisupati, Anindita Purkayastha and Leo Yang, Tesla STEM High School, Engineering Design, First
• Raehan Baliga, Vihaan Fadnavis, Gaurav Godse, Brian Lee, Rajvir Mishra and Andy Wang, Tesla STEM High School, Engineering Design, Third
• Arya Bhatt, Redmond High School, Extemporaneous Speech, Third
• Sarah Fortman, Chloe Howe, Anya Lam and Mia Schwarzkopf, Lake Washington High School, Fashion Design, Second
• Avyank Niraj and Anshul Raghav, Redmond High School, Forensic Science, First
• Saathvik Voora and Adhrith Vutukuri, Tesla STEM High School, Forensic Science, Second
• Varshini Chandrasekhar, Juanita High School, Future Technology Teacher, First
• Akshara Guddeti, Eastlake High School, Future Technology Teacher, Third
• Arya Bhatt, Thomas Kaim and Advay Samnerkar, Redmond High School, Geospatial Technology, Third
• Stephanie Chen, Redmond High School, Infographic, Third
• Ahana Bhattacharya, Coraline Hewitt and Caroline Nandi, Kirkland Middle School, Leadership Strategies (MS), Third
• Timothy An, Wenxin Fang and Kaira Massand, Tesla STEM High School, Manufacturing Prototype, First
• Reyansh Jajoo, Nehanth Kakani, Saanvi Tiwari and Dmitriy Yugay, Lake Washington High School, Manufacturing Prototype, Third
• Avni Alampally, Emma Barendt, Loganne Mcquillan and Caroline Nandi, Kirkland Middle School, Mass Production (MS), Second
• Sahasra Momidi, Raavi Newaskar and Sri Tanmayi Tirumala, Inglewood Middle School, Mass Production (MS), Third
• Khanghee Cho and Zachary Ollis, Kirkland Middle School, Mechanical Engineering (MS), Third
• Ahana Bhattacharya, Aaria Panchal and Richa Velagaleti, Kirkland Middle School, Medical Technology (MS), Second
• Avni Alampally, Nell Henry and Coraline Hewitt, Kirkland Middle School, Microcontroller Design (MS), First
• Timothy An, Desmond Irwin, Max Larkin, Aniruddh Shastri and Evan Wang, Tesla STEM High School, Music Production, First
• Mia Choe and Leona Hart, Finn Hill Middle School, Music Production (MS), Third
• Ananya Solanki and Nora Tran, Finn Hill Middle School, Off the Grid (MS), First
• Holly Hughes, Suravani Mehta, Tran Tran and Tue Tran, Finn Hill Middle School, Off the Grid (MS), Second
• Alice Chen, Redmond High School, Prepared Presentation, First
• Jessie Jaffe and Tim Rakovchuk, Finn Hill Middle School, Problem Solving (MS), Third
• Ila Lu, Eastlake High School, Promotional Design, Third
• Tran Tran, Finn Hill Middle School, Promotional Marketing (MS), First
• Tue Tran, Finn Hill Middle School, Promotional Marketing (MS), Third
• Avni Alampally, Ailana Koropchak, Aaria Panchal and Micah Willeke, Kirkland Middle School, Robotics (MS), First
• Khanghee Cho, Jason Krantz and Ryan Oh, Kirkland Middle School, Robotics (MS), Second
• Brendon Luo, Varun Patankar and Karunya Penumalla, Juanita High School, Senior Solar Spring, Second
• Khanghee Cho, Zafar Nurani and Ryan Oh, Kirkland Middle School, Silent Film (MS), First
• Margaux Guibert, James Oglesby and Liv Watts, Finn Hill Middle School, Silent Film (MS), Second
• Laila Eghtedari, Bethany Hu and Ida Smith, Juanita High School, Silent Film, Third
• Ivy Wei and Yilin Zhang, Tesla STEM High School, STEM Mass Media, Second
• Anna Horsfield, Audrey Pogue and Kate Reynolds, Juanita High School, STEM Control Technology, First
• Dashiell Benson, Reyansh Jajoo and Dmitriy Yugay, Lake Washington High School, STEM Control Technology, Third
• Lucas Chow, Blake Huntington and Markus Leahy, Kirkland Middle School, System Control Technology (MS), Second
• Avni Alampally, Ailana Koropchak and Aaria Panchal, Kirkland Middle School, System Control Technology (MS), Third
• Tran Tran and Tue Tran, Finn Hill Middle School, Technical Design (MS), First
• Akhil Pasumarthy and Samantha Wong, Redmond High School, Technical Problem Solving, First
• Anvie Sana, Tesla STEM High School, Transporation Modeling, First
• Khush Kothari, Rishabh Menasinakayi, Ayaan Oberoi, Malhar Pawar and Ajisth Sareen, Tesla STEM High School, Video Game Design, Second
• Harley Bixel, Ian Bixel, Mason Smith, Carter Stevens and Milo Tchou, Kirkland Middle School, Video Game Design (MS), Second
• Sayuri Kuruppu and Janani Satish, Eastlake High School, Virtual Reality Simulation, First
• Allison Chee, Enzo Ciabattari, Fiona Colnick, Brendon Luo and Eva Tsai, Juanita High School, Virtual Reality Simulation, Third

Updated 6/18/26