Student Standouts: Banerjee ’27, Gong ’27 Caliskan ’27, Saini ’27, Pickett ’27, and Cyclocross
Congratulations to this week’s standouts below. Way to go #RamNation! And as always, if you have a story to share, please email weeklynews@micds.org.
Two Rams Learn a Lot at Missouri Scholars Academy
Over the summer, MICDS had two juniors, Reina Banerjee ’27 and Forest Gong ’27, participate in the Missouri Scholars Academy from June 8-28. Missouri Scholars Academy is a program for rising juniors from all across Missouri, where students stay at the University of Missouri – Columbia campus and take Major, Minor, and Core classes, as well as selections of fun activities in STEM, humanities, art, and more. “I took Sounds of Science, a bioacoustics class, and Math Imitates Art, a class connecting math and art,” shared Reina. “For my bioacoustics class, we soldered our own recording devices!” There were also many guest speakers, such as one of the first female astronauts, a UN ambassador of peace, and many other influential people.
To attend, interested MICDS students had to complete an application and submit it to MICDS. Then, the school nominated two students and submitted their applications to MSA. MSA then reviews applications from nominees across the state, and selects 330 to participate in the program.
“Through all of the fun and unconventional learning experiences we had (no homework or tests), I was able to learn a lot about a wide variety of topics,” Forest described. “Though I had a chemistry major and a math minor, there was a wide variety of educational programming to choose from. All of these things allowed me to gain a lot of interesting knowledge in many fields.”
One of my highlights from the experience,” reflected Reina, “was discovering the first of a specific species of treehopper ever to be found in Missouri! Finding that treehopper as a class was an incredible and unique experience that I will never forget! Another experience I truly enjoyed was caving in my Sounds of Science class. I have never gone caving, and we captured sounds from inside the cave as well!”
Reina and Forest were proud to be two of the 330 students who got to attend. Reina shared, “Overall, MSA was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had! I met so many incredible people, learned a great deal, and the program was so much fun – I will never forget it!”
“MSA was definitely one of the best and most fun experiences of my life,” Forest echoed. “I learned so many new things, met so many amazing people, and created memories that I will never forget. MSA is truly a wonderful and magical program.”
Two Leaders-in-the-Making Participate in Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Program
Two juniors, Kaan Caliskan ’27 and Maahi Saini ’27, took part in the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Program (HOBY) from June 27-29 at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, Missouri. According to the HOBY website, HOBY is a weekend-long seminar filled with “facilitated dialogue and abilities-based workshops to develop awareness of leadership strengths and an understanding of leadership values. Through these dynamic activities with peers, students hone their skills and learn to recognize, amplify, and collaborate with the diverse strengths of others. Held on college or university campuses, our programs give students a taste of college life while they dive into our engaging and FUN leadership development curriculum.”
After the experience, Saini shared, “I learned about personal leadership, group leadership, and community service leadership. Through personal leadership, I learned about the ways I can lead, my personality, and my traits through finding my true colors. Through group leadership, I was able to translate what I learned about myself and combine it with other leading styles in order to create the most effective leadership by learning to balance all of our colors. Finally, through community service, we were challenged to create a cause by which we can positively affect our community through our leadership.
“HOBY Missouri taught me what it truly means to be a leader in this world. This weekend gave me new connections, skills, and motivation. Through all the positivity, cheers, dancing, and exploring, I am walking out with more knowledge than I could have ever imagined. I learned so much about myself and the meaning of leadership from a new perspective. I connected with 110 other students from all over the state of Missouri who share a lot of different backgrounds but who share the same ideas of being future leaders in our communities and world. We walked away with new mentors and new friends. This truly was a life-changing experience. I hope to go back in the near future, as an alumnus, helping give the same amazing experience to the next ambassadors embarking on their leadership journey.”
Kaan echoed the profound impact the program made on him. “My experience at HOBY was incredibly fascinating, and I got to truly understand what it meant to be a leader,” he shared. “I felt very grateful to participate because HOBY really opened the doors to a greater perspective of who I was. I realized that I can transcend my leadership; I can do even greater things. I can be a leader to all of St. Louis; I can create my own non-profit or charity organization to help so many people. HOBY helped us facilitate and come together with other students across Missouri, helping us come up with ideas to create our own organizations for a specific cause that we want to fight for. For example, my group and I fostered the idea of creating our very own non-profit food charity, where we thought of ways we could help those struggling with food insecurity.
“Also, a major highlight from this experience was how I got to meet tons of amazing people from all across Missouri. I made a bunch of great friends that, to this day, I keep in contact with; it was amazing how in a camp that was only two days, I could make friends that would last much longer.
“Overall, HOBY was an unforgettable experience, and I am so grateful that I can consider myself an HOBY alum. I learned it’s never too late to change yourself to lead others and make a difference in this world.”
A Once-in-a-Lifetime Experience at for Lucy Pickett at the Missouri Leadership Seminar
Lucy Pickett ’27 attended the Missouri Leadership Seminar (MLS) in May. MLS is a conference for rising juniors that is held on the last weekend in May. One student from every school in Missouri is selected, and the students participate in a variety of leadership activities.
“I was selected by the MICDS Board of Grants and Scholarships,” explains Lucy. “I learned that everyone can be a leader, and I learned how everyone has leadership qualities. One of the main things I took away was that no matter the position of leadership you hold, you still can lead and use your ‘leadership superpowers’ to the best of your abilities in order to guide others. Another takeaway was that even those with differing standpoints can still have a conversation about a topic, and we all can still get along.”
Four Rams Earn Podium Spots at Cyclocross Event in Illinois
The MICDS Cyclocross team competed at Belk Park in Illinois for the second event of the SuperPrestige Cyclocross series. Kolce Mileski ’27 placed first in the adult “C” race. Ash Falk ’26 placed first and Theo Cheynel-Bertomeu ’29 placed third in the juniors race. Catherine Dawson ’26 placed first in the junior female division. Congrats Rams!
