Los Gatos Patch Whiz Kid of the Week—Sudarshan Seshadri

Sudarshan Seshadri, age 16

School: junior at

Accomplishments:

• Earned straight As since elementary school
• Bronze medal in American Association of Teachers of French, National French Contest, 2007
• Principal's Scholar, 2009
• Winner of the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, Fisher Middle School, 2009
• Winner of Math Award, Fisher Middle School, 2009
• President of the Math Club at , 2011
• Founder and President of Science for Youth at Los Gatos High School, 2011
• Scholar of Distinction 2010 and 2011
• Received LGHS French World Language Award in 2011
• Enrolled in four AP classes and one honors class
• Scored a 5 on the AP Statistics Exam and an 800 in SAT Math Level 2
• Accepted into and graduated from COSMOS (Mathematics and Science camp) at UC Davis, summer 2011, where he completed a month-long combinatorics course. For graduation, he wrote an eight-page paper and prepared a 10-minute presentation on Pythagorean Triples.
• Playing competitive chess for 10 years
• Competing in several tournaments a year
• Represented Fisher Middle School in the National Junior High School Chess Championships in 2007
• Best performance in May 2009, tied for third place in the Northern California State Tournament
• Has beaten a chess Grandmaster during a simultaneous display
• Volunteers as a coach for the Chess Club at Fisher Middle School, since 2010
• Volunteered at San Jose Regional Medical Center since 2010
• Volunteered at summer school at Fisher Middle School, 2008
• Competed and won awards in several math competitions, such as MathCounts, AMC, and Santa Clara County Math Field Day
• Played soccer for 10 years
• Taught English to underprivileged students in a school in India, summer 2010. 
• Learned flute for four years and played in school concerts
• Was an honor musician in a flute quartet with the California Association for Music Education in 2008.
• A trained Carnatic (Indian Classical) vocal singer for nine years and performed in numerous Indian concerts a year
• Graduated the Junior Grade Exam in Carnatic music after an intense two-hour theory written exam and a one-hour practical exam

Key to Awesomeness:

"I try to remember that happiness is the most important thing in life. Whatever I do, I try to be happy doing it, otherwise there's no point in wasting my precious time on it," says Sudarshan about the reasons for his successes at such a young age.

For example, most young people would consider a burden going to college to learn math for a month, but Sudarshan says he was happy doing it.

This whiz kid also has the maturity and foresight to realize that the sacrifices he makes today to get a good educaiton will pay off in the future.

"Taking difficult classes doesn't make me happy, but I know that in the future, especially in college, the extra work I do now will make me happier later in life," he adds.

According to mom Suman Seshadri, Sudarshan has always had a desire to explore and excel by setting ambitious goals. "He is a mature, self-driven, dedicated, and hardworking kid. His persistence through everything is very remarkable," she notes.

"His humility, compassion, and willingness to reach out and help fellow students make him very exceptional and likeable," she continues. "Above all, he is respectful of elders and teachers. He is fun loving and never misses an opportunity to hang out with friends and play video games. He is a very well rounded kid and his achievements in academics, chess, music are a testament to that."