Beachwood Patch Whiz Kid of the Week Anand Rajan

Age: 18

School:

Accomplishment: Elected co-captain of the Science Olympiad team.

Key to Awesomeness: If it wasn’t clear to him already, Anand Rajan found out this year that science and math were his strong suits.

He was elected by his teammates as one of three co-captains of the high school Science Olympiad team. The 18-year-old had to run for the captain position as though it were a political office, which included delivering a speech to his two dozen teammates, and said he had to convince the team he was not only a great thinker, but a great leader as well. 

“To be selected for captain you have to be hardworking and you have to be motivated to accomplish and achieve for yourself, but at the same time you also have to be willing to look out for your teammates,” he said. “For it to be a success it depends more on how we all do as team than how we each do individually. So ideally some of us would be really strong in what we do but overall it would be the captain’s duty to make sure that everybody’s strong so we can all move up together.”

Proving that he was skilled in math and science, essential components in Science Olympiad tournaments where schools compete against each other in a variety of challenges, didn’t take much convincing. Rajan already had years of advanced math and science classes under his belt, including already two semesters worth of college calculus. He was also the science expert on the school’s academic challenge team that made it to the national tournament this year.

It was his proficiency in those two areas that compelled a friend of his to suggest he join Science Olympiad when he came to Beachwood High School as a junior. Before that he had been at three schools since the eighth grade, in New York City, Pittsburgh and Massachusetts, all places his parents moved to further their careers practicing medicine. Prior to the eighth grade he and his family lived in India, where he was born.

Since this was his last year in high school, Rajan said he’ll miss competing in Science Olympiad. Participants have to be skilled on several of the challenges that take place at tournaments because often two challenges will be taking place at the same time. That means teammates have to trust one another to prepare in advance.

“Once the group teamwork aspect is set up it’s about how much you individually study and how much you’re willing to contribute to the team,” he said. “At the end of the day when they give out the medals we all look at each other and say, ‘Wow, we’re all here because of every single other person. We’ve all worked hard for this accomplishment.’ ”

“That’s basically what I like about science Olympiad,” he continued. “I go home happy every day.”

Rajan will attend The Ohio State University in the fall and was selected to participate in the school’s Honors Program because of his high academic marks. He had a 4.3 GPA last semester, and he expects that will improve when grades are released this summer because of weighted classes he took over the last few months.

He wants to become a doctor, a decision he said was at least partly influenced by his father, a urologist, and mother, an anesthesiologist, both working at the Cleveland Clinic.

He also plays piano, an instrument he’s been mastering since he was 10 years old, plays tennis and is a member of the chemistry club at Beachwood High.