Best Wishes - India Festival

Math Genius: Preet Patel
Preet Patel, son of Drs. Girish Patel and
Kirti Bhargava-Patel of St. Petersburg, has
been part of the Florida High School Math
Team and has participated in several
National Math Competitions. He won first
place (overall individual competition) at the
PUMaC - Princeton University Math
Competition, a National Math Competition
sponsored by Princeton University in Junior
Division for the year 2007-2008. As part of
the Florida team he also participated in the
Harvard-MIT Math Competition where the
Florida Team was placed first, in 2007-2008
academic year. Preet is a
sophomore in the
International Baccalaureate
program at St.
Petersburg High School
this year and is the cocaptain
of the Florida
High School Math team.
He is gearing up for several
National Math com-
Preet Patel
petitions again this
spring. Kudos and best of luck to Preet.
National Scholar: Ankit Gandhi
Beginning with college algebra
in the seventh grade, Ankit
Gandhi took 16 classes at the
University of South Florida
before he even graduated from
the rigorous International
Baccalaureate Program at C.
Leon King High School.
Gandhi was admitted to 14 schools, including
UPenn and MIT but selected the accelerated
6-year medical program at Penn State (US
News).
Ankit was named a National AP Scholar
and received the highest IB exam score in
Hillsborough County. By the end of his high
school career, Ankit attained an 8.36 GPA,
the 2nd highest GPA in the state of Florida.
Aside from his plentiful academic accomplishments,
Ankit has taken leadership roles
in many extracurricular activities. For
instance, he was president of the Key Club, a
service organization devoted to the education
of children, and president of the Math Club,
where he successfully competed in regional
and state competitions. Furthermore, he was
production manager of the high school newspaper
and performed pediatric oncology
research at St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he
wrote two papers for publication.
He also did more than
200 hours of volunteer work
during medical mission trips
to India with the Doctor’s
Goodwill Foundation. By participating
in all of these
endeavors, Ankit was been
awarded over 102 trophies. Through his
achievements and distinctions, Ankit has
been featured in the “St. Pete Times” and the
“US News and World Report”.
At Penn State, Gandhi enters as a junior
with over 80 college credits and, two years
later, will transition into Thomas Jefferson
Medical College in Philadelphia. He says that
his diligence and hard work in high school
will help him make the most of his time in
higher education. "I will have the opportunity
to focus on the activities and subjects in
which I truly have an interest," he says (US
News).
“Success is not about intelligence,” said
Gandhi, now pursuing a six-year accelerated
medical degree. “We’re not geniuses. Well,
I’m not at least. If you work hard at something
that will lead you to success” (St. Pete
Times).
“Suffering opens the eyes of understanding” 65