Patrick Mihelich

Sycamore School opened up a wealth of opportunities for me; throughout my 11(!) years of education at Sycamore, I was not only allowed but encouraged to learn at my own pace and try new activities. Sycamore’s faculty did their utmost to keep me and my classmates challenged academically. Several of my friends and I were even able to take calculus in the 8th grade, a rapidly accelerated pace that helped me go to the national MathCounts competition twice on the Indiana team.

In addition to having great academics, I found Sycamore simply a great place to be. I have wonderful memories of playing clarinet in the band; we played concerts, traveled to competitions, and engaged in friendly competition for the coveted position of First Chair. The major field trips were especially memorable, particularly studying oceanography in the Florida Keys. In the 4th grade I happened to start going to the school chess club, igniting my passion for the game; after my first official tournament I was hooked, and I soon became a regular on the local tournament circuit. Some friends also sparked my interest in computer science when they showed me how to program my TI-82 graphing calculator.

I graduated from Sycamore in the class of 2000 and went on to attend Park Tudor for high school. There I continued to hone my chess-playing skills, winning numerous scholastic titles on both the state and national levels. During my junior year I had a “Reign of Terror,” winning the National High School Championship, the National 11th Grade Championship, and the Indiana State Championship (for all ages). I also played soccer on the school team and found a new interest in technical theater; during my senior year I was Lighting Designer and Master Electrician for our major theatrical productions.

Of course, even with all these extracurricular activities, I was able to find some time for academics, eventually becoming an AP National Scholar. I started taking classes in computer science, and during the summer after my junior year I had the opportunity to do research in the subject at the prestigious Research Science Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2004, I was one of twenty students nation-wide to be selected by USA Today for their All-USA Academic Team. I graduated from Park Tudor the same year, and that summer I had fun teaching several children’s chess camps as one of the school’s summer programs.

Currently I have just finished my freshman year at Stanford University, where I am majoring in computer science. I play on the Ultimate Frisbee team and enjoy savoring the great California weather. I also play on the school Chess Team; this year we placed among the top four US teams at the intercollegiate Pan-American Championships. After the first quarter I began working with a Stanford computer science professor on machine learning research into creating an automatic scheduling program that tries to learn the user’s preferences. This summer I will be back at Stanford to continue working on the project.