Carmel High School
Carmel High School
Virginia Kundrat, Coach
Coach Virginia “Ginny” Kundrat is the coach and appreciates, but does not share her team’s enthusiasm for anime. Perhaps that is why she is preparing to retire from teaching after working with these and other chemistry and physics students. Ginny Kundrat teaches AP Chemistry and sponsors several science clubs. She has to admit, though, that Science Bowl students have been one of the highlights of her career. Prior to teaching she worked as a chemist and metallographer. She will continue to pursue musical opportunities playing the french horn with the Carmel Symphony Orchestra and other chamber groups in her retirement.
Jack Liu
Jack Liu is a senior and he really likes studying Jupiter science. As a noted space science “mane,” Jack spends hours staring directly at the Sun, which is why he squints a lot. Jack’s nickname among his teammates is the GOATOAT (aka the greatest of all time of all time), which all of his teammates call him on a daily basis. As both a USA Math Olympics qualifier and US National Chemistry Olympiad camper, Jack regularly buzzes on math and chemistry toss-ups, and notably is the only person on the team who actually buzzes on their own subject during Science Bowl practice. Jack’s hobbies include laughing at all of Jacob’s hilarious jokes (they’re really funny) and frequently visiting Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” music video on Youtube, although it is never intentional. Finally, Jack is the only person on the team without an anime addiction, which he proudly flaunts by listening to K-pop while the rest of his team watches “children’s cartoons.”
Nathan Ou
Nathan Ou is a senior and an avid anime enthusiast. His hobbies include watching Attack on Titan during Science Bowl practice instead of buzzing in on biology questions, followed by laughing at his teammates’ incompetence. Nathan also really enjoys playing soccer, where he streams to his devoted fanbase on Instagram, averaging around two and a half viewers per day. Despite his avid studying and being a USA Biology Olympiad semifinalist, Nathan now finds it far more productive to read manga and light novels during his free periods instead of reading his biology textbooks. While he is the oldest member on the team, he is the only person on the team who cannot drive, resulting in him having to constantly beg Jack for rides. Nathan also enjoys playing team card games, not because he likes working with his friends, but so that he can always blame someone else when he loses.
Jacob Zhang
Jacob Zhang is a senior and loves laughing at his own jokes. His hobbies include making not so funny jokes (they’re really not funny) and sending his teammates random GIFs of the Pokémon Durant, because it shares its name with his favorite basketball player, Steph Curry. While Jacob likes to occasionally dabble in other subjects such as German philosophy and bagpiping, he is best known on the team for his proficient skills in every single Science Bowl subject, especially biology. However, instead of showing off his supreme knowledge by coming to Science Bowl practice, Jacob flexes his basketball skills so thoroughly that his opponent actually broke his ankle and now has to walk on crutches (true story). Finally, Jacob’s spirit animal is the monkey, and his lifelong goal is to be the first person to prove the Infinite monkey theorem with actual monkeys.
Canaan He
Canaan He is a junior and really likes studying Saturn science. In addition to hiking and camping, Canaan also enjoys solely buzzing on biology questions, much to Nathan’s dismay. As the youngest on the team, Canaan often receives poor advice from his teammates in their attempts to “troll” him. Despite having known them for many years, Canaan still frequently forgets his teammate’s names, causing him to repeatedly ask “who?” several times throughout practice. Canaan also is a master of speculation, routinely predicting the correct answer to chemistry toss-ups before the question has even been read. Although his teammates often degrade his speculation skills as “purely guesswork,” Canaan still aspires to pursue an illustrious career in fortune telling, hoping to one day become the most famous fortune teller in his neighborhood.
Aneesh Dasgupta
Aneesh Dasgupta is a senior and a moderately avid anime enthusiast. His favorite pastime is obsessively handing out copies of Bleach manga from the school library to his peers, asserting his “intellectual dominance” over his classmates. Aneesh has liked math and computer science in the past, being both a USA Math Olympiad qualifier and a USA Computing Olympiad platinum qualifier. However, he has found a new passion for the field of soil science and now wishes to spend the rest of his life excitedly looking at dirt. Aneesh’s hobbies include asking others what they are majoring in and finding code words for “computer science” (so far, he has found “neuroscience,” “philosophy,” “political science,” and many more of his peer’s majors to all secretly mean “computer science”). Aneesh is also a National Basketball Association fan, and proudly holds the record for most incorrect playoff predictions with his selection of the Brooklyn Nets to go 16-0.
