National Finalist

ESA senior Anil Cacodcar is a finalist in the Breakthrough Junior Challenge, a video competition in which students aged 13-18 are tasked with producing a 3-minute video explaining an important topic in the life sciences, physics, or mathematics. The contest—which is run by Yuri & Julia Milner, Sergey Brin, Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Anne Wojcicki—attracts around 12,000 applicants from 190 countries each year. Anil's video is one of 30 finalists, with the opportunity to earn significant monetary prizes and national recognition for ESA and for Anil. 

 

From September 5 to September 20, the Breakthrough Organization posts the 30 finalist videos on its Facebook page. The general public votes on the videos, and the number of likes is used to determine who advances to the last stage of the competition. 

 

You can find Anil's video here: https://www.facebook.com/BreakthroughPrize/videos/1000260380761328. You'll see that the caption lists Anil's country as Portugal. That's his birthplace, but Anil has been an ESA student since 2017. He's currently Honor Council President, a Peer Leader, and one of the captains of the Quiz Bowl team. 

 

Read more about Anil and his work in this article from The Daily Advertiser. The challenge ends in November, and we'll be sure to let you know how Anil's video fares!