Academic Decathlon:

Morris Hills’s Academic Decathlon team competed at Regionals in January and brought in a big haul. This year’s theme was WWII and the Regional competition took place in January. Honors Regular members as well as co-captains Shefali Kumar and Shalaka Madge received Bronze in Interview and Math, respectively. Shalaka received an Honorable Mention in Economics. Honors Regular member Ruchi Shah received Gold in Economics. Scholastic Regular member Oscar Dadfar was awarded Gold in Science and Bronze in Interview, and he received Honorable Mentions in Math and Speech. Honors alternates Brendon Gu and Peter Koczarski received Gold and Silver in Math, with Brendon earning the only perfect score in the state! Peter also received Gold in Social Science. Honors Alternates Mehk Sethi and Sohail Patankar received Gold and Silver in Economics, and Esha Jain received Gold in Literature. Co-captain Shalaka Madge individually qualified for States, which took place in February. There, she earned Honorable Mention in Speech.

FBLA:

FBLA’s State Leadership Conference for FBLA was held in Atlantic City on March 16th and 17th. Students had to compete in their respective business-related events in Regionals in December in order to qualify. Morris Hills had several members representing the school at States, and they all competed against students from across New Jersey. Senior Shalaka Madge placed 1st overall in Organizational Leadership, senior Dan Zhao placed 1st overall in Insurance and Risk Management, senior Shreyas Agnihotri placed 4th in Insurance and Risk Management, and sophomore Kevin Mathew placed 3rd in Coding and Programming. They all qualified to compete at the National Leadership Conference in July.

TSA:

On Saturday, April 8th, sophomore and junior students, along with senior, Alexa Wyszkowski, travelled to TCNJ for a day of science and technology related events. They were supervised by Mr. Consales and Dr. Doyle as they competed against other high schools from across the state. Three months of preparation truly paid off, as the team took home numerous trophies. Taking home 3rd for Biomimicry were Nikil Avadhani, Esha Jain, Sonali Sinha, Alexandra Szewc, and Kavi Wickramasinghe. Also bringing in the bronze was the Structural Design and Engineering team, made up of Riya Gupta and Frances Lee. In 2nd came Maria Raskulinec for SciVis, Aya Salim for Children’s Stories, and Asritha Gudur and Susumitha Shailesh for Debating Technological Issues. Also in 2nd came Neera Chattopadhyay, Anushka Potdar, Hazel Shah, Olympia Su, Alexandra Szewc, and Ivana Tang for their work on Engineering Design. Finally, the Animatronics team, comprised of Mayank Govilla, Matthew Hallac, Allen Liu, Justin Mickus, John Nguyen, and Ryan Nguyen, their a second win in a row. Overall, it was a rewarding experience for all those involved.

Model Congress:  

On March 16th and 17, the MHRD students in Model Congress took part in a Congressional simulation at Rider University.  Students presented bills in their committee rooms and then debated bills in full House and Senate. There were nearly 300 students from 13 NJ school districts represented! Asritha Guduru served as the Speaker of the House, while Esha Jain, Aya Salim, and Sidhant Rastogi all held chair positions for committee rooms. Achilles Dabrowski was the Republican Party whip; Gabriel Korish was the Independent Party whip and Shefali Kumar was the Democrat Party whip.

HOPE:

On Sunday April 9th, the HOPE Club, along with Project Lead, volunteered at the annual Rutgers CGI Marathon, supporting Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. After years of volunteering, the HOPE Club, led by Mary Paulsen, has raised thousands of dollars for this cause. Proving their dedication to this cause, students met at the school at 4AM to get an early start on this eventful day. Each member of the club was stationed at a different jobs. Many were at the water station, filling up cups and handing them off to the runners. Others directed the running traffic, making sure everyone was heading in the right direction. Many people came out that day to show their support for the cause. The Marathon was well-organized and fun, and the club hopes next year we go just as well.

DECA:

The DECA State Leadership Conference is an educational event where students and other participants participate in various business-related competitions, including categories like business finance, and marketing communications. It opens up students to great networking opportunities and allows them to learn about the business world from prestigious business professionals. This year’s notable achievements include, Shreyas Agnihotri in third place for Hotel and Lodging Management, Daniel Zhao in third for Marketing Communications, and Aditya Bhatt/ in second place for Principles of Finance. These awards qualify them to participate at the national level.