Countywide : Chemistry Was Right at Villa Park High

Two tenth-grade Villa Park High School students have won top honors from the local American Chemical Society, which named them the smartest beginning chemistry pupils in the county.

Richard Kim, 15, placed first in the society’s annual two-hour exam, which grilled more than 150 high school students from throughout the county on the periodic table, complicated chemical equations, stoichiometry and other scientific concepts.

Kim said he was one of the last to finish the test, and “so I figured there would be a lot of perfect scores and I would place on the bottom 10%. . . . But I felt like it was pretty easy, and when I found out I won, it was a big, big, big surprise.”

His classmate, Vivian Chiang, 14, placed second in the competition.

The two were awarded $100 savings bonds. Society officials said the annual exam boosts interest in chemistry and motivates students to pursue careers in the field.

“I’m very proud of Richard and Vivian,” said their chemistry teacher, Steven Ebert. “They did a lot of hard work preparing for the test, and I’m tickled pink that Villa Park students have done so well this year.”

It was the first time in the society’s 28-year history that the top honors went to two Villa Park High School students.

At an awards ceremony last week, other students also received $100 savings bonds, provided by Chevron Petroleum Technology Co. of La Habra.

Christina Nagel of Fullerton High School and Brianna Keilar of La Paz Intermediate School were honored for presenting the best science projects at a fair last month.

In addition, eight other students were awarded $100 savings bonds for being chosen to compete in the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad. They are: Karen Cheng of Dana Hills High School; Steven Tu of El Toro High School; James Black and Tal Poznansky of Irvine High School; James Kingston of John F. Kennedy High School; David Snyder of Los Alamitos High School; and Tiffany Yu and Glenn Gaza of Valencia High School.