Whiz Kid of the Week - Anishi Patel

Anishi Patel, Age 13

Schools: Eight-grader at the Redwood Middle School in Saratoga and Young Genius Educational Center in Saratoga.

Accomplishments:

• Second place in Speech at the 2015 Harker Middle School Speech and Debate Tournament.
• First place in the “Battle of Books”, Saratoga, 2013.
• Learning and performing the Indian Classical Dance Bharatanatyam for many years.
• Outstanding straight-A academic student since Elementary School.

Key to Awesomeness:

Anishi is a very passionate, focused, and hardworking teenager. She always puts her best into everything she participates in - at school, home, or any other extracurricular activities.

Anishi has been part of the Young Genius Speech and Debate Team for six months. The Harker Middle School Speech and Debate Tournament was her first ever tournament, where she participated in speech. Anishi discovered her passion for speech and debate after learning and memorizing her first speech in her Young Genius class, and realizing how much she loved to speak and present. Her coach and Speech Program Director at Young Genius, Taisia Dubinina states, “In the first class Anishi was a modest and shy girl who did not know much about speech and was not sure at all how to begin. In the past six months I watched her gain confidence and blossom into a great speaker. I am highly proud of Anishi’s win at the first tournament of her competitive career and expecting more to come. Anishi is a perfect example of how perseverance, hard work, and consistent coaching can help a student achieve significant success.”

Anishi is also a voracious reader and can be hard to spot without a book in her hand. Having a good understanding in language and grammar made Anishi more interested in Speech and Debate.

Apart from Speech, Anishi has been learning the Indian classical dance, Bharatnatyam, since the age of 7. She has performed in several dance recitals with her teacher and other senior students, and she hopes to perform her Arangetram, or dance debut, in high school. In 6th grade, Anishi and a partner competed in the Saratoga Library Battle of the Books, and won first place. In 5th grade, Anishi placed third in a Young Author’s Fair writing contest. This school year, Anishi hopes to graduate Middle School with a GPA award.

Last spring, Anishi and her Redwood Middle School Choir troop gave an amazing stage performance at Disneyland Park.

Anishi loves to paint, sew, read, write, and swim during her spare time.