Katherine (Katie) Marakovits is the daughter of Thomas and Pamela Marakovits and is graduating from Freedom High School. In the fall, Katie will be attending Pennsylvania State University in the Schreyer Honors College to study industrial engineering as an Impact Scholar. In high school, Katie served as the Student Director, Vice President, and Dance Captain for the FHS Theatre Company, and she performed in more than twenty-two theatrical productions. Additionally, Katie pursued her artistic passions for ten years as a student at Pennsylvania Youth Theatre, and she earned over 230 hours of community service while volunteering at their Summer Adventure Camp. Katie also served as the Class Historian and School Board Representative for the FHS Student Council, the Historian and a Mentor for the FHS Engineering Girl Power Society, and a dedicated member of the FHS National Honor Society. Katie’s love of STEM and engineering originated in her school’s Project Lead the Way Engineering courses, and she explored the discipline further at Lehigh University’s Summer Engineering Institute and as a mentee for the New York Academy of Sciences’ 1000 Girls, 1000 Futures Program. Her favorite engineering achievement in high school was competing in the Spellman HV Global Clean Technology Competition with her peers in the FHS STEM Club. Katie has been honored as a National Merit Finalist, Lehigh University High School Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction, and Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Alumna, and she was awarded the University of Rochester Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award and National History Day First Place Junior Group Performance Award at the Regional and State Competitions. In her free time, Katie enjoys camping, reading, hiking, traveling, kayaking, tap dancing, and hanging out with friends. She is incredibly grateful to be a Lehigh Valley PSPE Scholarship Recipient!

Caitlin O’Brien is the daughter of Sean and Julie O’Brien and will be graduating from Emmaus High School. She plans to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and double major in physics and electrical engineering and computer science. During high school, Caitlin was president of the Science Fair and Science Olympiad clubs and vice president of the Math Club. She was also a staff writer for her school’s newspaper, part of the Academic Team, a member of the ACSL Club, and a competitor annually in TSA TEAMS. Additionally, Caitlin led her school’s marching band as drum major, and outside of school she was a Girl Scout Ambassador and played competitive club volleyball all four years. The past few years she has also conducted research involving topics such as global warming, photodecomposition, and plastic waste management, and last summer she completed a course in high-performance computing at the University of Notre Dame. Caitlin was part of the National and Tri-M Music honor societies, and she is a National Merit Scholar and National Biology Olympiad Semifinalist, received recognition from the Society of Women Engineers, earned the PJAS Six-Year Perseverance Award, and achieved Principal’s Honor Roll every year. In her free time, Caitlin enjoys drawing, photography, volunteering, and playing video games.

Taran Anantasagar is the son of Swathi and Ravi Anantasagar and is the brother of Thwisha Anantasagar. He will be graduating from Parkland High School. Taran is considering several universities to attend in the fall of 2021 and hopes to study Computer Engineering and Computer Science. At school, Taran is President of STEM Club and Veg Club. He is passionate about animal rights and dreams of living in a world where animals are no longer exploited for their body parts. Taran is also a Life Scout at Troop 72. He has pursued scientific research and presented his work at various science fair competitions. In the summer of 2020, Taran participated in the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences, which is a five-week program (online this year due to COVID-19) held at Carnegie Mellon University. During the program, he took nine science courses and worked with a team to develop a machine learning bot to play the card game Eleusis. Looking forward, Taran wants to find a way to combine his love for STEM and engineering with his vision for a more compassionate future.

Ankhitha Manjunatha is the daughter of Vinutha Chandrashekar and Manjunatha Chinnaswamy and will be graduating from Parkland High School. She plans to attend Princeton University in the fall and major in Electrical Engineering. She is a Captain of the Varsity Debate Team, President of Math League, and is the Vice President of the Future Business Leaders of America Club. She has competed at FBLA Nationals and received awards in the E-Business and Website Design categories. Ankhitha also creates group websites by participating in National History Day and has placed first at the State Competition and won Outstanding Entry at the National Competition. She enjoys conducting scientific research in various areas of physics such as Hofstadter's Butterfly, Transfer Matrix Method, and Finite Difference Time Domain and presented her research at multiple science fairs such as the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair. Ankhitha is a National Merit Finalist, National AP Scholar, and a Lehigh University High School Scholar. Outside of school, she enjoys tutoring students and spending time with her family.