Michael Hu

Founder

Michael is a senior at Montgomery Blair High School's magnet program. He grew up in Montgomery County, MD and he’s done debate and public speaking for four years. He qualified for the Tournament of Champions in Public Forum Debate (top 2% nationally) and he reached Top 16 in national level debate tournaments, such as the Capitol Beltway Classic and the 45th Annual University of Pennsylvania Tournament. He also loves to play soccer, chess, and piano, and enjoys volunteering for the community.

Steven Su

Website and Platform Development Lead

Steven is currently a senior at Montgomery Blair School’s magnet program. He previously attended Takoma Park Middle School's magnet program, as well as Cold Spring Elementary School's GT program. He is highly experienced in various fields of computer science, including full-stack application development, cybersecurity, data science, and machine learning. In his free time, Steven enjoys working on DIY projects, gardening, flying drones, and riding his bike.

Stephen Adjei

Algebra I with Programming Basics Instructor

Stephen Adjei is a graduate from University Laboratory School and plans to study Computer Science at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Stephen’s many hobbies include web/app development, 3D/2D animation, sketching, and reading philosophical and fictional works.

Jacob Katsifarakis

Introduction to Biology Instructor

My name is Jacob "Tiny Titan" Katsifarakis. I am a senior at Kenwood Academy High School in Chicago, Illinois, and I've always loved biology and animal sciences. In my lifetime, I have had six cats and a dog, which is most likely a cause of my interest in zoology. I have taken Honors Biology, I am currently taking AP Biology and Human Body Systems, the second year of a three year medical program. I have worked in a garden at the Bridgeport Art Center in 8th grade. Both last year and this year, I am working at a farm in Washington Park, cultivating fruits and vegetables to sell locally. I genuinely enjoy biology, which I most likely inherited from my mom, who has a PhD in virology, and currently works in a research lab.

Naomi Hardy-Njie

Introduction to HTML/CSS Instructor

Naomi is currently a senior at From the Heart Christian School. Naomi is one of the 2020 Maryland Affiliate Winners of the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing. She is experienced in building and designing websites using HTML and CSS. She is also the branch manager of CoderChicksMD, a program that empowers young girls to code. In her free time, Naomi enjoys reading, crafting, and spending time with her family.

Neel Jay

Introduction to Chess Instructor

Neel is currently a senior at Montgomery Blair High School's magnet program. He learned how to play chess in third grade, and has been playing competitively ever since. Neel is currently a USCF Expert. He has placed highly in many Maryland scholastic, as well as national open tournaments such as the Continental Class Championships and the Washington Chess Congress.

Shrujana Kunnam

English Language Arts Instructor

Shrujana is currently a senior at Montgomery Blair High School’s magnet program. She previously attended Cold Spring Elementary School’s GT program and Takoma Park Middle School’s magnet program. She has taught ELA classes at local Title II elementary schools, been nationally recognized at spelling competitions, and qualified for international business-related competitions. She has participated and placed in a variety of local essay-writing and public speaking competitions as well. She is also the Outreach Lead for her school’s robotics team. When she isn’t helping out in her community, you can find her dancing, knitting, or making a mess in the kitchen.

Iris Xue

Former Media Outreach Lead • Introduction to Mathcounts/AMC8 Instructor

Iris is currently a senior at Montgomery Blair High School’s magnet program. She previously attended Takoma Park Middle School’s magnet program. Iris started training and participating in math competitions when she was in 4th grade. She was on the AMC 8 Honor Roll for three years, represented Takoma Park Middle School in MATHCOUNTS, and qualified for the state competition. She’s participated in high school math competitions such as the ARML, HMMT, CMIMC, and UMD Math Competition. She has nearly seven years of competition experience and has experience teaching young kids. In her free time she enjoys playing golf, singing, and doing outreach and volunteer work for several non-profit organizations.

Samuel Adjei

Mental Math Instructor

Samuel Adjei is a rising Junior at LSU Laboratory School. He is well-versed in advanced mathematics. He has been placed in the accelerated math pathway in high school and completed his high school math requirements in middle school. As a freshman, he took an advanced IB mathematics course (IB Math I HL) and received an award for excellence in mathematics. He often volunteers as a tutor in various programs, such as local 4H clubs and Camp Invention. Samuel also enjoys programming, designing, playing instruments, creating music, and reading.

Albert Ho

United States History Instructor

Albert is a senior at Montgomery Blair High School, studying in the STEM magnet program. He previously participated in the Takoma Park Middle School STEM magnet and Cold Spring Elementary GT programs. This year, Albert and his History Bowl team swept the DC-area History Bowl regionals, and he himself swept the DC regional bees. He also was a member of Montgomery Blair’s Quizbowl team this year, becoming one of three to represent Blair at the It’s Academic TV Show, where they became semifinalists. Albert prides himself on his knowledge of European and Chinese history, and regularly edits pages for Wikipedia.

Julia Babula

Introduction to French Instructor

Julia is a junior attending Damascus High School and takes honors level French 4. She is a tutor in her school’s Foreign Language Honor Society. Holding a passion for the French language after being exposed to her aunt, uncle and cousins speaking French fluently around her over many years, Julia began taking French freshman year. In her free time, she loves playing piano, drawing painting, being involved in school clubs, reading Harry Potter, caring for the environment, exercising and eating healthy, and loves learning. This summer Julia will be pursuing two programs at Tufts university, an astrophysics course as well as a med school high school intensive program.

Anna Tovchigrechko

Art Instructor

Anna is a current senior at Sherwood Highschool. She has competed at Regional and National dance competitions through out middle school and early highschool. She loves to learn, and has made the Straight A's Honor Roll all through out highschool. Her love for Biology has gotten her into the Barnard STEMinsts and the NHAS summer programs. Anna has created art all her life, learning drawing concepts through the Internet and highscool art classes. She hopes to show kids how to stay creative by teaching art through Kindling Curiosity. In her free time, Anna loves to read, hangout with friends (when not in quaranine), and help the elderly through various projects.

Lynna Deng

English Language Arts Instructor

Lynna is a senior in Richard Montgomery High School's IB Diploma Program. She previously attended Cold Spring Elementary School's GT program and Takoma Park Middle School's magnet program. She writes, takes photographs, and is an editor for her high school's newspaper. Her pieces have been featured on Best of SNO. She also teaches science at local elementary schools, so if your child leaves class with an assortment of science factoids snuck in between English concepts, you can likely blame her. In her free time, she enjoys singing, playing the violin, and baking superfluous quantities of cookies.

Alena Hu

Introduction to Mathcounts/AMC8 Instructor

Alena is currently a senior at Montgomery Blair High School’s magnet program. She previously attended Lucy V. Barnsley Elementary School’s GT program and Takoma Park Middle School’s magnet program. She was part of Takoma Park Middle School’s MATHCOUNTS club and represented her school in Mathalon, MML, and many more competitions. She has also participated in high school math competitions such as ARML, CMIMC, and UMD Math Competition. Outside of math, Alena enjoys playing violin, playing volleyball, and trying to take pretty pictures.

Colette Kaufman

Ballet Instructor

Colette is currently a senior at Quince Orchard High School and for the past three years she has been training for 6-7 days a week at The Washington School of Ballet. Colette took her first ballet class when she was only two years old and instantly fell in love with the art form. She has performed in many shows with The Washington Ballet Company including productions of The Nutcracker and she has attended summer programs at ballet schools such as Miami City Ballet School, Joffrey Ballet School, and École de ballet du Québec. In her free time, Colette enjoys calligraphy, photography and yoga.

Jason Liu

United States History Instructor

Jason is a senior at Montgomery Blair High School, studying in the STEM Magnet Program. He has previously studied in the Takoma Park Middle School STEM Magnet Program. However, Jason firmly believes in the virtues of a well-rounded student and has thus focused much of his attention towards the study of history and the fine arts. Apart from his academics, Jason is an award-winning pianist, Quiz Bowl and History Bowl player, and Wikipedia editor. His career in History Bowl has spanned almost 4 years, having worked extensively with Albert as part of a national-ranking team in the junior varsity division.

Eric Chen

Introduction to Astronomy Instructor

Eric Chen is a rising senior at MBHS. His hobbies include basketball, debate, web development, and listening to music. He is a captain of the Astronomy Club at Blair and enjoys reading about anything astronomy related. He is currently doing a machine learning internship at the University of Maryland.

Henry Ren

Intermediate Mathcounts/AMC8 Instructor • Former Instructor Team Lead

Henry is currently a senior at Montgomery Blair High School’s magnet program. He represented Robert Frost Middle School at MATHCOUNTS state for 2 years, and was on the AMC 8 Distinguished Honor Roll for 1 year. In high school, he received Achievement Roll and Honor Roll in the AMC 12. He has also been a coach of the Robert Frost MATHCOUNTS Team for 2 years, and a tutor at the Chinese American Parents and Students Association for 3 years. In his free time, Henry enjoys playing and refereeing soccer, practicing the clarinet, and solving puzzles.

Joy Song

Intermediate Mathcounts/AMC8 Instructor

Joy is currently a senior at Montgomery Blair High School’s magnet program. She was the only girl in her grade to make the math team at her middle school, even though she had never prepared for math competitions before. In seventh grade, she took the AMC 8 exam and made the Honor Roll. She began preparing for math competitions at the beginning of sophomore year and was able to qualify for AIME and Distinction (top 2.5%). She has also competed in other local competitions such as JHMT and UMD Math Competition. Outside of school, Joy enjoys playing volleyball and badminton, helping her school’s robotics team, reading, listening to pop music, and wondering why her code works incorrectly. She is also a huge Harry Potter fan who is forever awaiting her long overdue Hogwarts letter.