On March 6, Andrea Sipos became the first Bel Air High School student awarded the Harford County Math Student of the Year Award from the William J. Sacco Critical Thinking Foundation.

The William J. Sacco Critical Thinking Foundation was created in July 2011 in order to honor Dr. Sacco’s important and impressive legacy. Dr. Sacco had an extremely influential impact in the fields of trauma research and applied mathematics. He was also a teacher here at Bel Air High School. Every year, in honor of his contributions, graduating seniors are chosen based on excellence in applied mathematics and critical thinking.

The math department at Bel Air High School nominated Andrea for this award based on her outstanding accomplishments in mathematics. Finalists were chosen and invited to the awards banquet on March 6, each representing a school in Harford County. Andrea was chosen out of all the finalists in Harford County, and received the Math Student of the Year Award.

Along with the award, Andrea received a $3,000 scholarship. Andrea is amazed to have won such an outstanding award, “I’m proud to represent Bel Air and the awesome achievements of all the people who enjoy math and will pursue it in the future, or just those who enjoy the problem-solving and critical-thinking aspects of it. There are several of my peers that are very talented and also could easily have won the award, so I’m excited to have been chosen.”

Andrea is a BAHS senior here at Bel Air High School who is known for her academic achievements. She is currently enrolled in AP statistics and AP calculus BC. With math being her favorite subject, Andrea works extremely hard. She feels accomplished with all of her achievements in her math classes through her high school years. With the help of fellow students, Andrea created TARDIS out of a trifold for a regression project. Andrea also formulated a game of Tetris on a GameBoy screen out of polar equations.

Andrea would like to thank Mr. Bitel, Mrs. Taylor, and Mrs. Roppelt for being incredibly influential in her love of math, “All three of the math teachers I’ve had at Bel Air sincerely enjoy what they teach and push their students to understand and achieve more, and I appreciate them always challenging me.”

Andrea is elated to have won the Math Student of the Year Award, and to be a role model at BAHS. She believes the recognition represents all of her hard work in the past, and all of the hard work she will put towards her math classes in the future. Just recently, she was accepted into her top college choice, Carnegie Mellon University. Andrea plans to double major in mechanical engineering and robotics.

Congratulations Andrea! The BAHS community could not be more proud of your achievements. We are sure you will find success in your future at Carnegie Mellon University! For more information on the William J. Sacco Critical Thinking Foundation, visit http://www.saccofoundation.org/.