Category Archives: US Trust
US Trust Scholar of the Year 2012-Andrew Ng
Here is another one of the US Trust Scholar of the Year recipients, Andrew Ng
Profile
‘…Although my success in chess has contributed significantly to my leadership abilities, I cannot thank the game enough for revealing to me a means to success. Few experience early on in their life such fulfilling accomplishments, and I consider myself fortunate to have achieved so much in chess. Since I started playing the game, I had to mold my work ethic into a model of efficiency, for competition at the higher levels requires a dedication of a significant amount of time and effort.
Thankfully, this quality exhibited itself also in my academics – I realized that chess has had a strong correlation with the improvement of my problem-solving and logical faculties, essential traits for one who wishes to become an engineer.
On a more personal note, chess has allowed me to meet incredible new people that have assisted in my academic progress. One of these people, Jennifer Shahade, introduced me to the founder of the Adventures of the Mind program, Victoria Gray in 2009.
At Princeton University, I had the opportunity to meet eleven Nobel Prize winners in the fields of chemistry and physics, the CEO of Mozilla Firefox, Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, and two former Poet Laureates of the United States. Such a contingency would have been impossible without the guiding hand of chess by my side, turning the handles towards opportunity in every direction.(more)’
Chess Achievements
Scholarship
■2008 Super Nationals Chess Tournament Scholarship ($500)
Awards
■Member of the United States National Team at the 2009 World Youth Chess Championship in Turkey
■Will be a member of the United States National Team at the 2012 Pan American Chess Championship in Peru
■2011 North American Chess Champion U18
■5-time United States National Chess Champion
■Nationally Ranked Top 10 Chess Player for Age Group since 2005, currently ranked #2 in the nation for 16 year-olds
■Full 4-year college scholarship to the University of Maryland in Baltimore County and unrestricted $500 scholarship for winning the 2009 United States U16 Cadet Championship (valued at $79,480)
■2011 United States Chess Federation Scholar-Chessplayer Award ($1,500)
■2010 Rentscheler Foundation Chess Scholarship ($1,750)
■2008-2010 Recipient of the Holly Heisman Foundation Scholarship ($1,500)
■2009 National Denker Tournament of High School Champions Scholarship ($500)
■United States National Chess Master (Title)
■Member of the New Jersey Knockouts 2008-2011, a State Chess Team that competes in the United States Chess League
■4-time New Jersey High School Chess Champion
■6-time New Jersey Scholastic Chess Champion
■6-time New York State Scholastic Chess Champion
Chess Service
■Promoted chess in Marlboro Memorial Middle School by creating a state competing Chess Team. Lead team to multiple New Jersey State Championships in 2006 2007 & 2008. MMMS won the NJ State Championship for 3 straight years. In 2008 MMMS won the NJ High School Booster Championship.
■Helped create a chess club at Lincroft Elementary School. Has taught the chess club since 2009 and continue to do so today; the current membership of the club is over 70 students.
■Volunteer to give simultaneous exhibitions at the annual Chess Fest sponsored by Prevention First held in Asbury Park, New Jersey since 2007
■Volunteer at the Monmouth County Chess School and Club, raising money for the local YMCA by giving simultaneous exhibitions
■Keynote motivational speaker at the 2009 Chess Fest sponsored by Verizon Wireless
Scholar of the Year 2012-US Trust
Scholar of the Year USchesstrust National-scholar-chessplayer-award
The 2012 Scholar-Chessplayer Award winners are:
■Yang Dai, Virginia
■Joshua Mu, North Carolina
■Andrew Ng, New Jersey
■Jesse Orlowski, California
■Alexandra Wiener, Connecticut(FIDE 1880 Dec 2012)
Here is one of them, Alexandra Wiener.
‘…The five-year span between fourth and ninth grade was spent darting across a tightrope string of deceptions even with my closest friends, due to the perceived pressure from my peers to be “cool.”
What started, as a harmless way to protect my identity and salvage my social life quickly became an uncomfortable game of circumvention. When friends would ask why I couldn’t attend a certain event on a Saturday night, I would reply that I was, “visiting a family friend,” or that I had “soccer.”
To everyone who knew me, I was a “jock”, who scurried back and forth between soccer and softball practices and state championship games. In reality however, this label only covered half of my life.
The other half, my best-kept secret, stayed tucked away for fear that I would be stereotyped as a “nerd.” It wasn’t until ninth grade that anyone other than my family learned that I was a nationally ranked chess player….(more)
Chess Achievements and Awards(Partial)
■United States All Girls National Chess Co-Champion (16 years & under – 2010) (5th Place: 12 years & under – 2006) (2nd Place: 10 years & under – 2004)
■Six time Connecticut State Female Scholastic Champion (2005-2006 and 2008-2011)
■Top chess competitor in the United States since age nine: Female Ranking – 99%
■Five time Official CT State Representative to Polgar National All-Girls Invitational (2005-2006 and 2008-2010) (Youngest State Champion Representative at age 11 in 2005)
■United States Chess Open Championship (Tied for 3rd Place – Class A) (2011)
■World Chess Open Championship (Tied for 11th Place – Under 1600) (2006)
■United States Girls Junior Open Championship (Top A Class Prize & Best Game Award- 2011) (Top B Class Prize – 2010)
■Chess Magnet Junior Grand Prix National Competition (2010 National Top 50 Prize: Placed 22nd of 5,175) (2011 Current Standing: 18th of 5,563)
Chess Service, Leadership Activities(Partial)
■Chess Scholarships for Kids: Raised money with fellow chess champion at 2011 CT K-8 Chess Championship by offering autographs, photos and the chance to play five minute blitz games. Chess sets were bought and donated to CT State Chess Association to establish a scholarship program for inner-city children who will receive free lessons, a donated chess set and entry into chess tournaments. In 2012, I will mentor the program. (April 2011-Present)
■Chessboard Auction: Arranged for 31 Grandmasters, so far, to sign a chessboard for auction. The proceeds will be used to fund Chess Scholarship for Kids Program. (April 2011-Present)
■Bridgeport Board of Education Donation: Used prize winnings from 2011 United States Chess Open to purchase chess sets, which were donated to the Bridgeport Board of Education for distribution to first grade classrooms in school district. (September 2011)
■National Educational Chess Association: Volunteer Chess Instructor of weekly class in elementary school program and volunteer Assistant Tournament Director. (2010-Present)
■Fairfield County Chess Club: Volunteer Instructor/ Coach of weekly club program. Developed marketing strategy to attract disadvantaged students to join chess programs. (2011-Present)
BudapestChessNews 