Rio Americano High School Physics
Rio Physics Halls of Fame



Physics Bowl - Advanced Placement Physics 1, 2, B and C - Physics Golden State Exam

PHYSICS BOWL HALL OF FAME

Each year since 1991, Rio Americano physics students have participate in the American Association of Physics Teachers Physics Bowl competition examination. The exam is 40 multiple choice questions to be answered in 45 minutes. The exam is administered across the nation each April. Schools compete within about 15 regions across the country and in two divisions. Rio Americano has placed 1st or 2nd in the years indicated below. The names are those of the four top scorers who combined to give Rio the winning score. Starting in 1998, top scoring individual students have been recognized and honored with scholarships.

Due to evolution in Rio Americano's physics priorities and the nature of the Physics Bowl Exam, Rio no longer competes on this exam.

2003 - 2nd Place - Division II: Second Year Students - Region 14: California, Hawaii, US Protectorates
Sean Arenson
Michael Schoff
David Sharg
Jordan Miller-Ziegler

 2001 - 2nd Highest Score - Division II: Second Year Students - Region 14: California, Hawaii, US Protectorates
William Adams
$100 Scholarship

2000 - 2nd Highest Score - Division II: Second Year Students - Region 14: California, Hawaii, US Protectorates
William Adams
$100 Scholarship

1997 - 1st Place - Division I: All First Year Physics Students - Region 13: California
Matthew Powell
John Stanley
Leor Thomas
Paul Zheng

 1992 - 2nd Place - Division II: Second Year or AP Physics Students - Region 14:
Northern California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming
Rudi Cilibrasi
Aaron Lin
Eric Tune
Roger Yang

 1991 - 1st Place - Division II: Second Year or AP Physics Students - Region 14:
Northern California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming
Rudi Cilibrasi
Kip Bishofberger
Stefan Banducci
Jason Kamras*

*National Teacher of the Year, 2005.




 ADVANCED PLACEMENT PHYSICS HALL OF FAME

The following Rio Americano High School students have distinguished themselves by earning the highest scores (4 and 5) on the Advanced Placement Physics 1, 2, or C Examination.

2020
DYLON KELLER
JACKSON FERRY-ZAMORA
Grayson Cliff
Joshua Alexander

2019
MAX BOYKEN GRAYSON CLIFF DYLON KELLER MATTHEW ST. GEME
Maximus DiPerna

2018
HUDSON BURKE
ELLERY SCHLINGMANN
DAVID DAVINI
Jordan Baker
Samuel Buck
JONATHAN SALMAN
Ezra Jaffe
Sophia Karperos
GINA TALCOTT
Jacob Osecheck
Nathan Witte
Marley Fortin



2017
SAHAND EDRISIAN
DAVID DAVINI
GINA TALCOTT
MILES RICHMOND
Hudson Burke
Jacob Chigbrow
Zachary Gonzalez
Marley Fortin
Jonathan Salman
Ava Soesbe
*** SAHAND EDRISIAN ***

2016
STEPHEN SU
SAHAND EDRISIAN
ADAM FRIEDMAN
Sean Banks
Jonathan Crawford
Edward Muallem
Anthony Patitucci
Peyton Dunn-Finch
Reid Nixon Miles Richmond
Joseph Simpson
Ava Soesbe
Michael Tan
John Wiest Caleb Telander
Jennifer Watembach




2015
PAIGE BORGOGNO
STEPHEN SU
Jason Baker
Shaun Dhillon
Sean Banks
Erik Ramazzini
Elizabeth Helmke
James Meyer
Caleb Swain
Orr Toledano
John Tennant

John Wiest


The following Rio Americano High School students have distinguished themselves by earning the top score (5) on The College Board's Advanced Placement Physics B or C Exam.

2013 (100% pass rate)
IVAN CHERKASHIN
RAMSEY KARIM
PATRICK McCLURE
SCOTT McCUEN
AARON PROHOFSKY
TYLER REEVES
* KENJI ANZAI *
** KENJI ANZAI **

2011
FRANKLIN AKINS
MITCHELL ALLEN
KRIS LAWRENCE
RAYMOND MULLEN
DELANEY SULLIVAN
* DELANEY SULLIVAN *

2009
ANDREW JACKSON
GAVIN MOLER
GOVIND RAGHAVAN

2008
HARVEY CHUI
JANE LI (UC Berkeley)
LAURA LILLY (Stanford)
SHERMAN SELIX (Brown)
TYLER SHEAFFER (UC Berkeley)

2007
VIDUR DADLANI (American River College)
TYLER DURKIN (Cal Poly)
SCOTT KUBICKI (UC Davis)
ILAN RUBIN (Cornell)
KONSTANTIN RUD
JOSEPH SILVERSTEIN (UCLA)
ERIC WATSON (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo)

2006
SUSAN McLAIN (University of Texas Austin)
KESAV RAGHAVAN (Stanford)
EKATERINA SERGAN (UC Davis)
JUSTIN TENG
DAVID WREDEN (USC)

2005
GIAN-CARLO DEFAZIO
RANDON KRUSE
RACHEL MILLER-ZIEGLER
JESSICA SCHEIMER
KEITH SCHWARZ
ANDREW WOODRUFF

2004
PAUL GEBHART
TREVOR JOHNSON
CHARLES LILLY
THOMAS OLIVER
ARJUN SINHA
NICKOLAI VOLKOFF-SHOEMAKER

2003 (Tie with 2002 for Physics B 5's)
SEAN ARENSON
BO CAO
SARAH CRISTY
PATRICK DO
BRIAN HOLT
ANDY JIANG
KENNETH MAK
JORDAN MILLER-ZIEGLER
MICHAEL SCHOFF
DAVID SHARG
JESSICA WILLIAMSON
EVAN WINCHESTER

2002 (Most AP Physics B passing scores in Rio history; most Physics 5's in Rio history)
HENRY ADAMS (Stanford)
HSINYING (JASON) CHOU (UC Berkeley)
JESSE EDELSTEIN (UC Berkeley)
RUSSELL GHISELLI
WESLEY HOLLIDAY (2003)
ALLISTAIR HUTCHESON
DANIEL OLIVER (Caltech)
KEITH PASKO
MOHAMMAD (REZA) PEJUHESH
ARTEM RYAZANTSEV
ADAM SCHLOTHAN (UC Davis)
DAVID SIMON
* MARK SHAMIS *

2001
NATHAN SCHLOTHAN (UC Davis)
WESTON TANTON
* BHARAT SINHA * (UC Berkeley)
** BHARAT SINHA ** (UC Berkeley)


2000
WILLIAM ADAMS (Stanford)
JAY BURKHEAD (UC Berkeley)
JOHN CASON (UC Berkeley)
STEPHEN JACKSON (UC Berkeley)
TIAN LIANG (UC Berkeley)
BHARAT SINHA (UC Berkeley)


1999 (100% pass rate)
LESLIE LUI (UC Berkeley)
JANE LURIE (UC Davis)
KELLY QUINLEY (UC Berkeley)
MEGAN TODD (Harvard)

1998 (Final one-year AP Physics B class at Rio)
GORDON AU (UC Berkeley)
STEVEN BLACK (UCLA)
SHERRY HE (Brown)
REBECCA JENNINGS (Dartmouth)
KELLIE KOEDEL (UC San Diego)
AMANDA LIPON (Pennsylvania)
ERIN PERCIVAL (Stanford)
ROBERT SCHAFER (Stanford)
CHRISTOPHER SHEN (UC Berkeley)
EMILY SIEGEL (Williams)

1997 (100% pass rate)
ANNE DURSTON (Harvard)
BENJAMIN GUMPERT (UCLA)
MICHAEL HOUSTON (UC San Diego)
VRIANA KEMPSTER (UOP)
KEVIN LAU (UC San Diego)
MATTHEW POWELL (UC San Diego)
AARON ROSENBERG (Wesleyan)
JOHN STANLEY (Stanford)
LEOR THOMAS (Brown)

1996
SUNDEEP AHUJA (Stanford)
WESLEY JACKSON (UC Berkeley)
MICHELLE YOUN (MIT)
* SUSAN CROWN * (Cornell)

1995 (100% pass rate: nothing but 4's and 5's)
SUSAN CROWN (Cornell)
RICARDO ESPINOZA (American River)
JENNY POGORILER (William & Mary)
ANNE SCHAFER (Harvard)
BERKAT S. TUNG (American River)

1994 (100% pass rate)
JEREMY KAMRAS (Columbia)
ERIC McGILL (UC Berkeley)
LUKAS SIMONIS (UC Berkeley)
EUGENE SPEVAKOV (UC Berkeley)

1993
J. WINSTON CHIONG (UC Berkeley)
BRIAN DENNY (UC Berkeley)
KENT ISHIHARA (Vanderbilt)
BRIAN PERCIVAL (Harvard)
PAUL PFEIFFER (Dartmouth)
KARTHIKEYAN THYAGARAJAN

1992 (Year of the Cardinal?)
PAUL D'ALBORA (Stanford)
AARON LIN (Stanford)
JEFFREY SWATT (Stanford)
ROGER YANG (Stanford)

1991
KIP BISHOFBERGER (MIT)
RUDI CILIBRASI (Caltech)
LINSEY MARR (Harvard)
KENNETH PHILLIPS (Bucknell)
ERIK SHELLEY (UC Davis)

1989 (First Rio AP Physics C 5)
TREVOR BAUER (MIT)
ROBERT EDWARDS (Stanford)
 KRISTINA ISHIHARA (Cornell)
MICHAEL PASKOWITZ (UC Davis)
 ERIK STUART (Princeton)
JESS WALKER (CSU Sacramento)
* ANTHONY GAMST * (UC Berkeley)

1987 (100% pass rate; first Rio AP Physics B 5)
JEREMY GOLLUB (Caltech)

*Physics C: Mechanics
** Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism





PHYSICS GOLDEN STATE EXAMINATION HALL OF FAME

The Golden State Examination, a statewide honors exam, is given annually in a variety of academic subjects. In 1999, physics was added. All first-year physics students are given the opportunity to take the exam in class. The test consists of multiple choice questions and a lab task. Student performance is evaluated on a six-point scale. Students earning the highest score point of 6 are granted Physics GSE High Honors. Those who earn a 5 are granted Honors, and those who earn a 4 are granted School Recognition. Below are annual lists of High Honorees--those who earned the top score.

In 2003, the Golden State Examination in Physics (and nearly all other content areas) was terminated due to California's budget crisis. So the last year of the Golden State Examination in Physics was 2002.

2002 High Honorees
Sean Arenson + (pb) Spencer Bartlett Lindsay Blok Bo Cao +
Michael Coyne Sarah Cristy + Patrick Do + Ranon Dulberg
Andrew Elliott Erin Fong Daniel Heeren Danny Holl
Jason Hopper Andy Jiang + Jake Losh Benjamin Meyer
Jordan Miller-Ziegler + (pb) Jonathan Ostrem John Peloquin Michael Schoff + (pb)
Jessica Stanley

2001 High Honorees
Henry Adams + Andrew Deeringer Jesse Edelstein + Farhoud Faraji
Max Feinstat Russell Ghiselli + Emily Hersh-Burdick Wesley Holliday +
Alistair Hutcheson + Nina Kapoor Daniel Kellow* Locke Macomber-Jones
Jason Marks Jared Moore Daniel Oliver + Keith Pasko +
Mohamad Pejuhesh + Artem Ryazentsev + Adam Schlothan + Mark Shamis +
David Simon + Mary Sockolov Alan Tu John Walker
Kaitlin Walker Leon Xu  Daniel Yan  

2000 High Honoree
Philip Merksamer

1999 High Honorees
William Adams + (pb) Teresa Breen Eric Buer John Cason
Daniel Choe Michael Deeringer Chad Dibble* Stacy Fat
James Flannery Gregory Hill Helena Lee Charles Leininger*
Leslie Lui* + Jane Lurie* + Sarah Milstein* Jennifer Osborn*
Kelly Quinley* + Geetha Reddy* Michael Shelley Avraham Thomas
Jori Thomas* Megan Todd* + Glen Winn *AP Student


+ indicates AP Physics B Hall of Fame Member


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Revised August 2003 by Dean Baird