On April 25, during Stanford's Admit Weekend, Dr. and Mrs. Li met seven of this year's ten Ardent admits at The CoHo, the coffee house on Stanford's campus. Most of the afternoon went to the students' own stories: years of studying together in Ardent classes, and of serving together in STEAM for All.
This year's ten Ardent Stanford admits are Audrey, Benjamin, Christopher, Hannah, Lauryn, Lawrence, Marissa, Mark, Nikita and Zoe.
Where they started
Nine of the ten are from Orange County; one is from Bakersfield. Eight began at Ardent in elementary school, in the Math Olympiad program. Most of them know one another: they attended the same math classes, worked in the same research cohort, and served together in leadership roles.
Seven did their first science research project with Dr. Li. Seven volunteered with STEAM for All and went on to hold leadership positions there. Eight of the ten worked with Mrs. Li in Ardent Counseling.
Their Ardent record
Some of the ten won awards along the way, at the Orange County Science & Engineering Fair and in the AMC and AIME math competitions. Others never placed in a competition. What all ten have in common is years of work at Ardent: math classes taken together, research projects, and leadership in service.
What they will study
All ten plan to major in Computer Science, Symbolic Systems or Data Science, three fields at the center of work in artificial intelligence.