Because of their hard work, BASIS Independent students grow into self-sufficient learners who are often recognized for their talents across disciplines, in and out of the classroom. We seek these opportunities out on behalf of our students, but they are also often recognized organically by meeting eligibility for prestigious national and international awards.
BASIS Independent Silicon Valley
student performance builds year after year
2020–21 Notable Recognitions
- 3 BASIS Independent Silicon Valley students were named National Merit Scholarship winners in 2021.
- 57% of our senior class was recognized this year including National Merit Semifinalists and Commended Students.
- A member of the class of 2021 made it to the finals round of the AATF National Francophone Culture Trivia Contest.
- A Math Circle club member represented the US in the European Girls Math Olympiad and won a gold medal. The US team won 2nd place.
- Our Speech & Debate team has taken the country by storm this year, including some notable mentions:
- In addition to numerous 1st place finishes, our Debate Team was ranked as the #1 ranked Public Forum debate team in the country for almost the entire competitive year.
- Based on their performances at the University of Kentucky Tournament and California State Long Beach competition, both of our teams qualified to participate at the Tournament of Champions at the end of the academic year. Three of our members placed in the top 12 and one took 3rd in Original Oratory.
- At the College Prep Round Robin, we took 1st place in Public Forum.
- At the 2021 California Middle School Speech Championships one student placed in the top 12 and another placed 4th in Original Oratory.
- At the Middle School California State Championship Tournament, three students were semifinalists, placing in the top 12.
- A student in Investment Club took first place in California in the InvestWrite competition.
- At the California state round of Academic Decathlon, our team won three gold medals, one silver, and two bronze medals in the Decathlon, and a silver medal and bronze medal in the Heptathlon event. The student with the highest score on our team was a member of the 7,000 Club. This was our second trip as a school and our first time medaling.
- The United States team won 2nd place at the European Girls Math Olympiad (EGMO). One of our students who was a member of that team won a gold medal with a score 37/42 and tied for 5th place with her teammates.
- Our math team participated in the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament (HMMT) Spring and had an outstanding event full of accomplishments. At the team level, the team placed twelfth in Guts round, twentieth in Team round, and seventeenth overall. Based on the results of this competition, two of our members qualified to participate in the HMMT Invitational, an olympiad style proof based competition. This is an amazing performance, the best within Bay Area Schools, at what is the hardest and most prestigious math tournament.
- Five students qualified for the AMO, and three qualified for the JMO.
- Our High School team participated in the Carnegie Mellon Informatics and Mathematics Competition (CMIMC), and team placed fourth in the Theoretical Computer Science (TCS) round and ninth overall.
- 31 students took the 2021 National Mythology Exam; four of our students received a perfect score. 21 received awards.
- Our Bobcats improved their performances at the National Science Bowl (NSB) Regionals for the South Bay area held on Saturday, February 6 in a new, all-virtual format. Our regionals is one of the most competitive in the country, and both of our teams qualified for the afternoon elimination rounds. At the end of the event, one of our teams out-competed 26 other teams to finish in the TOP 4.
- Our Middle School Math Circle teams participated in the Berkeley Mini Math Tournament (BmMT). Our A Team placed second in Puzzle, fifth in Pacer, fifth in Team, and eighth overall. One of the team members also placed seventh in individual ranking.
- A member of our Chemistry Olympiad is one of 16 Bay Area students who qualified to take the National Chemistry Olympiad Exam.
- Several of our teams participated in the John Hopkins Math Tournament (JHMT). One member placed first in Geometry, and another student placed second in Calculus. Multiple members placed in the top 10% for Algebra, Geometry and Combinatorics and Probability.
2019-20 Notable Recognitions
Academics
- 24 BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Seniors are 2020 National Merit Semifinalists
- 21 BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Seniors are 2020 National Merit Finalists
- 3 BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Students Named National Merit Scholarship Winners in 2020
Sports
- Our girls Varsity Volleyball team won the Bulldog Tournament; the same group of girls who built our team from the ground up when we first opened. https://blog.basisindependent.com/silicon-valley/home-of-the-champs-girls-varsity-volleyball-team-places-first
Humanities
- Two BASIS Independent Silicon Valley students were invited to the Tournament of Champions, the most competitive debate tournament in the country, and both placed in the Public Forum Debate Octofinals.
- One of our Model UN Bobcats took home the honorable mention at the Gunn Model United Nations Conference (GMUNC). At the Santa Clara Valley MUN Conference, our team represented Bulgaria and two Bobcats earned an award for Excellent Research in the WHO Committee, while two additional Bobcats earned an Honorable Mention in the UN Development Programme Committee.
- Seven High School Bobcats participated in the Academic Decathalon Regionals and collected 24 medals total. This was our personal best in the team’s five year history!
- Four Bobcats participated in the National Essay Contest held by the Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools. Each student won the highest level gold award!
- The BASIS Independent Silicon Valley DECA team stormed the State Career Development Conference, with 15 students placing in the top ten for their individual events. Additionally ,18 Bobcats placed as overall top ten finishers for their event.*
- One of our grade 5 Bobcats earned a perfect score on the difficult and exacting National Mythology Exam! Six of our students earned silver medals, and another 11 students earned bronze medals.
Science and Technology
- Our Division B Science Olympiad team took home seven event medal from the highly competitive Churchill Invitational, including two first place medals. The same team took home ten medals at the Mira Loma Invitational. They then took home six medals at the Kennedy Invitational. All of these competitions draw state and nationally ranked competitors.
- Six Bobcats placed in Best of School, while six Bobcats placed in Honor Roll in the Bebras Computing Challenge (If we run this, we have to make sure that there is a trademark used with Bebras).
- At the regional Science Bowl competition, our two BASIS Independent Silicon Valley teams took home a collective seven wins.
- Eight BASIS Independent Silicon Valley students took part in the Brain Bee, with six of them moving on to the second round. Out of the top five spots in the Bay Area, we took Second, Fourth, and Fifth.
- Middle School Bobcats took places one-three, as well as fifth at the Northern California Regional You Be The Chemist Challenge
- BASIS Independent Silicon Valley did incredibly well at the Annual BioEHS Bioengineering competition, with Team B placing First, and Team A winning an honorable mention.
- Seven BASIS Independent students took home awards at the Synopsys Science Fair
Math
- One of our grade 8 Bobcats won first place at the Berkeley Mini Math Tournament (BmMT)
- Our Math Circle Team place tenth at the Caltech-Harvey Mudd Math Competition (CHMMC).
- Math Circle also participated in the Harvard-MIT Math Tournaments with one of our grade 11 Bobcats winning sixth place in Geometry and our team finished 33 overall in the February tournament, securing a guaranteed spot for the 2020-2021 competition.
2018–19 Notable Recognitions
General Accolades
- Nineteen seniors were named National Merit Finalists, and four seniors were named National Merit Scholarship winners.
- Six students placed in the Top 3 of their division at this year’s Bay Regional Academic Decathlon, with one student placing 1st.
- In the Bay Area Brain Bee, eight BISV students were chosen for the second round of the competition, two students made it into the Top 5, and one student came in at 2nd place overall.
- During this year’s Silicon Valley Career Development Contest, 27 students placed in the Top 10 over 70 times, and 10 students placed 1st.
- At the State Career Development Conference, 15 Bobcats placed in the Top 10, and three students placed in the Top 3, moving on to the international competition.
Humanities
- One student qualified to attend the State Geography Bee.
- At the 2019 State Geography Bee San Francisco Regional Finals, six of our students qualified for the National Bee and three for the International Olympiad.
- Two students were awarded bronze medals for the 2019 National Mythology Exam.
- One student won the CBS Bay Area Spelling Bee and then made it to round five of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Language
- At the National Latin Exam, our students scored 7.5 points (18.5%) above the national average. Two of our students received perfect scores on their exams.
- Of the 42 students who took the exam, there were:
- 19 students summa cum laude (gold medal)
- 11 students maxima cum laude (silver medal)
- 3 students magna cum laude (certificate)
- 2 students with ribbons for Intro Latin
Speech & Debate
- Five students placed in the Top 5 at the Jon Schamber Invitational.
- Seven students placed in the Top 10 at the SCU Dempsey Cronin Invitational.
- Ten students placed at this year’s Stanford Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament.
- Six students placed in the Top 10 at the Cal Berkeley Invitational; one student placed twice.
- Four students qualified at the Tournament of Champions.
- Several middle school students competed at the 2019 Middle School State Championships for Speech and Debate, with one student achieving State Champion in storytelling.
Math/Economics
- Our Investment Club students won 1st and 2nd place in the 2019 San Francisco Stock Market Game.
- Our Middle School Math Circle Team won 3rd place in the Berkeley Mini Math Tournament, and placed 2nd in both score and participation in the Bay Area Math Olympiad.
- Our High School Math Circle Team won 5th place at the Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, one of the largest and most prestigious high school competitions in the world.
- The BISV campus hosted the Canadian Open Math Competition, the Canadian counterpart of the AMC 10/12.
- Out of 25 students, including circle members and non-members, who participated in this competition, 17 earned Performance with Distinction Certificates.
- Seven students qualified for higher-level national competitions.
- Four students took 2nd place at the local chapter or regional MATHCOUNTS competition.
- At the Purple Comet Math Meet, both our high school and middle school teams won Honorable Mention, placing 9th and 6th out of 675 and 553 teams worldwide.
- At the U.S. Math Competition Association, the BISV Math Circle was invited to the Challenger Division, finishing 8th place.
Science
- At the Churchill Invitational, our Division B Science Olympiad team placed nine times, including 1st in Thermodynamics.
- Five students in Division B took home the 5th place trophy at the Kennedy Invitational.
- Division C had two teams place in the Top 10 at the Golden Gate Invitational.
- One student scored so well on the F=ma exam that he qualified to take the USA Physics Olympiad Exam.
- Division B advanced to the State Championships after their Regionals competition.
- Twelve teams placed in the Top 10 of their category.
- At the ML Invitational “Best of West” Tournament, our Division B team took home a total of seven event medals and ranked in the top 6.
- Division B qualified for the State Championship for the THIRD year in a row.
- 30 students qualified for the regional “You Be a Chemist” challenges, and two moved on to the state competition.
- One student won 4th place in the 2019 National Competition.
- Bioengineering and Medical Club students competed at the BioEHSC, a bioengineering high school competition at UC Berkeley.
- Out of 14 participating students, 10 placed in the Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering categories.
Robotics
- Our Robotics team won the “Core Values Award”.
- Team Microbroccoli won the highest honor the “Excellence Award” at a Los Gatos Meet.
- A group of students attended the Central Valley Championship and won the “Robot Performance Award” and the 2nd place Champions Award.
Athletics
- Our Cross Country team competed at a local middle school division meet and one student placed 14th overall and came in 2nd in an individual event.
- For the second year in a row, our Middle School Boys Volleyball team was undefeated in their spring season.
- The Middle School Girls Volleyball team only lost one game the entire season.
2020–21 Notable Recognitions
- 3 BASIS Independent Silicon Valley students were named National Merit Scholarship winners in 2021.
- 57% of our senior class was recognized this year including National Merit Semifinalists and Commended Students.
- A member of the class of 2021 made it to the finals round of the AATF National Francophone Culture Trivia Contest.
- A Math Circle club member represented the US in the European Girls Math Olympiad and won a gold medal. The US team won 2nd place.
- Our Speech & Debate team has taken the country by storm this year, including some notable mentions:
- In addition to numerous 1st place finishes, our Debate Team was ranked as the #1 ranked Public Forum debate team in the country for almost the entire competitive year.
- Based on their performances at the University of Kentucky Tournament and California State Long Beach competition, both of our teams qualified to participate at the Tournament of Champions at the end of the academic year. Three of our members placed in the top 12 and one took 3rd in Original Oratory.
- At the College Prep Round Robin, we took 1st place in Public Forum.
- At the 2021 California Middle School Speech Championships one student placed in the top 12 and another placed 4th in Original Oratory.
- At the Middle School California State Championship Tournament, three students were semifinalists, placing in the top 12.
- A student in Investment Club took first place in California in the InvestWrite competition.
- At the California state round of Academic Decathlon, our team won three gold medals, one silver, and two bronze medals in the Decathlon, and a silver medal and bronze medal in the Heptathlon event. The student with the highest score on our team was a member of the 7,000 Club. This was our second trip as a school and our first time medaling.
- The United States team won 2nd place at the European Girls Math Olympiad (EGMO). One of our students who was a member of that team won a gold medal with a score 37/42 and tied for 5th place with her teammates.
- Our math team participated in the Harvard-MIT Math Tournament (HMMT) Spring and had an outstanding event full of accomplishments. At the team level, the team placed twelfth in Guts round, twentieth in Team round, and seventeenth overall. Based on the results of this competition, two of our members qualified to participate in the HMMT Invitational, an olympiad style proof based competition. This is an amazing performance, the best within Bay Area Schools, at what is the hardest and most prestigious math tournament.
- Five students qualified for the AMO, and three qualified for the JMO.
- Our High School team participated in the Carnegie Mellon Informatics and Mathematics Competition (CMIMC), and team placed fourth in the Theoretical Computer Science (TCS) round and ninth overall.
- 31 students took the 2021 National Mythology Exam; four of our students received a perfect score. 21 received awards.
- Our Bobcats improved their performances at the National Science Bowl (NSB) Regionals for the South Bay area held on Saturday, February 6 in a new, all-virtual format. Our regionals is one of the most competitive in the country, and both of our teams qualified for the afternoon elimination rounds. At the end of the event, one of our teams out-competed 26 other teams to finish in the TOP 4.
- Our Middle School Math Circle teams participated in the Berkeley Mini Math Tournament (BmMT). Our A Team placed second in Puzzle, fifth in Pacer, fifth in Team, and eighth overall. One of the team members also placed seventh in individual ranking.
- A member of our Chemistry Olympiad is one of 16 Bay Area students who qualified to take the National Chemistry Olympiad Exam.
- Several of our teams participated in the John Hopkins Math Tournament (JHMT). One member placed first in Geometry, and another student placed second in Calculus. Multiple members placed in the top 10% for Algebra, Geometry and Combinatorics and Probability.
2019-20 Notable Recognitions
Academics
- 24 BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Seniors are 2020 National Merit Semifinalists
- 21 BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Seniors are 2020 National Merit Finalists
- 3 BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Students Named National Merit Scholarship Winners in 2020
Sports
- Our girls Varsity Volleyball team won the Bulldog Tournament; the same group of girls who built our team from the ground up when we first opened. https://blog.basisindependent.com/silicon-valley/home-of-the-champs-girls-varsity-volleyball-team-places-first
Humanities
- Two BASIS Independent Silicon Valley students were invited to the Tournament of Champions, the most competitive debate tournament in the country, and both placed in the Public Forum Debate Octofinals.
- One of our Model UN Bobcats took home the honorable mention at the Gunn Model United Nations Conference (GMUNC). At the Santa Clara Valley MUN Conference, our team represented Bulgaria and two Bobcats earned an award for Excellent Research in the WHO Committee, while two additional Bobcats earned an Honorable Mention in the UN Development Programme Committee.
- Seven High School Bobcats participated in the Academic Decathalon Regionals and collected 24 medals total. This was our personal best in the team’s five year history!
- Four Bobcats participated in the National Essay Contest held by the Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools. Each student won the highest level gold award!
- The BASIS Independent Silicon Valley DECA team stormed the State Career Development Conference, with 15 students placing in the top ten for their individual events. Additionally ,18 Bobcats placed as overall top ten finishers for their event.*
- One of our grade 5 Bobcats earned a perfect score on the difficult and exacting National Mythology Exam! Six of our students earned silver medals, and another 11 students earned bronze medals.
Science and Technology
- Our Division B Science Olympiad team took home seven event medal from the highly competitive Churchill Invitational, including two first place medals. The same team took home ten medals at the Mira Loma Invitational. They then took home six medals at the Kennedy Invitational. All of these competitions draw state and nationally ranked competitors.
- Six Bobcats placed in Best of School, while six Bobcats placed in Honor Roll in the Bebras Computing Challenge (If we run this, we have to make sure that there is a trademark used with Bebras).
- At the regional Science Bowl competition, our two BASIS Independent Silicon Valley teams took home a collective seven wins.
- Eight BASIS Independent Silicon Valley students took part in the Brain Bee, with six of them moving on to the second round. Out of the top five spots in the Bay Area, we took Second, Fourth, and Fifth.
- Middle School Bobcats took places one-three, as well as fifth at the Northern California Regional You Be The Chemist Challenge
- BASIS Independent Silicon Valley did incredibly well at the Annual BioEHS Bioengineering competition, with Team B placing First, and Team A winning an honorable mention.
- Seven BASIS Independent students took home awards at the Synopsys Science Fair
Math
- One of our grade 8 Bobcats won first place at the Berkeley Mini Math Tournament (BmMT)
- Our Math Circle Team place tenth at the Caltech-Harvey Mudd Math Competition (CHMMC).
- Math Circle also participated in the Harvard-MIT Math Tournaments with one of our grade 11 Bobcats winning sixth place in Geometry and our team finished 33 overall in the February tournament, securing a guaranteed spot for the 2020-2021 competition.
2018–19 Notable Recognitions
General Accolades
- Nineteen seniors were named National Merit Finalists, and four seniors were named National Merit Scholarship winners.
- Six students placed in the Top 3 of their division at this year’s Bay Regional Academic Decathlon, with one student placing 1st.
- In the Bay Area Brain Bee, eight BISV students were chosen for the second round of the competition, two students made it into the Top 5, and one student came in at 2nd place overall.
- During this year’s Silicon Valley Career Development Contest, 27 students placed in the Top 10 over 70 times, and 10 students placed 1st.
- At the State Career Development Conference, 15 Bobcats placed in the Top 10, and three students placed in the Top 3, moving on to the international competition.
Humanities
- One student qualified to attend the State Geography Bee.
- At the 2019 State Geography Bee San Francisco Regional Finals, six of our students qualified for the National Bee and three for the International Olympiad.
- Two students were awarded bronze medals for the 2019 National Mythology Exam.
- One student won the CBS Bay Area Spelling Bee and then made it to round five of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
Language
- At the National Latin Exam, our students scored 7.5 points (18.5%) above the national average. Two of our students received perfect scores on their exams.
- Of the 42 students who took the exam, there were:
- 19 students summa cum laude (gold medal)
- 11 students maxima cum laude (silver medal)
- 3 students magna cum laude (certificate)
- 2 students with ribbons for Intro Latin
Speech & Debate
- Five students placed in the Top 5 at the Jon Schamber Invitational.
- Seven students placed in the Top 10 at the SCU Dempsey Cronin Invitational.
- Ten students placed at this year’s Stanford Invitational Speech and Debate Tournament.
- Six students placed in the Top 10 at the Cal Berkeley Invitational; one student placed twice.
- Four students qualified at the Tournament of Champions.
- Several middle school students competed at the 2019 Middle School State Championships for Speech and Debate, with one student achieving State Champion in storytelling.
Math/Economics
- Our Investment Club students won 1st and 2nd place in the 2019 San Francisco Stock Market Game.
- Our Middle School Math Circle Team won 3rd place in the Berkeley Mini Math Tournament, and placed 2nd in both score and participation in the Bay Area Math Olympiad.
- Our High School Math Circle Team won 5th place at the Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, one of the largest and most prestigious high school competitions in the world.
- The BISV campus hosted the Canadian Open Math Competition, the Canadian counterpart of the AMC 10/12.
- Out of 25 students, including circle members and non-members, who participated in this competition, 17 earned Performance with Distinction Certificates.
- Seven students qualified for higher-level national competitions.
- Four students took 2nd place at the local chapter or regional MATHCOUNTS competition.
- At the Purple Comet Math Meet, both our high school and middle school teams won Honorable Mention, placing 9th and 6th out of 675 and 553 teams worldwide.
- At the U.S. Math Competition Association, the BISV Math Circle was invited to the Challenger Division, finishing 8th place.
Science
- At the Churchill Invitational, our Division B Science Olympiad team placed nine times, including 1st in Thermodynamics.
- Five students in Division B took home the 5th place trophy at the Kennedy Invitational.
- Division C had two teams place in the Top 10 at the Golden Gate Invitational.
- One student scored so well on the F=ma exam that he qualified to take the USA Physics Olympiad Exam.
- Division B advanced to the State Championships after their Regionals competition.
- Twelve teams placed in the Top 10 of their category.
- At the ML Invitational “Best of West” Tournament, our Division B team took home a total of seven event medals and ranked in the top 6.
- Division B qualified for the State Championship for the THIRD year in a row.
- 30 students qualified for the regional “You Be a Chemist” challenges, and two moved on to the state competition.
- One student won 4th place in the 2019 National Competition.
- Bioengineering and Medical Club students competed at the BioEHSC, a bioengineering high school competition at UC Berkeley.
- Out of 14 participating students, 10 placed in the Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering categories.
Robotics
- Our Robotics team won the “Core Values Award”.
- Team Microbroccoli won the highest honor the “Excellence Award” at a Los Gatos Meet.
- A group of students attended the Central Valley Championship and won the “Robot Performance Award” and the 2nd place Champions Award.
Athletics
- Our Cross Country team competed at a local middle school division meet and one student placed 14th overall and came in 2nd in an individual event.
- For the second year in a row, our Middle School Boys Volleyball team was undefeated in their spring season.
- The Middle School Girls Volleyball team only lost one game the entire season.
Last year, BASIS Independent Silicon Valley had 23 National Merit Scholarship semifinalists!
Our school had a total of 23 semifinalists and 19 finalists who participated in the National Merit Scholarship, culminating in 4 winners. According to the National Merit Scholarship website, there are 15,000 finalists each year based on the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores, out of the some 1.6 million entrants.
BASIS Independent Schools alumni are quickly proving to be leaders in their fields.
Their prowess crosses industries: we’ve graduated Intel Talent Search Winners, Division I athletes, innovators in the field of autonomous driving, published poets, leading physicians, mathematicians who’ve contributed to research in their fields, and Netflix series actors!
*Over 71% of BASIS Independent Schools graduates are eligible for admission to Oxford and 56.5% to Cambridge
Colleges in the U.S. don’t have minimum academic entrance standards for applicants. On the other hand, Cambridge and Oxford, U.K. universities that are consistently ranked as the top in the world, do have minimum criteria for students to be considered. Oxford requires 3 scores of 5 on AP Exams and Cambridge expects 5 scores of 5 on AP Exams.
*Based on class of 2020 graduates