Junior Kalki Seksaria is one of 20 students recruited nationally to attend the 16-day Chemistry Olympiad Study Camp at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.  At the end of the camp, four students will be selected to compete in the International Chemistry Olympiad at the University of Maryland on June 21-30.

The process to join the team consists of three tiers, the local exam, the national exam and the study camp.

“A lot of the material that’s asked before the training camp overlaps with AP Chemistry,” Seksaria said. “The national exam was both challenging and interesting. I really enjoyed it.”

The study camp will go beyond this material into fields of organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, biochemistry and spectroscopy, topics that will be present in the international competition.

Jefferson was permitted to send 12 students to the local exam and two to the national. Sophomore Victoria Xiu was the second student and scored in the top 150 of the national competitors.