St. Clair Family

Speech & Debate Award

Conceived of in 2006 and first awarded in the 2007-2008 academic year, the St. Clair Family has presented this scholarship to graduating seniors at Bridgewater-Raritan High School in New Jersey who have set themselves apart academically and as active leaders on the debate team. A list of recipients and statistics can be found below.

 

Of the nearly 20 recipients:

 

• Approximately 30% have been women

 

•75% have been from 1st-generation immigrant or ethnic minority backgrounds

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•Recipients have received 9 post-graduate advanced degrees and 1 Fulbright Award

Recipients have earned Undergraduate and Advanced Degrees from the following universities and programs:

 

• Stanford

• Harvard

• Drexel

• Hunter

• UPitt

• MIT

• NYU

• Yale

• McGill

• Emory

• Georgetown

• UPenn, Wharton

• UMich Law School

•Columbia/Sciences Po, Dual Degree

•TCNJ/Rutgers, New Jersey Medical School, 7-Year BA/MD Program

1. 2007-2008 — Mr. Abhinav Jain

• MIT, undergrad (2012)

• UPenn Wharton, MBA (2019) 

• Investment banking and private equity 

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2. 2008-2009 — Mr. Abhishek Yeleswarapu & Dr. (Mr.) Paras Minhas

 

Abhishek 

• Drexel, undergrad (debated at UPenn, 2014) 

• Clinical product management career

• Professor at Drexel 

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Paras 

• The University of Pittsburgh, undergrad (2013)

• Stanford University, M.D./Ph.D. (M.D. earned, 2017, still working towards Ph.D.)

• Has held various prestigious research fellowships, started non-profit 

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3. 2009-2010 — Ms. Martha O'Donovan

• NYU Gallatin School, undergrad (2014) 

• Received a Fulbright Fellowship in Zimbabwe 

• Arrested as an activist in Zimbabwe in 2017 for tweeting against Robert Mugabe, she was held in a state of legal limbo until January 2018. 

4) 2010-2011 — Mr. Kevin Sun & Dr. (Mr.) Prashanth Palvannan

 

Kevin

• BRHS Class Valedictorian 

• Harvard University, undergrad (2015)  

• Private equity and Investment Banking Career

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Prashanth

• TCNJ, undergrad (2015)

• Rutgers, MPH (2016)

• Rutgers, NJ Medical School, M.D. (2018)

• General Surgery Resident at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital 

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5) 2011-2012 — Ms. Esther Vinarov & Ms. Mariah Xu 

 

Mariah

• Yale University, undergrad (2016) 

• Hunter College, Master’s Degree, Clinical Psychology (2020) 

• Researcher & Graphic Designer

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Esther

• McGill University, undergrad (2016)

• The University of Michigan, J.D. (2021) 

• Attorney 

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6) 2012-2013 — Mr. Jonathan Chylinksi

• Emory University, undergrad (2017) 

• Substantial Volunteer Activities 

• Accounting & Management Consultant 

7) 2013-2014 — Ms. Gina Kim 

• Georgetown University, undergrad (2018)

• Published Author

• Human Resources

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8) 2014-2015 — Ms. Grace Chen

• Harvard, undergrad (2019) 

• Harvard, Master’s Degree, Statistics (2019)

• Private Equity & Investing 

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9) 2015-2016 — Mr. Sahaj Garg

• Stanford University, undergrad (2020) 

• AI & Software Engineer 

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10) 2016-2017 — Mr. Ryan Jin

• TCNJ (2021)

• Rutgers NJ Medical School (2024)

• Public Health Researcher 

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11) 2017-2018 — Mr. Raj Koshal 

• Columbia University (2022) & Sciences Po (2020), undergrad dual-degree program 

• Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Crossfire

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12) 2018-2019 — Mr. Julian Melendi 

• Yale University, undergrad (2023) 

• Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Crossfire

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13) 2019-2020 — Mr. Darpan Chahal 

• Recent BRHS Graduate (2020) 

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14) 2020-2021 — TBD

• Will be awarded in June, 2021