Eight Harker students are among the 500  semifinalists nationwide who are vying to represent the U.S. in the International Biology Olympiad. Congratulations to seniors Jeanette Chin, Alex Han and Vishesh Jain, and juniors Rachel Fang, Ruchika Podury, Jerry Sun, Susan Tu and Jason Young.

Based on the two-hour semifinalist exam results, the top 20 students will be invited to the national finals in June. That will entail  eight days of intensive practical and theoretical training at Purdue University in Indiana. The students will be taught by leading biologists and teachers, and conduct experiments in laboratories. At the end of the training, four students will be selected as the U.S. representatives to compete in the Olympiad, which will be held in July in Changwon, South Korea. The U.S. team has swept the competition and won gold three straight years.