San Leandro, CA—A team of San Leandro High School students earned first place at the SMASH.ai Innovation Challenge, hosted by the Kapor Center in Oakland. Competing against college and international teams, juniors Jason Fang, Brandon Zhu, Brighton Minh, and sophomore Angella Huang impressed judges with their advanced AI chatbot. All but one of the students are part of Mr. Sandeep Kundra’s AP Computer Science Principles class, where they learned the foundational programming and problem-solving skills they credit for their success.
“We are incredibly proud of our students’ dedication and achievement,” said AP Computer Science teacher Mr. Sandeep Kundra. “This event gave them a valuable platform to apply their learning in a practical and engaging setting.” The team competed against more than 15 groups, including college students from Chabot College and international exchange students from India. Their chatbot stood out for its creativity, accuracy, and ease of use. Each student contributed to a different part of the project, from coding and training the AI to designing the user interface. As first-place winners, the students were each awarded an Apple Watch.
“We were inspired by our interest in AI and the potential to solve real-world problems,” said junior Jason Fang. “We wanted to challenge ourselves and apply our computer science skills in a competitive environment.” Superintendent Dr. Mike McLaughlin added, “We are thrilled to see our students leading in innovation. Their success is a powerful reflection of the excellent learning happening every day at San Leandro High.”
