Greenbrier's Aidan Raymer tops close Student of the Week poll for esports, STEM, robotics
Aidan Raymer of Greenbrier High School is the latest Tennessean Student of the Week winner in a category that combined the best esports, STEM and robotics students nominated from area schools.
There were seven nominees and every student had well over 1,200 votes.
Raymer snagged 25,744 votes. Creek Wood High's Landon Sawyers came in second with 20,905 votes.
A junior, Raymer excelled in robotics and is also an outstanding student who is involved in multiple activities at Greenbrier.
Sawyers excels in esports and was described as the driving force behind his team at Creek Wood.
The Tennessean asks Middle Tennessee high school principals, guidance counselors, teachers and staff to send us their best students in different categories throughout the school year for our Student of the Week feature.
We then let you, the reader, decide who deserves the title by voting in our weekly poll. Check Tennessean.com on April 14, to vote in our next poll.
Here is a look at all the students nominated for the most recent poll and what was said about each by those who made the nominations.
His contributions "have redefined what's possible through esports," Landon's nominator said. Landon displays athletic passion and determination to overcome any obstacle and was integral to an undefeated Unified Esports League regional championship. This achievement was a testament to Landon's unwavering spirit and leadership. As an athlete with special needs, he has been the heart and soul of his team; through his infectious humor, relentless drive, and ability to unite his teammates.
The junior has been on the esports team since his freshman year and has been the team captain for the past two years. Braden manages team communications and scheduling and is in charge of running practice sessions while taking several honors and AP classes.
The freshman has stood out as a well-rounded and driven student, excelling in computer programming languages, while actively participating in Band and the Science Olympiad team. Malachi is enrolled in honors classes and currently pursuing his first CompTIA certification as he exemplifies the spirit of a future STEM and Cyber leader in Tennessee.
A sophomore in the school's Academy of Engineering, Fynn started as a coder, but manufactures parts on 3D printers, and is a driver as well. Fynn was able to press an Alpha controller back into service when Beta lost all WiFi capability during a technology event. Fynn is described as being willing to listen to ideas and can improvise when necessary.
The sophomore and second-year robotics student has stood out by being willing to try and learn new things and his willingness to work well with others and help when needed. Dylan has managed his team and excelled at documenting the design process with the engineering notebook. Dylan is described as having a "can-do" attitude that makes him an ideal leader.
A leader in the classroom and with the robotics team, this junior leads his team and gives every member the opportunity to be involved and provide ideas. He is also very involved in other extracurricular activities and clubs here at GHS. He has a 4.0 grade point average and is enrolled in Dual Enrollment classes. He just finished directing a short film for his Audio Visual class. He was featured by Channel 2 as a Student Musician of the Month in October 2024.
The robotics team member at Beech had the drive that was crucial in starting a VEX V5 robotics team at the school. Adam came in as a freshman who had been on the robotics team at Knox Doss Middle and wanted to pursue robotics in high school. Adam showed he was very well versed in robotics building and coding and with he and his teammate's level of confidence the school was able to start a new team. Adam and his teammate worked hard to develop their robot and code it to perform in school competitions.
Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN Greenbrier's Aiden Raymer tops Tennessean Student of the Week poll
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