RAYNA KUMAR

RAYNA KUMAR

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Awards and Achievements

Mar 2025 - Present
Founder, Producer and Host, “Cognitive Corner” Podcast
Sept 2026
National Merit Semifinalist
Jun 2026
National Recognition Program for Outstanding Academic Achievement, College Board
July 2026
AP Scholar with Distinction, College Board
May 2026
Invited TEDx Speaker, TEDxMountain Ave, Fort Collins, CO

  • Only high schooler among 6 speakers; 6 selected from 289 applications (~2% acceptance rate)

  • Selected by 2 additional TEDx events (TEDxJasper and TEDxDelMar Youth) for the same talk

  • Explained the psychology of revenge bedtime procrastination through a research-based talk “Why you don't want to go to sleep"

  • TEDx Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaErYk2d5zQ 

  • Garnered ~49.7K+ views and 1.4K+ likes on TEDx official YouTube video

May 2026
Silver Medal, National Spanish Exam (NSE)
  • The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese organizes the National Spanish Exam (NSE) annually. 80k+ participants nationally
April 2026
Bay Area Brain Bee, 3rd Place
  • Placed 3rd out of 105 participants in a regional live-judged neuroscience competition
  • Issued by Bay Area Brain Bee
April 2026
Cognitive Corner Podcast Awards

  • W3 Awards — Silver Winner, General Series–Student (Podcasts); Sept 2026

  • Gold Award Level, Hermes Creative Awards (International Competition), “Podcast Series – Educational” category; May 2026

  • Quill Podcast Awards, Finalist (Top 5) in two categories: “Best Science and Medicine Podcast” and “Best New Podcast”; April 2026

Feb 2026
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards – Honorable Mention, Journalism
  • Awarded for article " Revenge bedtime procrastination: a reflection of society’s obsession with productivity"
Aug 2025
Higher Distinction, International Psychology Olympiad 2025

  • Earned the second-highest level of honor (top 5–20% internationally) on the Global Grand Test

May 2025
Gold Medal, National Spanish Exam (NSE)
  • The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese organizes the National Spanish Exam (NSE) annually.
Jan 2025
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards – Silver Key, Journalism
  • Awarded for excellence for article “The effects of being “chronically-online” and how it distorts our view of reality”
Aug 2024
Honorable Mention, New York Times
  • For my Opinion article during the 15th Summer Reading Contest on “California’s Homelessness Is a Failure of Will”
  • 17 (1.4%) teen-writers recognized out of 1168
May 2024
Silver Medal, National Spanish Exam (NSE)
  • The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese organizes the National Spanish Exam (NSE) annually. 80,000 students participated nationally
Oct 2020 - Present
Founder and Blogger, Medium Blog

  • Write informative articles on various topics, including book reviews, social issues, and motivational thoughts

  • Founded the blog at age 11, published 18+ articles, and garnered 11K+ views and 3,700+ claps; readership of 250+ followers

  • Blog at https://kumarrayna.medium.com/

Jan 2020 - June 2023
Speech and Debate
  • Participated in speech and debate tournaments, some at the state and national level
  • Placed 3rd at CHSSA Middle School State Championship (2023)
  • Placed 8th at James Logan Martin Luther King Jr Invitational (2022)
  • Was a finalist at the CSUF Invitational Tournament (2021)
  • Placed 1st at YG Online Congress Tournament (March 2021)
  • Placed 2nd at YG Online Winter Speech Tournament in (Jan 2021)
  • Placed 5th at YG (Nov 2020)
Other Achievements
  • Participated in several online writing competitions (GOI Peace Foundation Annual Essay Contest, Geek Partnership Society 2021 Writing Contest)
  • Finalist in school Spelling Bee in 7th grade
  • Represented my school in Harker Math Invitational Math competition in both 6th and 7th grade
  • Scored 22 (Top 10% score) in MOEMS Math Olympiads in 7th and 8th grade