Shaan Bhandarkar of Potomac Falls is an eighth grader at The Nysmith School in Herndon. A member of the school’s “MathCounts” team and a winner of the school’s annual Science Fair, Shaan turned his academic attention to the individual “You Be the Chemist” competition, going all the way to the State Challenge this year. “It was a great experience,” said Shaan. “I had never focused on chemistry like this before, so I learned a lot.”