Paulin Milkowski receiving 1st place award from Armand Marois

Armand Marois, vice-president of bHA, Inc., a local land planning and surveying company, has proctored the TRIGSTAR exam at Rancho Buena Vista High School since the 1995-1996 school year. It is a competition where the fastest student with the highest score is awarded the title of TRIG STAR and given a financial gift sponsored by the San Diego chapter of Land Surveyors. Many RBV students have been gifted with the opportunity to be named TRIG STAR and their name placed on a plaque. A few students have placed in the state competition as well. In 1999, Lisa Scott was the state runner-up. In 2000, Sarah Kowallek was the state winner. And, in 2010 Nikhil Das was state winner and placed 4th in the nation.

This year, Rancho’s TRIG STAR was Paulin Milkowski. She was awarded $150 for her first place finish. A few seconds behind her placing in second was Kara Chen, who won $100, and third place of $50 was given to Ryeder Geyer.

What is especially interesting about this year’s competition is the story of what happened to Paulin on the day of the TRIG STAR–Friday, April 28th. Paulin’s father was driving her to school when they were rear ended. Paulin suffered whiplash and felt pain so she went to the ER. She was kept for various testing. While waiting for the results, Paulin asked her father to stay behind to complete the paperwork and get the results so that she wouldn’t miss the TRIG STAR exam. Paulin’s parents and the doctors were hesitant that she task herself by taking the exam; however Paulin wanted the chance to compete and she ended up winning. Congratulations to Paulin who is a resilient, talented and determined young lady.