THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504050208
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
IF YOU'RE ONE of those individuals who thinks that scientifically gifted students come complete with closely trimmed hair, plaid shirts buttoned to the neck, ball point pens peeking out of pocket protectors, white socks disappearing into wing-tip shoes and a vocabulary that only a doctoral candidate could understand, you haven't met Cape Henry Collegiate's Peter Luka.
First, there's the propeller beanie perched precariously atop a head of hair your average rock star would kill for.
Then there is the rest of the clothes. It's not hiphop, but it's not nerd dressing, either.
And there's the conversation - fast-paced, amusing and intelligible.
Ask him about his dad, Janos, and he tells you. ``He's a Hungarian micro-biologist.''
Ask about his mom, Edit , and he deadpans ``She's a Hungarian mother.'' Across the room his physics teacher, 23-year-old Yale grad Aaron Datesman, winces.
``Maybe `homemaker' would be better,'' Datesman prompts.
``OK, but I call her Mom,'' Luka says, getting the last word, at least for the moment.
There's this little thing with his computer technique, too.
``I don't like to hold the mouse,'' he says of the gizmo that's used to control the pointer on the computer screen. ``I prefer to talk into it.''
This 18-year-old senior already has an early action acceptance to M.I.T., where he intends to study electrical engineering and computer science.
The young man who builds guitars (electric) and violins (the plain old fiddle and bow variety) in his spare time and finds his greatest challenge in figuring out how to build a tower from 18 grams of balsa wood that will support 600 pounds, has also been named a recipient of the Tandy Prize for excellence in mathematics, science and computer science.
It's a prize that makes an impressive addition to any high school senior's resume. Only 100 students were chosen from among 37,000 entries nationwide. Of those, only three were in Virginia and Luka was the only one in South Hampton Roads.
If all goes according to plan, Luka's picture will appear with those of the other 99 winners in Tandy Corporation ads due out in mid- and late-April editions of Time, Fortune and Forbes magazines.
Luka moved here from Nebraska with his parents and younger brother, Stefan, a year and a half ago when his father, a researcher, moved from the University of Nebraska to Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Cape Henry Collegiate is Luka's first experience with a private school.
``There were nearly 6,000 students in my high school in Nebraska,'' he said. ``Here we have about 180 in the upper school.''
His favorite activity at Cape Henry has been his involvement with the Odyssey of the Mind competitions. He's the chief engineer for his group, the one which is concentrating on construction of the tower that he hopes will hold 600 pounds of weights.
He's also studying Japanese and recently took up fencing, an art which he now practices with the Tidewater Fencing Club.
Datesman, his mentor, considers it a privilege to have a student like Luka.
``I feel very lucky to teach in a school where my intellectual curiosity is constantly challenged. Peter's a big part of that,'' he said. ``It's uncommon to teach someone who knows more about parts of the subject than I do.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JO-ANN CLEGG
Peter Luka, a senior at Cape Henry Collegiate, already has an early
action acceptance to M.I.T., where he intends to study electrical
engineering and computer science.
by CNB