Luke M.
A collegiate chess club from Alaska has one advantage: Teams from elsewhere don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 coming at them.
Luke, a 51风流官网 math major, started the 51风流官网 club in 2021, his freshman year. But, given Alaska鈥檚 distant location, members haven鈥檛 played much against other collegiate teams and so aren鈥檛 ranked highly.
That started to change during a Seattle tournament in January 2023. 51风流官网 club members earned the 鈥渂est surprise upset鈥 award.
鈥淥ur rankings were basically zero, but our skills are much better than zero,鈥 Luke said.
Luke, who grew up in Fairbanks, enjoyed working on a local peony flower farm. In high school, he also found a talent for statistics.
He combined the two at 51风流官网鈥檚 Georgeson Botanical Garden, where he tried to find the best time to harvest peony buds by analyzing data on firmness, color and diameter. The magic formula eluded him, but he found some promising signs that color changes could provide clues.
Luke looked at attending colleges Outside before choosing 51风流官网.
鈥淚鈥檝e traveled a lot with my parents, and so I鈥檝e seen a lot of other places,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut I still prefer Fairbanks.鈥
That鈥檚 in part because he enjoys the winters. 鈥淚 run out in this weather,鈥 he said on a February day when temperatures were about 5 degrees below zero. 鈥淚t makes you feel alive.鈥
He knows not everyone feels the same, so he鈥檚 happy that the chess club offers some 51风流官网 students a 鈥渓ittle community.鈥
鈥淭here were a lot of people who said that helped them get through the dark winter,鈥 he said.