When you ask someone why they or their family moved to Plano, perhaps the most common answer is “the school district.” Even Mayor Muns himself moved here as a child to attend Plano ISD. Between notable alumni and the district as an ever-going topic in every city event, it’s fair to say that the school district is the heartbeat of the city.
As graduation nears and some of these Plano ISD students get ready to take what they’ve learned into the real world, we’ve decided to highlight three of the many exceptional students.
Chloe Lee
Chloe Lee is a senior at Plano East, where she is president of the school orchestra program. While performing at a local assisted living center as part of her program’s ‘Ensembles for Elderly’ program, she engaged with residents to learn more about them and issues they face.
Then, a resident was taken to the emergency room for acetaminophen toxicity. When she heard that a common drug to treat aches and pains was causing liver damage, especially to long-term users like assisted living residents, she decided to take action.
But she didn’t start a GoFundMe. Or make an awareness campaign at her school. Instead, she designed computational models to explore chemical modifications to the structure of acetaminophen itself.
Then, she went to a lab, synthesized the modified compound and found that the resulting molecule is almost three times less reactive with the liver than the original form of acetaminophen and potentially more effective.
Now, the research is heading to the testing phase. But Lee’s work and drive earned her a spot as a finalist in the 2025 Regeneron Science Talent Search competition, national recognition in the scientific community and a feature in Smithsonian Magazine. In the fall, she will be attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sahith Reddy
At the recent Texas Forensics Association State Tournament, Plano Senior student Sahith Reddy took home a state championship in informative speaking, a second place spot in domestic extemporaneous speaking and was a third place overall competitor out of 2,500 students. This brought Plano Senior High School to eighth place overall at the competition.
Reddy is also the founder of KALA, a philanthropic organization that aims to provide creative resources to children. Recently, the organization curated individual art kits for children to be delivered to low-income, orphan or hospitalized children around the globe.
The idea came to Reddy from his own experiences with art. A Bollywood dancer and casual musician, he believes that “every child deserves the right to develop their individual creativity because art is therapy for the heart.”
Daniel Fialkov
Until this year, Plano West Senior High School hadn’t made it into the latter half of the soccer playoffs since they lost to Flower Mound Marcus in the 2007 state championship.
The 2024-2025 season, the third under District 6-6A Coach of the Year Clint Cobb, the Wolves made it to the state semi-finals. And while soccer is certainly a team sport, 6-6A All-District Midfielder of the Year Daniel Fialkov is a big part of that run.
Fialkov and the Plano West team went 17-6-2, finishing the season as area champs, state semi-finalists and record holders for the team that hadn’t seen a playoff run in recent history.
“Not the ending we hoped for, but what a journey it’s been,” he says in a post after the streak-ending shootoff against Klein Cain. “Plano West Soccer faced a strong opponent in the State Final 4. We held more possessions, created opportunities and played with heart and class. But sometimes, the ‘God of Penalties has other plans.’”
Fialkov isn’t done with soccer. He’s been on several teams for the Dallas Texans, a Boys Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) Academy team. And later this year, he will represent that USA delegation at the 2025 Maccabiah Games in Israel, where more than 10,000 Jewish athletes will gather from around the world. And in the fall, he will continue to play Division 1 soccer at Gardner-Webb University.
