2012 RONA TEAM

About the Players

Taylor Compton

Taylor is a 13-year-old from Dallas who starting playing bridge when she was six. Her parents are both excellent players, and her mom owns a bridge studio where Taylor has been teaching kids’ classes for two years. In addition to bridge, Taylor enjoys soccer, acting, swimming, and hanging with her friends.

Isha Thapa

Isha, 17, graduated from Gunn High School in Palo Alto, CA, this spring and will attend the University of California at Berkeley in the fall. She learned bridge in eighth grade in a class at her middle school and became a Life Master in 2011. Her interest in bridge caused her father to renew his own interest in order to teach her, and they have played together frequently in the past few years. Isha plays the piano, is learning guitar, and sings in a youth choir.

Marianna Linz

Marianna, 22, started playing bridge with her family when she was so young she had trouble holding 13 cards. She became more serious about bridge as a student at Harvard, where she was President of the Harvard Bridge Club. Marianna graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2011 with a degree in Chemistry and Physics and Earth & Planetary Sciences. In the fall of 2012 she plans to start a PhD program in either Climate Science or Physical Oceanography.

Becca Wernis

Becca started playing bridge as a freshman in high school in Chicago, under the tutelage of her chemistry teacher, who offered bridge classes after school. Having learned some basics, she attended her first NABC in Chicago and was hooked. Becca, 21, is currently a junior at Caltech, majoring in and preparing for graduate studies in physics. She represented District 23 in the GNTs Flight B in New Orleans. This summer in Philadelphia, she and her Caltech colleagues will compete in the ACBL’s collegiate championships.

Luz Ortega

Luz, 24, has a degree in electrical engineering from Universidad Metropolitana in her native Caracas, Venezuela. This spring she will begin graduate studies in Engineering Management at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. Luz previously represented Venezuela in international competitions, both on a junior team and on a women’s national team.

Sylvia Shi

Sylvia, 23, started learning bridge very recently (January 2011), although she had played other card games. She became a Life Master and won the Mini McKinney (0-5) in her first year playing bridge. In 2011 she represented her district in the Flight C North American Pairs. Sylvia has a degree in Public Health from Johns Hopkins and is currently in a PhD program in Public Policy at the University of Maryland .