ABOUT
At the age of 17, Theodore Tikhomirov is already an athlete, scholar, and international research presenter. He is a talented vocalist, author, and an engineer advocating for using technology for social good.
A Senior at the Latin School of Chicago, Theodore is part of the Erasmus Honor Society with a 3.9 GPA (on a 4.0 scale). He has taken numerous AP courses. At Latin Theodore is a co-head of the Student Academic Board, facilitator of the Student Investment Fund that is managing Latin endowment, head of the two acapella groups Latones and 59 West that performs on a regular basis, vice president of the Wharton Investment Competition, and founding vice-president of the SAT Prep Club.
Athletically, Theodore started fencing at age 8. In 2025 he medaled in Cadets Men’s Epee Junior Olympics. During high school years Theodore earned 18 medals in National, Regional, and Local fencing competitions. He is passionate about fencing and making fencing a sport accessible for all.
In 2023 at the age of 15 Theodore co-founded Fencing for a Purpose (FFP) with two of his friends. FFP became the largest fencers lead National non-profit focused on promoting the sport of fencing. They have grown to 26+ chapters Nationwide, raised more than $14 000, FFP has organized 12+ fencing camps that involved more than 200 young fencers, including children with special needs, military families, and children with diabetes. In 2023 FFP started collaboration with the Ukrainian fencing federation with an effort to support Ukrainian young fencers. They have sponsored prizes for 2023, 2024 and 2025 Ukrainian Cadets Championship, sponsored travel for 72 Ukrainian fencers to the international competition In Wroclaw, Poland. They also developed a language exchange initiative where they paired more then 30 Ukrainian fencers with American partners for studies with the goal to improve conversation English.
Scholastically Theodore is interested in engineering and would like to study electrical engineering in college. Under the mentorship of Dr.Kelly Griendling from Georgia Tech, he worked on the humanitarian engineering project to Improve EMS response in underserved areas with Drones. Theodore was a Finalist at the National STEAM Festival by Explorer, a Semifinalist at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), Gold Designation for the Naval research award, ASCE Illinois Valley Branch award for exceptional project in Civil Engineering and perhaps, most importantly, Theodore applied to join the IJAS student board. This was particularly meaningful to the young Engineer as he would help other kids in underserved schools get involved in research and empower students to develop projects themselves.
Recently he had an opportunity to present his work at the 2025 IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology conference (GHTC) and participate in the undergraduate student paper competition.
Far greater than any individual accomplishment is Theodore's passion for life amidst great achievements in the scholastic and athletic field, demonstrated by his commitment to school and sport. Theodore is of Russian and Ukrainian descent and is fluent in English and Russian. He chuckles “College is Forever,” implying the commitment that education has introduced him to his selected field of Electrical Engineering. The son of two physicians, while not medicine, Theodore (and yes, you can call him ‘Theodore’) prefers Engineering in his own words ‘more’ as it ‘solves practical problems qualitatively’.
CONTACT:
theodoretikhomirov@gmail.com