« Make a difference on NCLB reauthorization | Main | Got Science? »
December 4, 2007
Girls rule!BoardBuzz loved this story we saw on the news today. Seems two high school girls won the top team prize at the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. Bravo! Another girl won the individual prize in the same competition. This is the first time girls have won the top prizes in the competition.
Amanda Marinoff and Janelle Schlossberger, both 17, won the top team prize at the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology, a prestigious national contest. The seniors from Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School (New York) won a $100,000 scholarship, which they will split, for their tuberculosis research."All I can say is I don't know what to say," Marinoff said, beaming onstage at New York University's Kimmel Center.
"We're extremely excited," Schlossberger said. "We never expected to be first place."
The girls created a molecule that helps block the reproduction of the bacteria of drug-resistant tuberculosis. They combined two existing drugs, concluding that the new molecule impeded the production of protein essential to the growth of TB, preventing the bacteria's reproduction.
Isha Jain, of Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pa., won in the individual category for research on bone growth. It was the first time in the nine-year competition's history that girls swept the top prizes.
"We're sending a signal to all those young girls who have an interest in math and science that you can do it," said Jim Whaley, president of the Siemens Foundation.
This is particularly good news considering the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which measures 15-year old students' in science and math. We'll have a more detailed analysis of the results later, but you can read more about it in the Center for Public Education's Guide to International Tests.
Posted December 4, 2007 1:45 PM | Students
Trackback Pings
BoardBuzz Feed
