This past week, on May 1-4, the 62nd National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This competition is an elite showcase of each region’s best competitors in STEM. Students came from all over the country as well as Europe and Puerto Rico. Lake Region supported the competition’s only student from Vermont, Sylvia Brownlow. According to JSHS, this is the STEM competition that challenges high school students from everywhere to achieve, and to build the skills that prepare them for college and career. This competition is greatly funded by The Department of Defense, Army, Navy, and Air Force. Each year the event is hosted near different DoD bases. The event is administered by the National Science Teaching Administration, and is in partnership with DoD STEM, Army Educational Outreach Program, Naval STEM, and Air & Space STEM Outreach.
This year’s competition consisted of about 245 high school students representing the top 3% of all students who compete in JSHS in the regional level. Each region consisted of 2 oral presenters and 3 poster presenters. Students can present in one of eight categories: Environmental Science, Biomedical Science, Life and Behavioral Sciences, Medicine and Health, Engineering and Technology, Math and Computer Science, Physical Sciences, and Chemistry. The awards you can win by competing in these events are as follows:
Regional:
A total of $4,500 in undergraduate tuition scholarships is disbursed by each region.
- 1st Place receives $2,000
- 2nd Place receives $1,500
- 3rd Place receives $1,000
National Oral:
A total of $192,000 in undergraduate tuition scholarships is presented to the top three finalists in the National Symposium research paper oral competition in each subject category.
- Each of the 1st Place finalists receives $12,000
- Each of the 2nd Place finalists receives $8,000
- Each of the 3rd Place finalists receives $4,000
Anyone can enter at the regional level by going to the JSHS website. You can enter any project into one of the aforementioned categories. You will start by writing an abstract and a research paper (which our LR science department is very well versed in). Then once you apply you will hear whether you have made it into the Poster or Oral presenters. Then it’s all about working on your presentation! Going to competitions opens up a whole new world of perspectives, completely diverse from what we see here at Lake Region and it is an experience that this author feels every student interested in STEM should have.
