Good News

October 14, 2009

MMI 7th-grader has the formula

Mountain Top girl wins National Zoo prize at Young Scientist Challenge in NYC.

By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Claire Sheen, a seventh-grader at MMI Preparatory School in Freeland, recently won the National Zoo prize during the Discovery 3M Young Scientist Challenge in New York City.

Claire, of Mountain Top, won a medal and a video camera and will travel to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley next year to participate in the Friends of the National Zoo Nature Camp for an overnight nature exploration program at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo.

Claire competed against nine other national finalist middle-school students on Oct. 6 in New York City and worked with scientists from 3M while completing live challenges in three of the four rounds.

“We are all very proud of Claire for her extraordinary efforts in the Young Scientist Challenge,” said MMI President Thomas G. Hood. “She represented the ideals of MMI to a national audience, and the entire school community applauds her for a job well done.”

In the last decade, the Young Scientist Challenge has encouraged children to learn more about science and the innovations that are developed through science.

Students are nominated by faculty members.

During the challenge she and her competitors focused on “The Science of Everyday Life” by developing a solution to scientific problems using only household items.

Claire said she had fun working with 3M scientists and credited her MMI teachers for furnishing her with the right skills to successfully participate in such an event.

“All my science teachers are really good, so I learned a lot of background information. I was well prepared for the competition … We also got to use all sorts of cool science material,” she said.

She is the daughter of Kwangsup and Chaeyun Sheen.

Sherry Long, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7159.

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