Whiz Kids: JSEHS Students

• Whiz Kid: JSEHS students
• Nominated By: 
• Accomplishment: Seven students from and High Schools were invited to present their research projects at the Missouri Regional Junior Science, Engineering and Humanities Symposium (JSEHS) held at the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL) on March 17-19.
• Key To Awesomeness: Five students from Holt and two students from Timberland were invited to present their research at the symposium, and four of those students came away with awards.

Holt senior Lydia Harvengt received first place in Behavioral Science for her research project “Using Personality Type to Predict Personal Susceptibility to the Placebo Effect” and will advance to the National JSEHS Symposium in San Diego. There she will compete with students from across the country for a chance to win a trip to the London International Youth Science Forum, a scientific and cultural exchange program that attracts students from 60 nations and offers more than $150,000 in scholarship awards.

 Senior Lindsey Ralls won the Outstanding Education Research Award for her project “The Effect of Teacher Leadership Style on Student Standardized Test Scores.”

Seniors Tia Harper and Chandler Est both took home 2nd place awards for their projects in the Chemistry and Biology categories, respectively. Also presenting at the symposium were Holt senior Katie Larkin and Timberland seniors Luke Heisele and Angela Deters.

The Holt students were sponsored in the symposium by Science Teacher Jennifer Berendzen and the Timberland students were sponsored by Science Teacher Terry Brennan.

This was the 37th year UMSL has hosted the region’s symposium, which brought 300 high school science students and 60 science teachers together to discuss research, present findings and interact with experts in the fields of science, math and engineering.  Over 300 research papers were submitted by students across the state and about 60 of those were chosen for presentation, with 36 being judged for awards and scholarships.