New York students make up nearly half of the 300 semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search, the New York Times has reported.
“New York had 140 of 300 semifinalists, followed by California with 22, Texas with 18 and Maryland with 15,” the paper said. “While Bronx Science, Hunter College High School and Stuyvesant made strong showings, 109 of the New York semifinalists came from schools outside the city, many from Long Island.”
Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, Long Island had 12 semifinalists. Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, Long Island and Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan had 8 semifinalists each.
The science contest is one of the most prestigious in the country and is fiercely competitive, the Times reported.
“The titles of projects this year included ‘The Search for Cosmic-Ray-Induced Lightning Strokes,’ ‘A New Target to Fight Breast Cancer’ and ‘Some Children Left Behind: The Troubling Effects of Middle School Reform on the Body Image Concerns of Sixth Grade Girls.’”
This year, the contest had 1,558 entrants from across the country. Each semifinalist will receive $1,000 from the Intel Foundation as well as a laptop computer. The Foundation will also give $1,000 to each semifinalist’s school.
The Foundation will announce the contest’s 40 finalists later this month. The top price, which will be awarded in May, is a $100,000 college scholarship.
More on the Intel Foundation’s contest is available at www.sciserv.org/sts/.