NEWS

Tomorrow's scientists shine at FSU

Amanda Claire Curcio
Democrat staff writer

Forty select high-schoolers from around the state immersed themselves in scientific exploration this summer, foregoing sunny beach trips to learn the ins and outs of mathematics and physics or biology.

Phillip Khoury discusses his research project at a symposium on FSU campus, Thursday, July 21st, 2016. 40 students were selected from a pool of 200 applicants to participate in a summer residency STEM Youth Scholars program at Florida State.

Every year, hundreds of 11th-graders apply for a coveted spot in the long-standing Young Scholars Program at Florida State University, run by its Office of Science Teaching Activities in the College of Arts and Sciences. These students ace tough coursework at their own schools, earn top scores on college entrance exams and are driven to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields.

During the six-week residential program, young scholars seek to constantly challenge their knowledge. Many take on projects they didn’t know much about before.

“They have a certain fearlessness,” said Jonathan Dennis, a biological sciences professor. “Drive is one thing. But these kids go into the unknown, leave their sphere of knowledge and then make that sphere grow.”

The math, science and programming classes they take and the research they conduct are of college-level rigor. Young scholars often work together in small groups led by FSU professors. Some will have their findings published.

Chiles High School student Vivian Zhou and Vika Bommineni, from Trinity Prep in Orlando, teamed together to use geographic information systems to create their own livability index for the elderly in Florida. They weighed multiple data sets, including factors like access to health care, traffic crash figures, population density and transportation logistics.

“I liked being able to visually examine a problem and solve it,” Vivian said. “I have never been able to do something like this before.”

Young scientists eye regional competition

The program also opens doors for students, who are exposed to unknown facets of STEM. A few are inspired to venture from their planned path.

Vika, for instance, will still pursue medicine, but is now considering studying physics, too. He described his part in “real-world research” as eye opening.

The young scholars’ commitment to learning is what propels the program to such a high caliber – in a way that is “exhausting, but wonderful,” Dennis said.

“They have so many questions. You’re not lecturing at them, you’re lecturing with them,” he added. “When you have students like this, they make you the best teacher you can be.”

'It starts here,' STEM provides new opportunities