By Linda White, with photographs by Jeff JHO Hoyland
Bedford High School hosted the Sixteenth Annual Women of Science Scholarship Competition Reaching for the Starts – Celebrating Astronomical Discoveries of Women Astronomers on Saturday, December 8, 2018.
Click this link to see Bedford Snapshots’ 138 images from today’s competition on Facebook!
The competition involved approximately forty teams of junior and senior high school women competing in four science and engineering events. All events involved knowledge based in the areas of biology, chemistry, engineering, environmental science, math, and physics. Teams competed as a group in each of the four events.
The Outcome and the Participating Teams
According to Michael Griffin, Bedford’s Science Program Administrator for grades 6 to 12, Bedford teams did well in the Anything Goes challenge where they placed First, and in the Tram Race where they came in Second.
In the overall competition, Team 2 from Andover took First Place, Newton North took Second Place, and Cambridge Rindge and Latin took Third Place.
Congratulations to all the participants!
Bedford High School team members included seniors Jessica Johnson, Georgia Pitner, Chloe Lai, and juniors Emily Sollecito, Hailey Moon, Ella Cicone.
Participating Schools included Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School of Marlborough, Andover High School, Arlington Catholic High School, Bedford High School, Boston Latin School, Braintree High School, Cambridge Rindge and Latin, Chelmsford High School, Delaware Valley High School of Pennsylvania, Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School, Malden High School, Milton High School, Newton North High School, Newton South High School, North Reading High School, Seekonk High School, Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical of Franklin, Wayland High, Wellesley High School, Weston High School, and Westwood High School.
About the competition, its history, and today’s events
The idea of creating a competition for female students only was guided by the interest to have more women enter science-related fields. A specific event to celebrate women in science and increase interest in science-related fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) were primary goals of focus. In addition to the competition, a variety of professionals in the science and technology fields were invited to have lunch with the student participants to discuss the many professional opportunities that exist for women in STEM fields.
The competition included multiple events:
- Event 1: Anything Goes! 10 stations with questions or activities related to science: two physics, two chemistry, two biology, two earth science, and two other miscellaneous topics.
- Event 2: Mystery Challenge: Sshh! It was a mystery titled Reach for the Stars!
- Event 3: You BET ~ Women Reach for the Stars! – Trivia focused astronomy and women who studied or visited the stars.
- The Finale: A Pre-Build Engineering Challenge: Following the lunch break, contestants gathered in the BHS gym for the final competition and awards ceremony. Faculty, volunteers, family members, friends, and the general public were invited to watch the teams in action for their final event of the day.
Networking – Bringing Women and Students Together
Possibly the most important part of the day was lunch. Beyond being tasty, women currently employed in scientific endeavors sat with student participants to share experiences.
Lunch guests included representatives of event sponsors Thermo-Fisher Scientific and Millipore Sigma
- Suzy Enos, Senior Director IT; Xiao Wen, Sr. Manager of R&D; Kelly Flook, Sr. Manager, Chemistry; Ran Zhao, R&D Scientist; Gayle Gliechauf, and Gang Want of Thermo-Fisher Scientific
- Deb Smith, R&D Director of Validation and Ranjani Sundharam, Engineer – Validation at Millipore Sigma
The following women, and more, attended the lunch and shared their experience with participants:
- Madeleine Oudin, Tufts University Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering /Cell biology, cancer, neuroscience
- Joan S. Turnberg, Medical Technology/Healthcare, Framingham State University/past Abbott Labs employee
- Emily Cislo, Raytheon Principal Manufacturing Engineer;
- Lauren Stern, iRobot Senior Design Researcher
- Dianne Bridgeman, Dentist, Business Owner, Emergency Room Nurse
- Johanna Guarino, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Physical Therapy
- Loretta Chou, St. Joseph Hospital Pediatrics
- Maria Loughlin, Veracode VP Engineering, Software Security
- Annmarie Vaughan, RN, BSN, Dr. Frank Twarog & Dr. Curtis Moody
- Srividy Rajagopalan, HERE Technologies Principle Architect
- Margaret Jackson, Draper Labs Software Engineer
- Delsey Sherrill, MIT Lincoln Laboratory Biomedical engineer
- Gretchen Kind, Pediatrics Brigham and Women’s Hospital
- Ping Shao, Rockwell Automation Firmware engineer
- Judith Criscitiello, BIDMC Lexington Clinic Occupational Therapist / Certified Hand Therapist
- Holly Chessman, VP Marketing GlowTouch Technologies
- Beatrice Brunkhorst, Director for Immuno Oncology, EMD Serono
Loading ...
