Monterey County student wins $8,000 in scholarship money
Three Monterey County Students, including a junior from Pebble Beach, traveled this week to Los Angeles for the international science competition and walked away with some big cash prizes reaching into the thousands of dollars.
Kapil Sinha, a sophomore at Salinas High School, Jennifer McDonnal, a senior at York School, and John Chapman Caddell, a junior at Stevenson School competed with more than 1,700 young scientists selected from 435 affiliate fairs in more than 70 countries, regions and territories.
Caddell was awarded First Place in the Physics and Astronomy category earning a $3,000 prize. He was also awarded “Best of Category” in Physics and Astronomy securing the $5,000 award and trip to China. The Intel Foundation presented a select number of students with the 11-day trip to China to attend the country’s largest national science competition, speak with researchers at Intel’s lab in Shanghai, and visit the Panda Research Base in Chengdu. Stevenson School and the Monterey County Science & Engineering Fair will receive $1,000 grants as well.
Chapman’s project was called, “The Leidenpump: A Non-Mechanical Means of Fluid Delivery.” It also earned him two additional special awards: $500 from the Patent and Trademark Office Society and a 4-year renewable scholarship, New American University Provost’s Scholarship, at Arizona State University.
Kapil Sinha, a sophomore at Salinas High School was awarded $500 from the American Society for Horticultural Science for his project: Molecular Characterization of Wild Beet in the Imperial Valley’s Commercial Sugar Beet Fields.
“We are very proud of our students and hope they inspire others to get involved in science, technology, engineering and math,” said Monterey County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Nancy Kotowski in a news release. “They are the future and will be the ones to drive economic growth, create jobs, and solve pressing global challenges.”
Caddell, Sinha and McDonnal earned the opportunity to compete at ISEF by taking top honors at the Monterey County Science & Engineering Fair held at CSUMB in March.
