An amazing 11 year-old.
Posted on 04/11/2003 2:10:44 PM PDT by bedolido
Michael Huey, head judge at last week's Washington State Science and Engineering Fair in Bremerton, recalled his first impression of Andrew Hsu standing in one of the booths — he must be saving a spot for his older brother.
After seeing Andrew's presentation, Huey said, "I came back and told the other judges, 'Every now and then, you come across a prodigy.' "
"He blew us away," said Lois Lugg , the state fair's director. "We've never had a kid that young competing in the high-school level. ... He is going to be one of our great future scientists."
Andrew, 11, of Issaquah, won the Silver Medal and became the youngest participant to be awarded a grand prize in the fair's 46 years.
Hsu and Gold Medal winner Dona Sharma, a senior at Sunnyside High in Yakima County, will be in Cleveland on May 11 to represent Washington in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, considered one of the nation's most prestigious pre-college science fairs.
That Andrew is home-schooled initially raised eyebrows among judges over the legitimacy of his entry, titled "Identification, Characterization and DNA Sequencing of the Homo Sapiens and Mus Musculus COL20A1 Gene (Type XX Collagen) with Bioinformatics and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)."
After two rounds of interviews, the panel was convinced it was his.
Andrew's project involved examining the genetic makeup of humans and mice and isolating a building-block protein found in both, the COL20A1. Understanding its location is the first step in solving other genetic riddles associated with the protein, such as mutations and diseases, and also potential cures.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
An amazing 11 year-old.
Can't trust those home-schooled kids you know. They aren't indoctrinated.
Call in the department of child protective services! This child certainly must be "educationally advantaged"! Save him from this peril! </ugh>
That would be until he invented the laser phaser. And roasted yours...
I thought of doing that one YEARS ago but decided to chase girls instead. (tongue firmly planted in cheek)
It doesnt seem to work out that way. People magazine had a story of notable prodigies and they were lucky if they managed to end up with a merely functional life. Only the ballet dancer wound up outstanding in her field. Perhaps dance and music (like sports) requires that one attain a prodigious level in their youth.
This IS Washington State, other than Hispanics, asians & caucasians are mostly what's there. My kids all graduated from Yakima Valley schools. Our middle school for at least a decade was the "science middle school" of the year in the state. Once they got into high school, the science program stank up the place. Including a teacher who threw a chair across a lab table (no joke) and was fond of telling the kids about her love life. OMGosh, if you knew her, you'd laugh at that joke; however totally wrong for her to tell students about her private life. This was all in the past 5 yrs. Publik schools....
One thing I will say for the state, they are more "friendly" towards homeschooling than many states. Lots of good co-ops going there with more every year. And homeschool students can attend up to 3 classes in publik school and still be homeschool. So they can take PE or language or whatever if they desire. I believe they also can participate in sports...if the district AD isn't a jerk. (You know who you are Mr....)!
Oh, but we parents of prodigies are one step ahead of you! Tonto Junior, age 7, is halfway to Black Belt! We use the boards he breaks as fuel for our patio fireplace.
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