I'm in my setup for the Regeneron STS competition.
I still can't believe that this is happening
...tomorrow!
I'm really looking forward to meeting all the other finalists
and opening this with them.
We got these portraits of ourselves!
This is me writing for a newspaper.
I'm so excited, honestly!
Just seeing all of the forty other finalists
it suddenly became that much more real.
Even though Regeneron STS has moved virtual this year
I still had found many ways to connect with my fellow finalists.
I mean, we're in weird circumstances now
where we can't physically meet each other, but
I think that makes our bond
that much more special.
I think STS is one of the most amazing
and best opportunities to meet other like-minded people.
As STS finalists,
we have talent, we have inspiration,
and most importantly, we have dreams
of a better world.
Finding out that I became a finalist was
the biggest moment of my life.
My project is focusing on these racial disparities in healthcare
and I really felt like making progress
was something that I could contribute to.
You're doing something you're passionate about
that has the possibility of impacting other people's lives.
And so this is what motivates me to do research.
After the Parkland shooting,
I started to see the effects of gun violence in my own life.
So I decided to turn to machine learning
to help solve this problem.
The eventual goal that I hope to solve is to mitigate
toxic comments and hateful content in online media.
We really are the future as this younger generation.
We are the problem-solvers.
Being an STS finalist really means to me
serving as an inspiration
for aspiring high school students interested in research as well.
I want to assure the young scientists of the world
that no matter what challenges you face,
don't lose the scientific side of you
because that inquiry and that curiosity
will always be able to get you through whatever problems you face.
If something doesn't make sense,
never stop asking why, and
one day, you'll find the solution.
I worked on a problem that I thought was
basically completely understood already.
But it turns out that there's still
new directions to look into.
We are able to build upon the things
that have already been discovered or created
by the generation before us
but expand on it.
Despite the pandemic,
and there's a lot of public health issues
and social justice issues,
I feel it's so important for young people to
be involved in science
with what you can do from home, what you can learn about,
what you can educate people with.
All the finalists at the STS
are demonstrating their resilience this year
by telling COVID that they aren't going to stop doing what they're doing
just because they might not be able to leave their homes.
So today was officially the last day of judging.
That's three days of the most bizarre questions
I could have never imagined.
But it was super fun getting to meet all those judges.
They asked really thought-provoking questions.
that I never really heard before
but really got me more interested in math and science.
Sometimes I knew the answer,
sometimes I didn't know the answer at all.
And some of them, I don't think there was a right answer.
Today was also really cool because
we had an alumni dinner with a couple of STS alum.
We were able to talk to Dr. Zhang
who revolutionized gene editing with his development CRISPR
which one of the finalists this year actually uses.
It's really, really cool to see the legacy
being passed down the STS finalists.
My favorite part was doing the show & tell,
getting to talk with other finalists
about our personal interests and hobbies.
One student set up a scribble game for us to play.
And there's a couple more students who are
setting up online games for show & tell later in the week.
We just finished our escape room.
So I think everybody's feeling
feeling good, guys?
Today's event was geocaching
and it was super fun.
I definitely had some very challenging clues,
some very small in size and in very hard places to find.
Okay, so I think it might be here.
Oh!
Yay, I did it!
Today was Public Day.
I just got out of the chatroom where I was
able to answer questions from the public
and it was just really awesome.
I really enjoyed the Prime Time visits today.
Something that the Science News people said
that was really helpful was that
we should assume that our audience is smart
but they don't have the right words to understand your project.
From being in STS,
I've learned how important science is
to all of our daily lives.
I really learned that sometimes
we really need collaborations
to solve different types of scientific problems.
Especially with the pandemic happening right now
what Regeneron is showing us is that
as long as we believe in ourselves
and as long as we are confident
that we can achieve anything.
I just wanted to say thank you to
all of the people who made this experience possible,
who made this week one of the best weeks of my life.
Whenever there wasn't something going on
we were always on call laughing together, having fun
playing games or telling each other stories.
And I think that's really what makes STS so special
are the connections that last a lifetime.
Through what has been the most
transformative week of my life
has shown me that even though we're all different
in our areas of science
we're all united by our passion for somehow
using this tool to make our world a better place.
Saying that 2020 has been challenging
is an understatement.
But these young scientists and engineers
are resilient.
They show grit, they have shown determination,
they have shown adaptability.
And I'm incredibly proud of them.
Your experience at the Science Talent Search
is one step on your future path.
And one demonstration of the powerful
and important things you can achieve.
And now, the announcement of our top ten winners.
The third place winner...
Brendan Crotty.
This is amazing, this is something that
I feel like I've worked so hard for.
And winning to me is justification everything I've done
meant something.
The second place winner...
Jagdeep Bhatia.
Advice I'd like to give is
don't be intimidated by any challenging problem
that you might face.
It's something that will take time
but I can tell you it'll definitely be worth it.
And the first place winner...
Lillian Kay Petersen!
Now is a great time for science
because this pandemic has opened all of our eyes
to just how important it is.
We have to work together
to solve these really big issues.