Announcing The DuPont Challenge 2009 Winners! 
Learning how to find water in the desert as a possible solution to the world’s water shortage and how bees find landmines are the winners this year of The DuPont Challenge© 2009 Science Essay Competition. Now in its 24rd year, The DuPont Challenge©, is one of the oldest and leading education programs in the United States and Canada, inspiring students to excel and achieve in scientific writing.
Julian Whitman, a sophomore at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Alexandria, VA, is the winner in the senior division (Grades 10-12), for “Water From Wind.” This is the second year in three that Thomas Jefferson has produced a winner in The DuPont Challenge©.
In the junior division (Grades 7-9), Sivabalan Manivasagam, a student at Rice Middle School, Plano, TX is the winner for “A New Look at Bees and Wasps.” Thomas Jefferson also produced the second place winner in the junior division, Sarah Stites.
The DuPont Challenge© 2009 Science Essay Competition, sponsored by DuPont, in cooperation with NASA, Kennedy Space Center, The Walt Disney World® Resort, A+ Media, and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), received more than 10,000 entries from all 50 states.
“Scientific literacy among students is imperative in a society where success depends on an ever-increasing need for a technically educated citizenry,” said DuPont senior vice president–DuPont Human Resources W. Donald Johnson. “Through The DuPont Challenge©, the company endeavors to motivate students to develop skills and gain confidence in communicating scientific ideas.
“The DuPont Challenge© 2009 Science Essay Competition honors the heroes who died in the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster and all who work to understand and improve the world through the use of science. The 2009 theme—“Getting to the Edge of …Science” strives to encourage the next generation to explore the frontiers of science,” Johnson said.
Check out the awards trip photo gallery.
