Amazing Elmhurst Siblings Advance to Semifinals in International Science Fair

Anita and Neil Wary, a pair of siblings at York High School and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, respectively, have been named as two of 16 semifinalists from Illinois for the Siemens Science Fair Competition for 2016.

The brother and sister worked together on a project about epigenetic modification, York science teacher Kathy Van Hoeck announced in an email — and, yes, that's as complicated as it sounds.

In a nutshell, epigenetics is the information layered on top of the sequences that make up DNA, the Guardian reported in an 'Epigenetics 101' article. Scientists study how these additional layers of information communicate with proteins in the body.

The Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology is an annual contest that’s highly regarded as the toughest a science fair can get at the high school level.

Students work against one another to win scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $100,000. At the National Finals, which will be held at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., this December, $500,000 in scholarships will be awarded across the board.

Anita, a junior at York, and Neil, a former York student and sopohomore who transferred to IMSA, are in the midst of stiff competition in the semifinals. Fewer than two dozen students were chosen in Illinois alone, and they’ll be competing against students from across the world.

Out of more than 1,600 original submissions, the Siemens Foundation’s website states, just 498 students were selected to participate in the next round of the competition.

In addition to these accomplishments, Anita and Neil wrote a paper together on their project, which is currently awaiting publication.

Anita has also participated in the protein modeling event for the Science Olympiad for two years now, Van Hoeck said in her email, and is now on Van Hoeck’s SMART team, which picks a protein to investigate and model. She said the team is hoping to design a 3D-printed model that the group can display at the Experimental Biology/Association of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology conference which is held in April in Chicago.

Congratulations to Anita and Neil! Be sure to wish them luck in the coming weeks.

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Photo courtesy of Kathy Van Hoeck