Schools
MRH Students Staff Forensic Science Program, Research Parkinson's
The Maplewood Richmond Heights High School students talked about their summer experiences in Los Angeles and at Saint Louis University at Thursday's MRH Board of Education meeting.
*Editor's note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled the first name of Jena Doering. This article has been updated to reflect the correct spelling. An earlier version also provided incorrect information about the school that runs the Students and Teachers as Research Scientists program. The University of Missouri-St. Louis operates the program, which sends students to places such as Saint Louis University. This article has been updated to reflect the correct school.
Several students received recognition last Thursday for the work they performed as scientists over the summer.
Jaszmyn Epps, Sam Martin and Kyle Rieger represented the school at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles. There, they ran a forensic science program for youth.
"It was great to just interact with the kids and help out," said Martin, speaking during the Thursday meeting of the MRH Board of Education.
Each took a turn describing the experience. Epps described how she worked as part of a team to build a Rube Goldberg machine.
The students met a number of famous people, including Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks Animation.
The students also got to explore Universal Studios Hollywood and be a part of the audience on the Travel Channel show Sand Masters, Rieger said.
"We learned so much," said science teacher Kathleen Dwyer, who accompanied the group in Los Angeles. A grant obtained through the Society for Science & the Public paid for the experience. Dwyer said that the next such conference will happen in Pittsburgh, PA.
Also over the summer, student Jena Doering studied the relationship between Parkinson's disease and sleep with a Saint Louis University professor. She was one of about 80 students who participated in the Students and Teachers as Research Scientists program run by the University of Missouri-St. Louis*. Hundreds of people applied. She helped test a research model by inducing Parkinson's in rats and running them through sleep trials.
The model proved to be "way more sufficient" than one that had previously been tested, Doering said.
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