Blogwork

Science fair winners are smarter than I am. There, I said it.

What a day I had recently.

I wrote a few stories, I watched my favorite Idol contestant Lilly get voted off “American Idol” on the power of millions of tween thumbs, I put on my goggles and controlled the release of the ol’ Acetylsalicylic Acid in the acrylic polymer I had sitting around, I walked the dog…

Oops. I didn’t do one of those. While I did walk my chiweenie (he’s pictured in the logo for this blog, if you wondered), I did not attempt the scientific experiment mentioned, partly because I had to Google not only how to spell Acetylsalicylic, but what it is.

Turns out it’s regular aspirin. But what isn’t so regular is the research Central York High School student Purnima Malik did with it. She thinks she’s on the path of figuring out how to better regulate the delivery of medicine using patches, similar to what you’d use if you were trying to quit smoking or using certain forms of birth control. By using a patch, the dosage is controlled, she said, and can be better adapted based on genetics. People too easily overdose on pills, she said.

Pardon me while I guffaw over the fact that when I was 16, Purnima’s age, my primary concerns were getting a car or flirting with girls.

Accomplishments like hers are why York County should be so excited. Every year at the York County Science and Engineering Fair (story), projects just like hers roll out and remind us that it’s not corny to say “children are our future,” because hey, they are already crafting it. Purnima and Dallastown junior Nick Wilson were both named Grand Champions at this year’s fair. The York County residents will now go on to compete at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose, Calif., this spring.

“International” “Science” and “York County” aren’t phrases you see side-by-side too often, but in this sense, it’s entirely appropriate. York County students have not only gone on to compete in this global science event, but have placed. Even the organizers of the York County event can hardly believe the intelligence and sophistication of the projects student competitors develop in our own backyard. It’s incredible.

So congratulations to the student competitors, who remind us that there’s more to celebrate in high schools than athletics, even though lately there have been many reasons to celebrate that, too (Will Eastern ever lose?).

We need more kids like Nick, who researched how Sodium Polyacrylate absorbs metals. And I’m not just saying that because I needed Nick to explain to me exactly what Sodium Polyacrylate is.

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The York County Science and Engineering Fair (www.ycsef.org) results:

Senior Division: Grand Champions - Purnima Malik, Central York; Nick Wilson, Dallastown. Reserve Grand Champion - Luke Brown, York Country Day School.

Junior Division: Grand Champions - Lauren Hodge, Dallastown. Reserve Grand Champion - Yanqi-Tyson Chen, Central York.