A grinning Athens High School student ran down the aisle of a room in Clippinger Laboratories Saturday to accept a full scholarship to Ohio University.
Xiao Ma, the student, had just won first place at the annual Ohio Chemistry Contest.
Started in 1983 by Professor Emeritus James Tong, the program allows students from all over Ohio to compete for scholarships to OU and cash prizes through a written chemistry test.
I thought a good way to promote interest in the school would be to have a contest. I asked the scholarship offices if they wanted to give us some scholarships and we started the contest
Tong said.
There was heightened interest in the contest, with the number of participants increasing from 25 last year to about 31 this year, Tong said.
Each high school in Ohio was allowed to enter two seniors in the contest.
Andrea Harpen, a chemistry teacher from Blanchester High School in Blanchester, Ohio, encouraged her students to participate.
I wanted my students to have an opportunity to possibly win scholarships or prizes to get exposure to this chemistry program and to see how they can do in competition to other kids from around the state she said.
Chemistry is a stable field to participate in, Harpen said.
There are for sure jobs in chemistry
it is a solid place to go for jobs
she said. What is considered to be the next industrial revolution is nanotechnology
and chemistry is a gateway to nanotechnology.
All students that participated in the contest walked away with a free chemistry textbook, though only 14 students received cash prizes or scholarships.
Only one full-tuition scholarship is given away to the person who gets the best score on the test.
I feel so happy about this. I am so happy to have gotten this scholarship
said first place winner Ma, adding that he has competed in scholarship contests before and been disappointed when he didn't win.
After the ceremony ended, Ma walked down to shake hands with Tong, then turned away to stand a little aside from the rest of the students. He raised his right fist and punched the air, a wide grin spreading across his face.
Yes
he said to himself, before tuning to rejoin the others again.
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