A student from American Samoa has placed 3rd in the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (NJSHS) held April 12-15 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Amelie, a 10th grader at Pacific Horizon School, competed in the Environmental Science category with her research paper titled, “Antipodal Algae: Energy Solutions for a Tropical Island.” She was accompanied to Virginia by PHS Science & Math teacher.
For her 3rd place achievement, she was awarded $4,000 in scholarships.
Amelie was the first place winner overall in the American Samoa 2023 Territorial Science Fair with the same project that she entered in the NJSHS.
Her research was on using algae as a biofuel to replace diesel fuel in American Samoa, because algae is both naturally abundant and grows at a fast rate.
Chen says, “American Samoa has the ideal climate to grow and harvest algae as biofuel.”
There were 245 high school students at the competition in Virginia, which is sponsored by the Department of Defense (DoD) and administered by the National Science Teaching Association. This year’s National JSHS event was hosted by the Department of the U.S. Navy.
The first place winners won $12,000 in scholarships.
Congratulations Amelie!
