Shenandoah Valley Governor's School: Dr. Mike's students win awards

Students at the Shenandoah Valley Governor's School have once again achieved success in regional competition, as reported in Tuesday's Staunton News Leader:

Every year, students in Governor's School teacher [Dr.] Kurt Michael’s science class design and implement research projects.

Many attend the Virginia Junior Academy of Sciences, an invitation-only event for which students are selected based on the quality of their research papers. Forty-seven Governor’s School students attended the academy this year, 16 of whom won awards or honors.

One of Dr. Michael's students went on to win special honors.

[Philip] Chodrow is one of the few — if not the first — Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School students to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, which occurred last month in Washington, D.C.

His work with geometric shapes and algebraic functions made him a state champion at both the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair and the Virginia Junior Academy of Sciences.

But he’s not done yet. The teen said he wants to start work on a new problem this summer, hopefully creating a research paper worthy of publication.

A project that may seem more down-to- earth was that of Evan Underwood who won a second place in consumer science for his project.

According to the News Leader:

[Evan] compared the effect of different types of wax on the velocity of a snowboard. Underwood’s interest in snowboarding drove his decision to pursue this project. He discovered that at freezing temperatures, the cheaper brand of wax he purchased actually works best — which he said will save him money in the future.

Dr. Michael recently accompanied his students to regional competition where they took home a number of first, second, and third place awards.

Check the News Leader for the complete list of students from this year's competition.