Forty-eight students from five Westmoreland County high schools will compete for $12,000 in scholarship money when they participate in the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg’s first-ever Science Scholar Showdown on Monday, November 25. The four-member teams will put their scientific knowledge and teamwork to the test as they participate in three rounds of competition. The high schools represented will include Belle Vernon Area, Norwin, Hempfield Area, Penn Trafford, and Franklin Regional.
Pitt-Greensburg will offer each member of the three winning teams a scholarship to attend the regional campus located in Hempfield Township. The first-place team members will each be offered a $1,500 scholarship; the second-place team members will each be offered a $1,000 scholarship, and the third-place team members will each be offered a $500 scholarship.
The event will run from 8:30 a.m. to noon and will feature three scored rounds of competition, including the biology and chemistry competitions where the teams will rotate among stations to complete various challenges, such as karyotyping and data and lab safety analysis.
The Science Scholar Showdown is co-sponsored by the Pitt-Greensburg Office of Admissions and the Natural Sciences Division. Melissa Paravate, a junior who works in the Office of Admissions as a PittPAL, developed and organized the event with input from Pitt-Greensburg science professors, including Barbara Barnhart, MEd, instructor of biology; Jordan Boothe, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry; Laura Giovannelli, MEd, instructor of chemistry; Jennifer Ingram, MS, instructor of biology, Olivia Long, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry; and Mark Stauffer, PhD, associate professor of chemistry and chair of the Natural Sciences Division. Paravate, a management major with a Spanish minor, graduated from Greensburg Salem High School in 2018. President of the Student Government Association at Pitt-Greensburg, her career goals include working for a large company in either project management or supply chain management.
Schedule of competition:
- Round 1 9:20 – 9:40 a.m.
- Round 2 9:45 a.m. – 10:05 a.m.
- Round 3 10:10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
- Round 4 10:35 a.m. – 10:55 a.m.