St. Francis High School Student Advances in the Global Breakthrough Junior Challenge

St. Francis High School student Gianni P. ’21 advances to the next round of voting in the global Breakthrough Junior Challenge. The Breakthrough Junior Challenge organized by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, is an annual global competition for students to inspire creative thinking about science. Students ages 13 to 18 from countries across the globe are invited to create and submit original videos that bring to life a concept or theory in the life sciences, physics, or mathematics.

 

Gianni's creatively insightful video illustrating the idea of dark matter, is one of 30 world-wide entries selected to advance to next stage of the challenge – the Popular Vote. For 16 days beginning September 5 - September 20, people from around the world will be able to vote for their favorite video. The entry which gets the highest combined total of Likes, Shares, and Comments on their video posted on the Breakthrough Facebook page will be named Popular Vote Top Scorer and will automatically bypass the next round of judging (Selection Committee) and be placed in the final round of judging.

 

The winner of the challenge will be awarded $400,000 in educational prizes including a college scholarship, winnings for the science teacher who inspired the student and a state-of-the-art science lab for the winner's school.

 

“A state-of-the-art science lab, in my view, would provide students an area with cutting-edge equipment and technology that would encourage collaboration, discussion, and exploration for testing student-generated scientific ideas. said Dr. Tom Juliano, Science Department Teacher. “It may help students delve further into areas of astronomy, microscopy, and environmental science.”