2006-07 National Second Place Winners
Second Place Winners
$35,000 Scholarship
Jessica Nussbaum
Roslyn High School
Roslyn, New York
The Impact of Anti-Alcohol Presentations on Teens' Perceptions and Consumption of Alcohol
"I really enjoyed hearing about the work my peers have been doing and found some of the topics incredibly interesting. I am now seriously considering epidemiology as a career path."
Jessica first became interested in her topic when she found an article on social norms campaigns and how they have been used in college contexts. She was curious if the message would be effective in a high school setting. Jessica investigated the effectiveness of traditional, "fear-based" anti-alcohol messages, compared with messages based on actual student usage, finding the latter had a greater effect on decreasing teenage alcohol consumption. She also studied students' self-reported drinking behaviors and their perceptions of drinking behaviors of peers. Summarizing her findings, Jessica said, "My work indicates that social norms messages may be effective in deterring teen alcohol consumption but that some commonly used types of anti-alcohol messages might actually promote teens' use of alcohol."
Jessica belongs to local school and community based programs including Youth Against Cancer and the Principal's Advisory Council. She also contributes to the school's newspaper. Her hobbies include reading and exercising. Jessica will attend Cornell University in the fall and plans to major in policy analysis and management.
Julie Rechel
Thomas Worthington High School
Worthington, Ohio
A Comparison of Practice and Competition Related Injuries Among High School Athletes Participating in Nine Sports During the 2005-06 School Year
"My lifelong enjoyment of athletics inspired me to pursue a research project that could lead to a better understanding of athletic injuries with aims to decrease injury rates among my peer student-athletes."
A three-sport student athlete, who is ranked number four nationally as a junior elite triathlete, Julie studied the body site, severity, and diagnosis of sports injuries for athletes participating in nine leading high school sports. She says she chose her topic because she is passionate about both sports and epidemiology, so she found a project that would blend these two interests. As an athlete, she has noticed disparities between competition and practice related injuries and wanted to investigate these differences in more depth. Julie studied student athletes at 100 different schools, analyzing data from 4,350 injury reports, to compare the rate of competition injury versus practice injury. She believes her findings could be used by coaches and students to increase injury awareness and prevent potential sports injuries.
Julie has participated in a variety of science competitions earning awards in several state championships. Her hobbies include scrapbooking and scuba diving, and she is active in church based activities. Julie will attend the University of Richmond this fall and plans to major in biology, with a concentration in neuroscience.