YES Press Releases

YES! 60 High School Students to Compete for $50,000 Scholarship in National Science Competition
YES Competition Offers Nearly $500,000 in Scholarships Annually

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sixty students from across the country have been chosen to compete for a $50,000 college scholarship later this month at the 2006-07 Young Epidemiology Scholars (YES) Competition sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and administered by the College Board.

Each student is guaranteed to win at least $2,000 for college. The 60 high school juniors and seniors will compete for the top scholarship in Washington, D.C., from April 13-16. More than 700 students from across the nation entered the competition, which is designed to spur students' interest in the field of public health, specifically epidemiology. Epidemiology explores patterns of disease, illness, and injury within populations, with the goal of developing methods for prevention, control, and treatment to improve health.

Topics of projects in the finals this year include teen driving, obesity, HPV, the effects of video games on health, sports injuries, stress, and drug/alcohol abuse.

All YES competitors develop a research question and hypothesis about a health issue that concerns a group or groups of people, then conduct research to analyze the subject and suggest potential ways to improve the problem based on their analysis.

"The YES Competition is one of the nation's most influential and prestigious science competitions for high school students, and attracts some of the most talented students in America," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and C.E.O. of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "These 60 impressive competitors are exploring important public health issues that deeply affect our families and communities. Through their creative thinking, problem solving and hard work, these young people are making a difference."

The highly competitive national program awards a total of nearly $500,000 in scholarships each year to students who develop in-depth research projects that use the principles of epidemiology to explore a health-related issue. The projects are judged by a panel of the nation's leading scientists, epidemiologists, and educators. The finalists will be judged on the basis of their written reports, oral presentations, and question-and-answer sessions.

"College Board President Gaston Caperton said the research skills employed by the students for the YES Competition extend far beyond epidemiology.

"We want to promote the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills for all students, and those skills are at the very heart of epidemiological research," Caperton said. "The YES Competition is designed to encourage students to explore careers in epidemiology, but we know it benefits young people with a wide variety of career interests."

Awards

Judges selected 121 students who will receive scholarship awards based on the quality of their written research project. Sixty-one Semifinalists will receive scholarship awards of $1,000, completing their participation in the competition. An additional 60 students were named Regional Finalists-10 selected from each of six regions-and will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation's capital, where two national winners will receive scholarship awards of $50,000 each, while the rest will win awards ranging from $2,000 to $35,000 per person.

Click here to see the Regional Finalist and Semifinalist lists