Above: A Southborough 15 year old is competing for an international prize by communicating a complex idea in “engaging, illuminating, and imaginative ways”. Hopefully, you’ll “like” his effort.
You and/or your kids may want to spend a little screen time on Facebook now through Thursday. But instead of going to your timeline or usual favorite pages, check out some “Breakthrough” videos.
Not only will you learn something, you could help a Southborough student win international bragging rights and “$400,000 in cash prizes”.
Students ages 13 to 18 from countries across the globe were invited to create original videos (3 min or less) that illustrate a concept or theory in the life sciences, physics or mathematics. The “Breakthrough Junior Challenge” submissions are judged on the students’ ability to communicate complex scientific ideas in the most engaging, illuminating, and imaginative ways.
According to the contest announcement:
One winner will be recognized and awarded a $250,000 scholarship. The science teacher who inspired the winning student will win $50,000. The winner’s school will also receive a state-of-the art science lab valued at $100,000.
11,000 videos were submitted. Entries from North America were narrowed down to 29 posted on Facebook. One of those was by Southborough’s HP Park. The 15 year old Fay School student produced a video explaining why “The Moon is LOCKED! [Tidally] – How does only one side of the Moon always face Earth?”
Park’s video is currently vying for popular votes on the original Facebook post:
Whoever gets the highest combined total of Likes, Shares and positive reactions (Love, Haha, Wow) on the original post of their video 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. . .
- Finalists – The 15 top-scoring videos from the Evaluation Panel will be named “Finalists.”
- Popular Vote Top Scorer – Whoever has the highest combined total of Likes, Shares and positive reactions (Love, Haha, Wow) on the original post of their video on the Breakthrough Facebook page will be named Popular Vote Top Scorer.
- Regional Champions – Each of the 8 Geographic Regions will have a top-scorer who receives the highest combined total of Likes, Shares and positive reactions (Love, Haha, Wow) on the original post of their video on the Breakthrough Facebook page. Those 8 videos will be named Regional Champions.
Interestingly, Park’s video is designated as one of three in the Asia Region. (It looks like he is being considered as a resident of “Republic of Korea”, not Southborough.)
The votes will be based on reactions through this Thursday, November 2nd. Announcements of finalists will be made on November 3rd.
