{"id":18916,"date":"2023-06-02T14:13:57","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T18:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=18916"},"modified":"2023-07-11T15:46:10","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T19:46:10","slug":"young-science-aficionados","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/06\/young-science-aficionados\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Science Aficionados"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Emily<\/a>
Emily Sperring (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some of Emily Sperring\u2019s best high\u00a0school memories involve Science\u00a0Olympiad<\/a>, a series of regional, state,\u00a0and national competitions challenging\u00a0students on knowledge in areas ranging\u00a0from engineering and chemistry to\u00a0biology and Earth science.<\/p>\n

So when she came to Johns Hopkins\u00a0to study environmental health and\u00a0engineering three years ago, she began\u00a0to mentor Maryland Science Olympiad<\/a>\u00a0teams at nearby schools, including\u00a0Barclay Elementary Middle School.<\/p>\n

For an hour after school each week,\u00a0Sperring guides the seventh- and\u00a0eighth-grade students as they build\u00a0balsa-wood bridges and gliders,\u00a0scrutinize rocks and minerals, study the\u00a0solar system, use forensics to solve\u00a0fictional crimes, and more. The energetic\u00a0eight-member team triumphed in the\u00a0Maryland Science Olympiad\u2019s March\u00a0regional competition, qualifying for the\u00a0statewide event in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incredible how passionate and\u00a0motivated these children are,\u201d says\u00a0Sperring. \u201cBut apart from their incredible\u00a0performance as competitors, they love\u00a0telling me about random cool science\u00a0stuff, so I learn a lot from them, too.\u201d\u00a0Sperring is one of about 70 Johns\u00a0Hopkins students mentoring Baltimore\u00a0City students in STEM through the\u00a0Charm City Science League<\/a> this year.\u00a0Mentors work with teams at a dozen\u00a0city public schools, logging more than\u00a01,500 volunteer hours.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of Emily Sperring\u2019s best high\u00a0school memories involve Science\u00a0Olympiad, a series of regional, state,\u00a0and national competitions challenging\u00a0students on knowledge in areas ranging\u00a0from engineering and chemistry to\u00a0biology and Earth science. So when she came to Johns Hopkins\u00a0to study environmental health and\u00a0engineering three years ago, she began\u00a0to mentor Maryland Science Olympiad\u00a0teams at nearby schools, including\u00a0Barclay Elementary Middle…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":18922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","issue-spring-2023"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYoung Science Aficionados - JHU Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Johns Hopkins student Emily Sperring provides mentorship to Maryland Science Olympiad teams, learn more here.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2023\/06\/young-science-aficionados\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Young Science Aficionados - 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