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Homeless teen misses science scholarship

Posted at 3:18 PM on January 25, 2012 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Science

Maybe there were smarter people who are finalists in Intel's Science Talent Search, but it's hard to believe there were more deserving candidates than Samantha Garvey, who at least could give the others a run in the "all around" competition.

Garvey was a homeless teen from New Jersey who captured the nation's attention when she became a finalist in the competition for a $100,000 college scholarship.

The list of finalists came out today and Garvey's name was not on it.

Her story has some reward, however. She received a $50,000 scholarship to the college of her choice after an appearance on the Ellen show.

Five Minnesota young people were on the semifinalist list along with Ms. Garvey. One made it to the finals. He's Evan Chen of Wayzata High School who, according to Intel, is "unraveling the mystery behind satellite cell differentiation."

That is: He's trying to help people with Muscular Dystrophy. A classmate with MD motivated him, he told Lake Minnetonka Patch last year.

"Knowing that there is someone in my vicinity that can benefit from some of the research that I'm doing is really inspirational," he said

Comments (5)

"Knowing that there is someone in my vicinity that can benefit from some of the research that I'm doing is really inspirational,"

Damn you Collins, you made me cry again.. :-)

Posted by Jim Shapiro | January 25, 2012 4:17 PM

Congratulations to Evan Chen and all the other scholarship recipients, including Samantha.
This story reminds me of something I realized a few months ago: all of my daughter's science teachers, and most of her math teachers (since her second grade class's Monarch butterfly project, and on through her physics class today) have been women. I never had science or math class with a woman as a teacher. I hope that this change is making a difference in how girls and young women imagine themselves as scientists.

Posted by Joanna | January 25, 2012 4:25 PM

She's still a winner in my book. Remarkable young lady and I wish her the best with her career in science.

Posted by Mark Gisleson | January 25, 2012 4:28 PM

Stories like this make me think of all of the not so cute, not so smart, not so articulate, not so photogenic homeless youth...

And THEN I cry.

Posted by Bonnie | January 25, 2012 9:51 PM

What a great story. I'm with you, Jim--bring out the kleenex.

Posted by kay smith | January 25, 2012 11:26 PM