Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

"The DuPont Challenge Science Essay Competition: For U.S. and Canadian students in grades 7-12. Top prize is $3,000 and a trip to Walt Disney World and Kennedy Space Center.
http://thechallenge.dupont.com

Discovery Young Scientist Challenge (DYSC): For students in grades 5-8. Ten finalists will receive $1,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to St. Paul, MN for the competition finals. The first-place winner will receive $25,000.
http://www.youngscientistchallenge.com"

My feelings toward this of mine...:


Do you have to be really into science to do these (such as LOVE SCIENCE) or can you be a little into science and still do it? Are parents able to travel with participants? Also, what would you suggest for a project? - WarrenCountyGymnast2002 A.K.A.: Michaela or 8th grader in "need".

Good Job on starting early. After looking at the two competitions briefly, the deadlines are in Jan 2016 (DuPont) and the 2016 deadline for the DYSC is not yet announced, but looks like sometime in April.

You do not need to LOVE SCIENCE, but I hope that you find a topic you love and are able to have fun and learn at the same time. When choosing a topic, the two main things to consider are whether the experiments will fit into the challenge of the competition (Dupont has 4 topics) and whether you will have fun doing it. It takes a lot of time and energy and doing something you are interested helps keep you going.

While I couldn't find if either competition pays for parents, there is a lot of good advice on both the websites you provided regarding what they are looking for and how to complete the applications. I would try to find a free internet source such as your school or public library. You will need it to do the background research on your project as well.

Good Luck.

lynnsamuelson wrote:Good Job on starting early. After looking at the two competitions briefly, the deadlines are in Jan 2016 (DuPont) and the 2016 deadline for the DYSC is not yet announced, but looks like sometime in April.

You do not need to LOVE SCIENCE, but I hope that you find a topic you love and are able to have fun and learn at the same time. When choosing a topic, the two main things to consider are whether the experiments will fit into the challenge of the competition (Dupont has 4 topics) and whether you will have fun doing it. It takes a lot of time and energy and doing something you are interested helps keep you going.

While I couldn't find if either competition pays for parents, there is a lot of good advice on both the websites you provided regarding what they are looking for and how to complete the applications. I would try to find a free internet source such as your school or public library. You will need it to do the background research on your project as well.

Good Luck.

Thanks so much for the response! I hope it will be fun! My dad is super interested in a trip to Walt Disney World because we can only afford to go every 4 years or less often. - Michaela