Congressman Lamar Smith (TX-21) met with Samantha Gonzalez of Boerne, a finalist in the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge. The 21st District had more finalists than any other district in the country.

The finalists were selected from the 75,000 fifth through eighth grade students who participated in science fairs nationwide. The Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge judges selected 400 semifinalists based on the scientific merit of their work and their ability to communicate the science of their projects. From there, 40 finalists were chosen to come to Washington, D.C. to compete.

Samantha and Danielle’s co-project was titled, “The Fertilizer Effect on Vegetables” and Matthew’s project was titled, “Beyond Geotubes: The Surprising Search for Coastal Erosion Control.”

While in D.C. they competed in team-based challenges to investigate climate change and environment friendly techniques like recycling. The students were also presented with a range of experiments to test their science skills.

“The Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge has always been an important part of our company’s commitment to science education. There is a real crisis in this country when it comes to scientific proficiency, and Discovery Communications remains steadfast in our mission to advance science literacy and achievement in America’s schools,” said David Zaslav, president and CEO, Discovery Communications.

This is the ninth year of the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge. Nearly 16,000 students have entered the Young Scientist Challenge since its beginning and winners have received approximately $700,000 in scholarship awards.