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The web article below was found here on the CentreDaily.com website. Posted on Mon, Jun. 30, 2003 State College Area High School graduate Jaline Gerardin may have a head start on her science classes when she goes to college in the fall. Gerardin, 18, was picked recently as first alternate for the United States team that will compete at the International Chemistry Olympiad in Athens, Greece, in July. "It was very unexpected," said Gerardin, who graduated from State High this year. She earned the place earlier this month at a training camp that had lectures and laboratory work on organic chemistry and included material not covered in high school, Gerardin said. She was among 20 students from across the country selected to participate in that two-week camp, which took place at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado and is sponsored by the American Chemical Society. Of those 20, four were picked for the team and two earned spots as alternates. "The lectures were from professors at the Air Force academy. They were all pretty good," Gerardin said. They were also thorough. "I certainly learned a lot about chemistry -- tons and tons about chemistry," Gerardin said. More than 10,000 students took tests earlier this year in an effort to be picked for the camp, according to a press release. "It reflects well on the (State High) chemistry department and her training on Science Olympiad," said Julie Gittings, a learning enrichment teacher and Science Olympiad coach at State High. She said Gerardin had taken all the advanced chemistry courses in high school and organic chemistry at Penn State. Gerardin will start at Harvard University in the fall. In the meantime, she said, she is going to a four-week science summer camp in Israel. |
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