GEMA Education recently held a Young Scientist Competition, providing a platform for budding scientists from around the world to present their ideas and spark real change, all from the comfort of their own homes. One of the winners, Samantha (Non Kuan) from Hanoi was virtually interviewed regarding her project of bioplastics.
Samantha, a ninth grade student of Concordia International School of Hanoi, was inspired to make this bioplastics based project with the aim of sustainability and reducing the use of non biodegradable plastics in order to make plastics much more safer for the environment.
Although the ninth grader initially disliked science, it was her sixth grade science teacher, Mr.Joseph who with his experimental ways, piqued Samantha’s interest and sparked curiosity in the young mind for the subject. This shows that the teacher and their relationship with the subject, have the ability to help a student to develop a passion for the particular subject. The young scientist favors biology over other science subjects and feels that biology teaches the whys and hows of the living beings and their thriving in various ecosystems along with this, biology also teaches about the workings of the human body and the physiology behind every process occurring as well. Samantha also feels that biology can be used to solve the problems of the world such as plastic pollution, which can be solved by the increased use of bioplastics instead of the non biodegradable plastic currently in use.
The youngling thoroughly enjoyed the process of experimentation and the various results that could be obtained by altering the variables in place, helping her gain an insight on how science works in the real life world.
A fun fact that fascinated Samantha was that on altering the amount of glycerol, one could make the bioplastic either rigid or flexible depending upon the use that they have for the bioplastic.
Samantha felt very surprised when she found out that she had won the award and dedicates her award to her teachers, Miss Hen, her math teacher who encouraged her to keep going and to not lose hope, Mr Gordon, her biology teacher who helped her throughout the project process, Mr.Barry and Miss Ha, tenth grade chemistry teachers who helped with the chemical aspect of the project. The young scientist is also grateful to her friend Sua, who helped her film the video for the competition
Samantha aspires to become a pharmacist, due to her love for the science field which was inculcated by her mentor Mr.Joseph and her passion for working with chemicals and the medical profession.
Her final words of advice were, ‘Just go for it, never think twice before applying to a competition’ .