Washington DC High School Students Compete in 2010 Brain Bee

For immediate release.

WASHINGTON, DC HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COMPETE IN 2010 BRAIN BEE

Students from 18 area high schools will compete in the Washington, DC Brain Bee tomorrow, February 17, vying for cash prizes and the opportunity to represent the area in the National Brain Bee during Brain Awareness Week, March 15-21, 2010.

The annual Washington, DC event will be held at The Dana Center, 900 15th Street, NW, from 5-7 p.m. and is sponsored by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, the Society for Neuroscience (SfN), American Association for the Advancement of Science, and NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community. Students tackle 10 rounds of questions based on content from SfN’s Brain Facts (available for download here). The top 5 competitors will move on to a Part 2 question round until the “Best Brain” is determined.

The first place winner will receive $250 in cash and compete in the National Brain Bee at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, all expenses paid. In the past two years the winner of the Washington, DC Bee went on to win the national and international Brain Bee competitions. Past winners were Julia Chartove (2009) and Elena Perry (2008), both of Richard Montgomery High School.

Local high schools competing include:

• James Hubert Blake High School — Silver Spring, Md
• DuVal High School — Lanham, Md.
• The German School — Potomac, Md.
• Our Lady of Good Counsel High School — Olney, Md.
• John F. Kennedy High School — Silver Spring, Md.
• Montgomery Blair High School — Silver Spring, Md.
• Paint Branch High School — Burtonsville, Md.
• Poolesville High School — Poolesville, Md.
• Quince Orchard High School — Gaithersburg, Md.
• National Cathedral School — Washington, DC
• Richard Montgomery High School — Rockville, Md.
• Rockville High School — Rockville, Md.
• St. Anselm’s Abbey School — Washington, DC
• Seneca Valley High School — Germantown, Md.
• Suitland High School — Forestville, Md.
• Washington International School — Washington, DC
• Whitman High School — Bethesda, Md.
• Walter Johnson High School — Bethesda, Md.

The judge for this year’s competition is Benjamin R. Walker, a Pre-Clinical Science Facilitator for the Georgetown Experimental Medical Science program at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Dr. Walker has been participating in Brain Awareness Week activities at the National Museum of Health and Medicine for more than 13 years.

Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is an international campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain and nervous system research. For more information about Brain Awareness Week visit www.sfn.org/baw or www.dana.org/brainweek.

About the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives
The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, a nonprofit organization of more than 280 leading neuroscientists, is committed to advancing public awareness about the progress and promise of brain research and to disseminating information on the brain in an understandable and accessible fashion.

About the Society for Neuroscience
The Society for Neuroscience, with more than 40,000 members, is the world’s largest society of scientists and clinicians working to advance understanding of the brain and nervous system.