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Young Epidemiologists win $50,000
A survey exposing widespread deliberate self-harm by Tennessee high school students and a study that suggests Idaho teenagers can offset the negative effects of minor mood disorders with exercise won two students college scholarships of $50,000 in a national “young epidemiologists” competition. Natalia Narzarewicz, an 18-year-old high school senior in Oak Ridge, Tenn., surveyed over 1,000 students and discovered that over one-third of them had engaged in such acts as deliberately burning or cutting their skin. She shared first-place honors in the annual “young Epidemiology Scholars Competition” with Aman Prasad, also 18, of Pocatello, Idaho. Pocatello surveyed 800 9th and 10th graders and found correlations between positive mood scores and regular exercise. The scholarships were awarded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which sponors the annual competition to encourage students to consider epidemiology as a career. Judges included top epidemiologists, as well as high school teachers. Nearly 700 high school juniors and seniors participated in this year’s competition. Prasad and Narzarewicz were among 60 finalists, all of whom received scholarships of $2,000 or more. Second-place scholarships of $20,000 went to Elizabeth Baker of Tucson, Ariz., and Soumaya Iriivinti of Derry, N.H. Chriistina Badal of Gulf Stream, Fla., and Erin Vickery of Decatur, Ga., were regional finalists and received $15,000 scholarships.
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