High school students from the region recently had the opportunity to participate in events at Central Methodist University, earning awards and scholarships for their innovative thinking and creativity. Central hosted the Dr. Harold Momberg Math and Science Competition on November 7 and Young Writer’s Day on November 8.
Momberg Math and Science
The annual Momberg Competition is named in honor of Dr. Harold Momberg, a long-time professor of biology at CMU. The day gave high school juniors and seniors a chance to put their skills and knowledge to the test with competitive events. They had the opportunity to see CMU math and science facilities and speak with current Central students majoring in math and science, as well as the faculty for these departments.
Directed by Dr. James “Tiger” Gordon, Dr. Grant Swicegood, and Dr. Shayna Burchett, the competition brought a number of high school teams to Fayette to compete for scholarships of up to $1,000. The following schools were judged to be the winners, with scores combined from knowledge-based and performance-based portions of the competition:
First place – Smith Cotton High School (Sedalia)
Second place – New Franklin High School
Third place – Marceline High School
Young Writer’s Day
The inaugural Young Writer’s Day event was held this month for high school juniors and seniors in the region. The event, directed by Dr. Kavita Hatwalkar, gave students a chance to put their writing skills and creativity to the test with several competitive events with scholarship prizes on the line.
Participating students also had the opportunity to explore the CMU Writing Center facilities and speak with current Central students majoring in professional writing and English.
The following students were named the winners in each of the genres explored on the day:
Worldbuilding – Iris Snider (Salisbury High School), first place; Henry Hirschvogel (Jamestown High School), honorable mention
Digital storytelling – Kristine Morales (Marshall High School), first place; Zaria Carey (Boonville High School), honorable mention
Poetry/collage – Sam Henke (Salisbury HS), first place; Abbey Smith (Smithton High School), honorable mention
Flash fiction – Elexa Lutz (Salisbury HS), first place; Haydan Asbury (Smithton HS), honorable mention
For more on other scholarship opportunities from Central, visit https://centralmethodist.edu/admissions/financial-aid/scholarships.html.