Name: Rachel Choi
School: Eighth-grader at
Accomplishment: Rachel won first place -- along with a $25 cash prize -- at the Region 3 science fair for the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science in the environmental science category. This region includes Schuylkill, Berks, Lehigh, Carbon and Northampton counties.
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Key to Awesomeness: Rachel chose “From Trash to Gas” as her project in the science fair.
In her experiment, she “took biomass (cow manure), added different types of kitchen scraps with different pH levels and a preservative (sodium chloride). This mixture produced various amounts of methane, which is a renewable resource, and thus ‘environment friendly.’”
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She discovered garbage can be recycled for use as different types of fuel.
Her favorite subjects in school are technical education and science. She plays the violin on the school orchestra and in the Lehigh Valley Junior Strings Philharmonic. In her spare time, she enjoys origami and making different foods.
Upon high school graduation, Rachel plans to attend Yale University and study pharmacology.