Los Alamos High School AP Psychology students competed in the 19th New Mexico Brain Bee last month at the University of New Mexico. Pictured (left to right) Malaika Philip, Brain Bee President, Bella Blair, Claire Whitley, Sam Carmer, Ellie Miranda, Gus Ovaska, Allie Holland, Sadie Evans, Mara Illescas-Montoya, Kaytlyn Canfield and Zak Osborne. Courtesy/LAPS
LAHS students participating in the Brain Bee competition. Courtesy/LAPS
LAPS News:
Eleven Los Alamos High School AP Psychology students competed in the 19th New Mexico Brain Bee last month at the University of New Mexico with LAHS senior Allie Holland earning 3rd place. Allie plans to study nursing in the fall.
“It was a fun educational day with more than 20 UNM neuroscientists, medical students, and graduate students,” AP Psychology teacher Lynn Ovaska said. Participants toured neuroscience labs, saw the many brain imaging techniques at the Mind Research Network, and listened to the keynote speaker, NM Tech professor, Dr. Taffeta Elliot.
For the Brain Bee competition, students completed a practical test and answered questions individually. The competition was based on the Brain Facts book.
UNM’s neuroscience experts have led the annual regional Brain Bee in New Mexico since 2015. Brain Bees test high school students on their knowledge of the human brain in relation to specific topics such as movement, intelligence, emotions, memory, sleep, vision, hearing, sensations, development, and diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, stroke, schizophrenia, epilepsy, depression and additions.
One highlight was talking with graduated LAHS AP Psych students who are finishing up their advanced degrees at UNM, including 3rd year medical student Priyanka Velappan who won the NN Brain Bee in 2018 and Justine Zimmerly who will finish her PhD in neuroscience this year noted Mrs. Ovaska. “They were able to share their career paths with LAHS students.”
LAHS senior Malaika Philip helped organize LAHS students for the Brain Bee this year, their first time back as a team since COVID. Since the first NM Brain Bee in 2015, 14 students from LAHS have placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, and four students have won including: Cole Johnson in 2020, Antonio Dowdy in 2019, Priyanka Velappan in 2018, and Wilbur Wang in 2017.
The NM Brain Bee, sponsored by the New Chapter of the Society of Neuroscience and the Brain and Behavior Health Institute at UNM, is part of an outreach program designed to get more high school students interested in Neuroscience.