Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: 16 May 2005 SUBJECT: Good Hope Senior Receives INTEL Science Award in Phoenix, Arizona CONTACT: Will Leckie Director of Development 170 Estate Whim Frederiksted, VI 00840 1-340-772-0022 x108 wleckie.ghs@gmail.com

Left to right: Adrienne Keefe, Middle School Science Teacher; Christian Bracy '10; Issa Ashwash '05; Paul Jacobs '05 - 2005 4 th Place Mathematics Grand Award Winner; Leah Guthrie '08; Jane Coles, Science Department Chair at GHS; Lara Zimmerman '05; and Bobby Thompson -07.

Science Service, in partnership with the Intel Foundation, announced awards at the 2005 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Special Awards Ceremony in Phoenix, Arizona May 13. Paul Jacobs, a senior at The Good Hope School and the son of Edward Jacobs and Gloria Mendez-Jacobs of St. Croix, VI, was awarded the 4th Place Mathematics Grand Award. Yesterday he was also received an Honorable Mention for the Karl Menger Award, both given by the American Mathematical Society for his project on Graph Isomorphic Lattice Paths.

Over 1,400 students from 40 countries worldwide, including all 50 U.S. states, gathered in Phoenix for five days of presentations and adjudications. Mr. Jacobs, who was accepted at MIT, The University of Chicago, and will be attending Princeton University, earned the right to compete by winning the top prize at The Good Hope School's Intel-affiliated science fair last March, the only Intel-affiliated science fair in the Virgin Islands. These Special Awards are presented by over 70 scientific, professional and educational organizations and include scholarships, summer internships, book and equipment grants and scientific field trips.

The International Science and Engineering Fair is sponsored by Intel and has been administered by Science Service since its inception in 1950 when it was first known as the Westinghouse International Science Fair. Science Service is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding and appreciation of science around the globe through publications and educational programs.

Mr. Jacobs' extremely innovative mathematical project proposes that a structured and measurable mathematical correlation for complex isomorphic graphs, such as DNA molecules, would enable research scientists to track not only "where they are" within these structures at any given moment, but allow them to navigate instantly to "where they want to be" with extraordinary accuracy. Ms. Jane Coles, Chair of the Science Department at Good Hope School said, "The originality of this project has had the mathematics judges in Phoenix impressed for three days. We're very proud, and in awe, of Paul's ability to apply the oretical mathematics."

Under the auspices of Ms. Coles, this is the fourth year that The Good Hope School has participated in the Intel ISEF competition, part of the GHS science program made possible by a grant from the Edouard Foundation. Joining Mr. Jacobs in Phoenix this year are Lara Zimmerman '05 whose project, "Natural and Harmful," isolated harmful chemicals that have been reported in the island's own bush tea. She conducted her experiments at the Forensics Institute of Puerto Rico. Laura will be attending West Virginia University 's School of Forensic Science next fall. Bobby Thompson '07 and Christian Bracy '10 are also competing with their local environmental concern project that designed a safe system for constructing bricks from the "red dirt" at St. Croix's old aluminum refinery. Issa Ashwash '05 (who competed last year with a unique computer cooling system based on submerging components in liquid and who will also be attending Princeton) and Leah Guthrie '08, whose project isolated the antibacterial properties of several plants indigenous to St. Croix, are participating this year as observers.