ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Ten students listen intently as Reed Timmer, of Discovery Channel's "Storm Chasers" series talks about the upcoming season, and his harrowing brushes with one of nature's greatest forces, tornadoes.
Within minutes, the middle schoolers will have to absorb enough information to try to pinpoint where a tornado might land in Minnesota, based on the data from a particular storm.
This is one of the challenges students tackled in this year's Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge.
"American students tend to lose interest in science and technology right around middle school age," explained 3M's Pat Hager, himself a scientist with 3M. That's why 3M is partnering with Discovery Education to host the competition.
Hager describes his job as one where he gets to discover something every day. "And it's always cool. I feel like I'm 12," said Hager.
That's something he and other 3M staffers would like to impart on students, who competed along with hundreds of others for the chance to win the $25,000 top prize.
"They had to submit a video presentation of an idea that had to deal with, in the case of how we move, how we live, a certain set of challenges," said Hager, who was assigned to mentor one of the ten finalists.
Those top ten students flew to Minnesota where they took part in a series of timed challenges presented by 3M scientists and Discovery Education.
3M chemical engineer Matt Scholz is one of the judges, who helped determine the winner based on a series of criteria. "Do they really understand the science? Do they have a passion for it? Can they collaborate and communicate what they've been doing?"
Timmer's part brings a coolness factor and some star power to the competition -- which isn't lost on the students, who are already looking ahead to how they might make a career in science.
"I think it's a great opportunity to share your ideas," said Caroline Boschetto, a 9th grader in Holland, Pennylvania. "It's not just a job, you're making a difference in a way."
Boschetto's invention that uses wheels on common consumer items like wheelchairs and strollers to generate electricity netted her a $1000 prize.
The grand prize winner is Braeden Benedict of Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
In the end, the real winner could be companies like 3M, always hungry for top talent. Keeping the attention of students as they progress from elementary to middle school and then high school is a big step.
"It's important that we support our young people in gaining an interest and being engaged in science because this is the future of our country," said Hager.
(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All rights reserved.)