Whiz Kid: Sharon Ren-Wei Ong

This Week's Whiz Kid: Sharon Ren-Wei Ong

Age: 17 years old

School: 

Accomplishments: She has been selected as a semifinalist for the 2011 Intel Science Talent Search — one of the most prestigious pre-collegiate science competitions in the nation.

Key to Awesomeness: She did a research project on “Do Presynaptic Blue Cone Cells Affect the Development and Synaptic Targeting of Postsynaptic Blue Cone Bipolar Cells in the Retina?” This complicated research earned Ong $1,000 and an additional $1,000 for Churchill, which will be used to further excellence in science, math and engineering education.

Ong said that she developed an interest in her research topic when she worked as a summer intern at the Nation Institutes of Health in Bethesda. While working in the genetics lab there, Ong read research papers on the topic of blue cone bipolar cells and decided to start working on her own as well.

The $1,000 Ong received as a semifinalist will go toward her college fund, she said. Also, Ong said she was happy she could get $1,000 for Churchill’s math, science and engineering departments.

“Churchill has been a great help to me, and I even want to focus on science and math in college,” Ong said. “To be able to help them and future students at Churchill is exciting.”

Do you know another kid doing amazing things in the community? Send your nomination for to sarahbeth@patch.com.