By Jake Shiner –
The prestigious Intel Science Talent Search ended in Washington D.C. last week with one of Penn Manor’s own named in the Top 40, none other than Ben Clark.
The talented senior added yet another award to his constantly growing achievement list. He placed seventh in the science competition geared toward seniors, using the same project that he entered in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology last December.
Clark’s project sounds simple enough.
“I determined how close binary stars are,” said Clark. “The underlying fact is that this can be used to determine how stars are formed.”
The competition was tough with 1700 seniors going for the awards, narrowed down to the top 40, whom were flown in to D.C. on an all expenses-paid trip.
“We were staying in a hotel two blocks from the White House,” said Clark with a smile. He said the back of the nation’s capitol building was visible from his room.
The young senior has already been to similar competitions, but one thing always stands out as his favorite part.
“The best part is always the interactions with other students who also enjoy science as much as you do,” said Clark.
Clark had the privilege of meeting the leader of the United States while in Washington, saying, “meeting the president was definitely cool.”
While in the capital he got to go to Capitol Hill and met new Pennsylvania senator, Pat Toomey.
Clark also sat with the president of California Tech at the award dinner, where he is thinking of attending college, which he said was a very exciting experience.
The young genius has many potential futures. He says he has narrowed it down to physics or astrophysics, but doesn’t know which one. As of right now, that may be the only thing Clark doesn’t know.