34 THE COURIER SUN • CATHOLIC SCHOOL • JANUARY 15, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com St. Francis Prep students chosen as semifi nalists in the Intel Science Talent Search BY SALVATORE LICATA [email protected] @sal_licata1 Two students from St. Francis Preparatory High School were honored as Intel Science Talent Search semifi nalists last week. Natalie Ann Correa and Ariana Gopal, both seniors, were two of 300 students nationwide who were selected as semi-fi nalists in the highly competitive, catholic school week elite sciences program. They join students from past classes at St. Francis as they marked this as the 10th consecutive year a student or students from the school won the award. The girls have been part of the Science Research Program at St. Francis for three years. They have worked over the summers on their projects and are two of the three students from all schools in Queens who were selected as semifi nalists. “It’s an intense, multi-year process leading up to this point, and it could not be accomplished without the entire Prep community, the student’s supportive families and professional help of outside mentors,” said James Boylan, the director of the SFP Science Research Program. “These girls are really exceptional individuals. This honor speaks to their work ethic and talent.” The Intel Science Talent Search is one of the nation’s most prestigious pre-college science competitions. More than 100 of the world’s most distinguished science and math honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize and the National Medal of Science, have been awarded to alumni of the search. Gopal did her research on a population of people with schizophrenia and schizotypy, two similar mental disorders, and studied the social cognitive differences between people with those disorders. She found in her research that high level of schizotypy symptoms corresponded to social cognitive dysfunction. Gopal said the novelty of this project was pairing two different types of assessments for the fi rst time. Correa made the semifi nals for her work on a project that has to do with reproductive aging in women. She came to the conclusion, through her research, that the rate at which women lose eggs every month is four to 11 times more important than the number of eggs that women have left, which is how people currently predict the onset of menopause. Correa said that the genetic makeup of a woman is what determines the age at which women reach menopause. “I cried when I found out that I won,” Correa said. “I’m so happy that my work could have positive implications on society.” THE COURIER/Photo by Salvatore Licata From left: Ariana Gopal, James Boylan and Natalie Ann Correa.
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