Two students at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School, a regional public high school which enrolls a diverse student community from across Greater Richmond, received awards at the INTEL International Science Fair. Samantha Marquez, class of 2014, of Chesterfield County won both first place and “Best in Category” awards in engineering: materials and bioengineering, and Saumil Bandyopadhyay, class of 2013 of Henrico County won fourth place in physics and astronomy at the Intel ISEF in Phoenix, Arizona.
Samantha is the only finalist to ever win first place three years in a row in the history of ISEF. She was also awarded the 2013 Innovation Award, one of the top four awards at the fair. The value of Samantha’s awards, including awards for her high school and the sponsoring fair, is in excess of $10,000.
Intel ISEF, the world’s largest international pre-college science competition, provides an annual forum for more than 1,500 high school students from over 70 countries, regions, and territories to showcase their independent research as they compete for more than $3 million annually. The Intel ISEF is the premier global science competition for students in grades 9 through 12.
ABOUT THE MAGGIE L. WALKER GOVERNOR’S SCHOOL
The Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies is a nationally-ranked regional public high school with qualifying students from eleven surrounding school districts: Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, King and Queen, New Kent, Petersburg, Powhatan, Prince George, and Richmond. The school’s broad-based curriculum focuses on government and international studies, yet also provides advanced opportunities for individualized study in mathematics, language arts, sciences, social studies, and the fine arts.
