After months of hard work, four North Carolina high school students - including two from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) - departed for China on March 17 where they are competing in the Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition.
Students were chosen to present their science projects in the international exhibit after winning top honors at the North Carolina International Science Challenge (NCISC), a statewide high school science competition and a collaborative project of the North Carolina Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Center (SMT Center) and the North Carolina Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative (GSMC). Student in this year's competition include NCSSM seniors Eileen Jang and Darren F. Zhu, and Shara Weaver, of JD Clement Early College High School in Durham, and Brandon F. Young, of William G. Enloe High School in Raleigh.

During their seven-day trip to Beijing, the students will interact with young scientists from other countries and partake in sightseeing stops including a visit to the Great Wall of China.

Traveling with the students will be Dr. Fran Nolan, executive director of GSMC; J.B. Buxton, SMT Center board member; Melissa Bartlett, member of the North Carolina State Board of Education; Karen Giroux, director of research and collections at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences; Ira Trollinger, superintendent of McDowell County Schools; and Robin Bergeron, director of Health Education, Guilford County Schools.

Students from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Greece, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Ukraine, and Singapore, as well as the United States and China, will be participating in the exhibit.
The students from North Carolina will be blogging while they are at the event. The public can follow their travels by reading their blog at: http://www.Grassroots-Science.org.