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Finalists at the Broadcom MASTERS competition tell Eureka! Lab why they love science

Broadcom MASTERS 2014

Members of the red team work on a challenge at the 2014 Broadcom MASTERS. Clockwise from left: Daniel Bruce, Holly Jackson, Aditya Jain, Talar Victoria-Grace Terzian and Jonathan Okasinski.

L. Doane/SSP

By Bethany Brookshire

WASHINGTON —This week, 30 middle-school students and high-school freshmen met in Washington, D.C. for the 2014 competition known as Broadcom MASTERS (for Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars). The finalists completed team challenges, presented their middle school science fair projects and learned about science careers. They even got a chance to meet President Barack Obama.

Broadcom MASTERS was created by Society for Science & the Public (which publishes this blog and Science News for Students). It is sponsored by Broadcom (a company that builds devices to connect to the Internet). It is an annual competition where middle and early high school students share their winning middle school science fair projects and inventions with the public.

These students love science, technology, engineering and math. Here, in their own words, they tell us why science is both challenging and amazing.

What I love about science is that you never run out of options for what to do. – Chythanya Murali, 13

I love that science is like a neverending puzzle that you can continue to solve. And it gets more exciting over time. – Holly Jackson, 14

 My favorite part about science is learning or discovering things that people have never known before. – Caroline Edmunds, 13

 My favorite thing about science is that satisfying feeling when you discover something new. – Jonathan Okasinski, 12

My favorite thing about science would probably be biomimicry and how it has helped us invent new things. – Annie Ostojic, 12

 I love science because it allowed me to answer my questions that I see in nature in a rational and logical fashion. – Rajiv Movva, 14

The hardest part of science is coming up with the answers. – Talar Victoria-Grace Terzian, 13

Members of the purple team work on a circuit challenge at the 2014 Broadcom MASTERS. From left: Liam Hayden Young, Nikhil Behari and Sahar Khashayar. P. Thornton/SSP
The yellow team gets up close and personal with a forensics challenge at the 2014 Broadcom MASTERS. From left: Arnob Das, James Roney (in back), Muhammad Abdulla (with skull) and Annika Urban. L. Doane/SSP
Members of the grey team at the forensics challenge during the 2014 Broadcom MASTERS. Clockwise from left: Raghav Ganesh, Alex Shelby (in back), Gelsey Jaymes, Katherine Wu and Linus Freyer. P. Thornton/SSP
Members of the white team decipher hieroglyphics during the 2014 Broadcom MASTERS. Clockwise from left: Chythanya Murali, Caroline Edmonds, Floyd Greenwood and Aditya Sivakumar. P. Thornton/SSP
Members of the black team play with some bones during the 2014 Broadcom MASTERS. Clockwise from left: Joshua Courtney, Leo Deng, Rajiv Movva and Annie Ostojic. P. Thornton/SSP

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Power Words

biomimicry   The creation of new devices or techniques based on those seen in nature.

About Bethany Brookshire

Bethany Brookshire was a longtime staff writer at Science News Explores and is the author of the book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. She has a Ph.D. in physiology and pharmacology and likes to write about neuroscience, biology, climate and more. She thinks Porgs are an invasive species.