YOU BE THE CHEMIST initiative (http://www.chemed.org/ybtc/) has been sponsored for many years by Olin, Arch, Lonza, and now Monument. Once the Monument leadership team heard the details of this program, they readily agreed to be a local and national sponsor in 2013 and again this year.
All the Meade county 6-8 grade students take the YBTC qualifying test. From these test results, 15-25 students are chosen to participate in the local competition. Monument engineer and chemist volunteers will provide three judges for the local competition and two for the state competition. Amy Berry, who works for the MC school board, coordinates the YBTC activities. The state competition will pit the four best students from Meade and Henderson counties. Henderson is in their third year of YBTC and backed by Brenntag Mid-South. The state winner goes to the National competition in June with expenses paid by the Chemical Education Foundation.
The 2014 You be The Chemist program will start with a local competition on Wednesday, March 5, at 9:30 a.m. at the Meade County High School Auditorium. The state completion is set for April in Owensboro and the nationals in Philadelphia in June. We wish the best for the Meade County students who will be participating, and will keep our readers posted on the outcomes for our students.
