Alexa Pierce-Matlack, an eighth grader at Wilmington Friends School, headed a team that presented a research project at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Philadelphia. These students were the only middle school students in the country to have their proposal accepted for presentation, and were in the company of students from Brown University, Rice University, Carleton College and the University of California. The presentation grew out of a science project on Hurricane Katrina. Using a controlled experiment, the students investigated how long a levee would last during a flood before it eroded and collapsed. They have been invited to present follow-up research at a future meeting. Alexa turned her paper into a poster for the annual Science Expo at Friends. The final poster and presentation was entitled, “Hurricane Katrina: Using a Stream Table to Investigate the Role of Levee Base Width on Failure Time During Floods.” We are proud that Alexa used her abilities and strong sense of social consciousness to achieve such an accomplishment. Those of us who know Alexa are not surprised that she was the organizer of her team and had the courage to compete with college-level students. Congratulations, Alexa!
Update: Alexa is now a high school freshman at Friends, and is still enjoying academic success. Right now, she is excited about participating in field hockey and the percussion section of the school band, playing the queen in “Once Upon a Mattress,” and attending the Homecoming Dance. You go, Alexa!
