Last year, amid the weekly grind of tests, worksheets, and laboratory reports, Jesuit’s honors biology students were asked to write biology essays for a well-known science essay contest, the DuPont Challenge. Two students of long time Jesuit biology teacher Mrs. Jan Jones, sophomores Jimmy Buckley and John Ford, were given special acclaim, winning honorable mention for their essays.
Each year, the chemical company DuPont sponsors a science writing competition to showcase the best and brightest of our country’s aspiring scientists. “Students from across the United States and Canada enter the contest [and] write about what interests them scientifically,” explained Mrs. Jones. Students are asked to write a 700 word essay on a topic of their choice that displays an interesting aspect of science. Topics of this year’s essays included agricultural forestry, mammalian pheromones, and spider silk.
Essays are judged on their coherence, creativity, and relevance to modern-day science. Jesuit students worked independently to craft their essays, writing outside of the classroom with no class time devoted to the assignment.
Of the thousands of essays submitted, a judging board gives out a first, second, and third place award and twenty honorable mention awards. The DuPont judges awarded Buckley and Ford honorable mention for their respective essays, a lofty honor in the crowded field.
The two honors biology students also earned Jesuit Dallas the distinction of being the only school to submit two award winning essays. “Last year was the first year we even entered the contest,” said Mrs. Jones, “and it was super that those two kids got honorable mention. That’s an achievement.”
