UNITED STATES: Two Salesian High School Students Receive $40,000 College Scholarships from Edison Scholars Program
Two students from Salesian high schools in the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese are the recipients of the Edison Scholars Program, according to an article from Angelus. The Edison Scholars Program provides 30 high school seniors who excel in STEM subjects with $40,000 college scholarships.
The Angelus article reports that on April 10, Pedro Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, went to Don Bosco Technical Institute in Rosemead and surprised student William Ramos with a $40,000 Edison Scholars check and medallion. Alfred Molina, a student at St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, was also a recipient of the award. The winners were selected from both public and private schools in Southern California Edison’s service territory.
“Edison International congratulates this year’s outstanding scholars,” said Pizarro in the article. “Through their pursuit of science, technology, engineering and math, we believe these students will make important contributions to our communities and society. We are proud to support them.”
Don Bosco Technical Institute in Rosemead is an all-male Catholic high school that combines a rigorous college-preparatory program with a technology-focused education. The school’s innovative STEM curriculum allows students to exceed university admission requirements while completing extensive integrated coursework in one of five applied science and engineering fields. Each year for the past several years, 100 percent of the graduating class has earned college acceptances.
Another senior from the school, Jacob Lovi, recently made the news when he developed an idea during his summer internship at Boeing that will save the company tens of thousands of dollars on every satellite, topping $1 million in savings within the next five to ten years. Lovi’s ideas focused on a time-wasting setup within the company that specifically dealt with its storage and use of shims (a type of washer that’s used to build satellites). Lovi created a plan that would remove shims that weren’t necessary and reorganize the storage system, including associated storage documentation.
The school also offers courses in innovative green technologies. High school seniors studying green technologies in Bosco Tech’s Architecture & Construction Engineering program are creating and testing viable alternative fuels from cooking oil with remarkable results. The green and energy efficient engineering course stresses the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling and teaches how these environmentally sound precepts apply to architecture and engineering.
During the 2014 -2015 school years, while studying alternative fuels, students executed a successful burn-comparison test where they observed and documented the energy and pollutants generated by their biodiesel formulas and compared it to those of petroleum-based diesel fuel. They found the biodiesel had an equivalent energy density to petroleum-based diesel, making it a viable alternative, while also diverting waste that would previously have gone to a landfill. The biodiesel also produced less smoke, possibly making it cleaner burning and less harmful to the environment.
Sources
Angelus News – Students from Salesian high schools awarded $40,000 scholarships for STEM excellence
Newswire – Bosco Tech Student Interns at Boeing, Saves the Company Nearly $1 Million
