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Three county residents put their knowledge of neuroscience to the test and finished in the top spots in the 2009 Brain Bee in Washington, D.C.
Julia Chartove, a Richard Montgomery High School junior and Bethesda resident, won first place honors, followed by Tarun Kakumanu, a Rockville High School senior and Silver Spring resident, who placed second, and Farrell Sheehan, a sophomore at St. Anselm's Abbey School in Washington, D.C., and Rockville resident, who took third in the Feb. 18 competition.
Twenty-three students from 14 high schools in Maryland and Washington, D.C., competed for the chance to move on to the U.S. National Brain Bee, which will take place at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, March 20-21.
Twenty-five students from across the country will take part in the competition and the winner will go on to represent the United States at the 11th annual International Brain Bee in Toronto Aug. 7-9, said Sara Harris, a spokeswoman for the Society of Neuroscience, which sponsored the Washington, D.C., competition along with the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Retired Teachers Association: AARP's Educator Community.
The Brain Bee competitions are directed by its founder, Norbert Myslinski of the Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Maryland Dental School.
Chartove said neuroscience has always fascinated her and the Brain Bee seemed like a perfect way to utilize her knowledge. Even so, she said she was surprised to win first place in the competition.
"I didn't think I'd prepared enough, so I was really happy when I won," the 16-year-old said.
Chartove, a student in Richard Montgomery's International Baccalaureate program, said she hopes she can follow in the footsteps of Richard Montgomery junior Elena Perry, who won the international competition last year in Montreal.
Richard Montgomery Principal Nelson McLeod said in an e-mail message that the high school community is excited about Chartove's win.
"Richard Montgomery High School is extremely proud of Julia and her dedication towards academic excellence," he wrote.
