My First Blog!

Hi! My name is Anisha Dhoot. I am an incoming 9th grader at Westview High School in Portland Oregon. 

What inspired me to join the 3M challenge?

Ever since elementary school, I have been interested in studying the effects of global warming. My earlier research focused on studying the heating effects of carbon dioxide and more recently, I shifted attention towards ways to mitigate those effects. That is when I came across kelp seaweed which has a remarkable ability to both fight global warming and improve soil quality which is another huge problem on a global scale. My experiments have since confirmed that hypothesis. Essentially I wanted to take my project a step further and also compete at a national level. This is what first inspired me to enter the 3M Young Scientist Challenge.

What was it like making the entry video?

It was a long process to make the entry video.  Started off with data collection, analysis, graphing which eventually led to finalizing the poster. Next challenge was video recording which took multiple takes and a significant amount of editing to meet the required limit. I also added some effects to make it more polished which took some more time. Overall it was a very long process but definitely worth it judging by the quality of the final video. 

How did I feel waiting to hear if I was a finalist?

It felt like I had to wait for the longest time to find out if I made it to the top 10. In the end, it was such a pleasant surprise and totally unexpected. 

How excited are your friends and family?

My friends and family are super excited, happy and proud of me. Especially my parents. They are really looking forward to how I improve my project over the summer and compete in October. Well wishes have been pouring in since the initial announcement.

Thank you!