The Akron School Board invited two extraordinary young people to lead them in the Pledge of Allegiance at its October 8, 2018 meeting.

Leah Stanevich and Zack Shumway are two of Akron Public Schools best and brightest students. Both travelled to Killarney, Ireland this summer to represent the United States at the GLOBE Program’s Annual Meeting and Global Learning Expedition.

While in Ireland, Leah and Zack presented their research, conducted field research, were the guests of honor with a parade through downtown Killarney, distributed pins, candy, and goodwill at a cultural exchange evening, collaborated with students from Detroit as the closing event of cultural diversity, and even kissed the Blarney Stone!

Leah is last year’s valedictorian from Kenmore-Garfield High School. Her research was The Effects of Phosphorus and Dissolved Oxygen on Freshwater Ecosystems. In addition to using GLOBE Program research protocols, Leah also worked in a laboratory isolating aerobic and anaerobic bacteria attempting to reason the various water qualities on the remnants of our historic canal system.

In addition to presenting her research in Ireland, Leah also received a superior rating at State Science Day at the Ohio State University. Leah is now a freshman at The University of Akron pursuing a science-related degree.

Zack did his initial research while an eighth grader at Roswell Kent Middle School. Currently, he is a sophomore at Firestone Community Learning Center’s International Baccalaureate Program. Zack worked and continues to work directly with Dr. Brian Campbell, lead scientist of NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite. Zack measured soil moisture in order to ground-truth this new endeavor of NASA’s. Zack’s work resulted in adjustments to the satellite, ensuring accurate global data collection for many years to come.

As a result of their presentations in Ireland, Leah and Zack were personally invited to present their research at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union this December. This meeting happens to fall on Leah’s final examination week at The University of Akron and she will, unfortunately, not be able to attend.

Zack is one of only 116 high school students from around the globe selected and scheduled to attend (he just received his confirmation October 1st) and will be presenting before an assembled audience of about 26,000 scientists from around the world.