How It Began

Like most students who have conducted a research project, we were excited to showcase our work to judges at science fairs. However, through our personal experiences and participation in various science fairs and competitions and listening to other students present, we realized an opportunity exists. Although students without mentors demonstrate advanced presentation skills and proper scientific methodology comparable to those with mentors, they are often outcompeted. The reason is that success often involves projects addressing hot and complex problems in the field, yet only students with internships and mentors can gain insight into these problems and access resources to conduct such projects. What this creates is the stark reality that although numerous talented students are passionate about science and research, they may never win due to a lack of resources, diminishing their passion and confidence for science.

Although this is a prevalent issue, very few initiatives have been taken to address the root of the problem: reforms in the science fair system itself. Marking the first step, we proposed to launch a new science competition called High School Science Pitch (HSSP) to help minimize resource disparity and establish an equitable competition for all.

When we told our parents and friends about our idea of starting HSSP, no one believed that it was possible. “How can two high school students really make an impact and start a legitimate and recognized innovative science competition?” was the most common response to our idea. However, we believe this is an undeniable issue that numerous others have realized, yet have not taken any action to solve it. Though high school students who participate in these competitions are the ones directly affected, none have attempted to address this issue, likely due to the aforementioned reason. Similarly, we acknowledge that this is a very challenging idea to turn into reality, but realizing that this issue is likely going to perpetually persist in the future, we were motivated to become the first ones to take action.