Young Leonardo Award 2010

Leonardo/Olats has been collaborating with a rotary club in Littleton, MA to award a Young Leonardo Award to high school/secondary school students. If you are involved with a rotary club and would like to do something similar contact Roger Malina at rmalina@alum.mit.edu

(Re-posted article)
By Diane Bemis
GateHouse News Service
Posted Mar 11, 2010 @ 01:03 PM
Littleton —

April 1, 2010 is the deadline for applications for students to enter and possibly be named a 2010 "Young Leonardo".

The Littleton Rotary Club will be holding its first annual Young Leonardo Awards competition for all Littleton students grades 6-12 this year. The competition is a two-fold program with a scientific/literary component and a visual arts/technology component and sponsored by the Littleton Rotary Club in conjunction with the Leonardo Organisation of Paris, France.

The purpose of the Young Leonardo project is to promote the relationship between knowledge, creativity and critical thinking. The ultimate goal is to bring together best ideas and tools in the arts and sciences and create connections between artistic interpretation and inventive scientific problem solving. There are two major components to the program and two divisions – a Middle School Division and a High School Division.

Written /Scientific Component – An essay or a poem which expresses a scientific dilemma, problem or curiosity that the student has studied in science class during the current school year and is connected to the State Frameworks. This write up must convey the problem or dilemma with a possible solution based on scientific research and intellectual creativity.

Middle School essay must be between 300-500 words Or Middle School poem must be 10 stanzas

High School essay must be between 500 and 1000 words Or High School poem must be 20 stanzas

Artistic/Technology Component – The artistic portion must be a product that visually reflects the problem, dilemma or curiosity chosen as the topic of the literary/scientific piece. It can be a sculpture, painting, invention, mechanical drawing, photographs, technology-based project or any other visual interpretation of the scientific project and literary piece.

Actual projects are due and the judging will take place around June 1 dependent on the availability of a member of the Leonardo Organisation, from Paris, France, who will serve on the judging panel with 2 designees from the Littleton Rotary Club. The prizes are donated by the Littleton Rotary Club and are as follows:

Prizes for the Middle School: Prizes for High School:
1st prize = $100 1st prize = $500
2nd prize = $50 2nd prize =$250
3rd prize = $25 3rd prize =$100

This program is available for all Littleton students regardless of the Middle School or High School they attend. Applications have been mailed to every public and private school where Littleton students attend. All Applications are due by April 1st with the nominal non-refundable, tax deductible application fee, ($5 for MS and $10 for HS - made payable to Leonardo ISAST), to Littleton High School Science Department Head: Dennis Mahoney or Cheryl Harrington, C/O Littleton High School, 56 King St., Littleton, MA 01460.

Any questions about the application process can be addressed to Dennis at dmahoney@littletonps.orgor Cheryl at:charrington@littletonps.org. Once applications are received, more details will follow to participants.

The Rotary Club of Littleton was chartered in 1970. In its nearly 40-year history, the club has raised more than $250,000 for a variety of community and international projects such as the Young Leonardo Awards. The Littleton Rotary Club meets weekly at One Monarch Dr. at 7:15 AM under the current leadership of President Kathy Horniak and President-elect Roger Hartley.

Annually, the Rotary Club of Littleton sponsors the Appleman Triathlon, The Appleman Car show, our Thanksgiving Day Breakfast, (to support the high school scholarship fund), The Christmas Tree Lighting on Littleton Common in association with the Littleton Electric and Water Department and numerous other charitable events. One hundred percent of all the funds raised by the Littleton Rotary Club are donated to charitable causes such as Loaves and Fishes, the Littleton Children’s Hands-On Art Museum, Indian Hill, SADD, Third Grade Dictionary program and many other local civic organizations. We are proud to also be contributors to the Rotary International Paul Harris Fellowship Foundation and support efforts toward the eradication of Polio throughout the world.

Updated 31 March 2010