Ylitalo gets national attention for science innovation
February 12, 2016
While many students worry about the day to day homework or what test they have to study for, one student at SAHS is exceeding not only at Stillwater, but at a national level as well. His unique and innovating science invention has been recognized not only at the Da Vinci Fest and by Stillwater, but the nation has taken note of what could help shape the future.
Max Ylitalo has a natural gift for science that very few people have; not to mention he is only a senior this year at SAHS. Ylitalo was recently named semi finalist to a national Science Talent Search competition. Ylitalo was one of only four students in Minnesota to receive this prestigious award. The competition, sponsored by Intel, was looking for the best young minds and innovators at a pre collegiate level. Ylitalo’s project was one all about conservation.
“I designed a new method for producing ethanol from waste paper that is more cost effective than using corn. The project is called ‘Experimental Design Optimization of Surfactant Enhanced Waste Paper Hydrolysis,” Ylitalo said.
The project not only earned Ylitalo a spot as one of only 300 students in the country to receive this award, but locally it won the Da Vinci Fest that was held on January 9th at SAHS. Along with that, Intel donated one thousand dollars to SAHS for the science department and Ylitalo also received one thousand dollars for his work.
Ylitalo explained, “I came up with my design after seeing articles in the newspaper about how corn isn’t a good source of ethanol, so I researched other types of ethanol and found that it’s possible to make ethanol from any source of cellulose and paper is full of refined cellulose so I thought I’d give it a try.”
This award Ylitalo won is a great honor based on how prestigious the Science Talent Search is. Selecting only 300 students out of the thousands of project and inventions students designed from around the country, and Ylitalo was one of them. This sets Ylitalo up with a network of years prior winners that can help once Ylitalo is just out of college, ready for a job. In fact, Stillwater Gazette reported, “Alumni of the Science Talent Search have made extraordinary contributions to science and hold more than 100 of the world’s most distinguished science and math honors, including the Nobel Prize and the National Medal of Science. ” For Ylitalo, this is only the beginning of a long and successful journey.
Ylitalo said, ” I was honestly very surprised to be chosen for the award because I have seen the high caliber of the research high school students like me all around the world are doing, and I was just very honored to see that my research is among the best. I think this will definitely help me in college since I hope to continue my research, and hopefully work in developing new renewable energies.”
Kathleen Billingsley • Feb 17, 2016 at 8:17 pm
This story is my personal favorite because it is so unique and in-depth about a fellow student. It is very interesting and Justin does a great job creating a story about in an interesting young student.
Katie Hutton • Feb 17, 2016 at 12:41 pm
This article is very informative and interesting. You described his project very well and I liked the quotes. Well done!
Charlie Skaret • Feb 17, 2016 at 11:02 am
Very well written article. The subject on Max was a very interesting read. It explains the details of Max’s accomplishments and how he came to get them. The quotes are excellent and are really the driving force of the article. Max is a friend of mine and I am glad to see the story so well handled.
Nick Carlson • Feb 16, 2016 at 5:55 pm
I think this is a very detailed and well written article. The headline really caught my attention because I know Max and the words national attention can’t be ignored. I liked how your lead focused in on Max and how he is going above and beyond and somewhat of his personality. I think even more of his personality throughout the article in the quotes for example, would have made this article even more interesting. The last quote I felt included the most of Max’s personality on how he was affected by the project in the past and future, so was most compelling. The writing style was informative and your article was full of details about the award, what it means, and about the project too. I appreciated that your diction is simple and not too heavy with complex scientific words making the story article easy to understand. Overall good work.
Brian Jaap • Feb 16, 2016 at 5:21 pm
This article did a great job of telling the readers what Max does, how he does it, and why he enjoys doing it. Very effective and captivating quotes, well done!