Encino Teen Finalist in Science Talent Search

The soft-spoken North Hollywood High School senior, Kevin Shapiro, would be the last one to bring up the topic, but Monday he joined the company of five Nobel Prize-winners when he became a finalist in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search.

“When they pulled me out of class and told me someone from Washington wanted to talk to me, I wondered, ‘Is this a good thing or is this a consolation thing?’ ” Kevin recounted in a shaky voice.

It was a good thing.

Kevin, an Encino resident who turns 17 Friday, will join 39 other national finalists in Washington, D.C., in March to compete for a total of $205,000 in scholarships.

Learning that he would receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the capital, where he will meet his congressional representatives and internationally recognized scientists and tour the White House, Kevin said he was stunned.

Going to Washington “is a little daunting,” he said. “But it’s an exciting prospect to interact for six days with people who are recognized as the best young scientists in the country. To count myself among them is a great honor.”

Earlier this month, Kevin became one of 300 semifinalists in the search, which is the nation’s oldest science scholarship competition. He was selected from more than 1,800 applicants based on his study of a parasitic bacterium whose role in the ecosystem was largely unexplored previously.

In preparation for his study at the Biological Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Pushchino, Kevin took Russian at UCLA.

As a finalist, Kevin has a chance at 10 scholarships between $10,000 and $40,000. He is already guaranteed a $1,000 award toward his study at Harvard University, where he plans to major in linguistics, neuroscience or neuropsychology.

Kevin’s junior science teacher and Westinghouse sponsor, Koh Ikeda, said Kevin was a natural for the talent search.

“He has exceptional qualities,” Ikeda said. “He’s inquisitive, he has determination and drive, and he also has creativity.”