High School Students Win Research Grants

Three juniors in the North Hollywood High School Zoo Magnet program have won scholarships to participate in research expeditions this summer, one to study sharks, another rain forests and the third, prehistoric Native Americans.

The full scholarships were awarded by the Durfee Awards and the Dr. Peter and Helen Bing Foundation and administered by Earthwatch, a nonprofit organization that brings together scientists and volunteers worldwide to work on field research.

“These field trips are an opportunity of a lifetime,” said Barry Shapiro, a science teacher and scholarship coordinator. “The students are very excited about their trips.”

In August, Heather Rigby, 17, of Los Angeles, leaves for the Cloud Forest Reserve Rainforest in Monteverde, Costa Rica, Shapiro said.

Heather, along with a team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts, will use mapping, imaging and radio-tracking technology to study movements of butterflies and plant growth as a way to monitor changes in the rain forest, Shapiro said.

Classmate Rashad Mahmood, 17, of Los Angeles, plans to study lithographic technologies of ancient Native Americans in July at the Buena Vista Archaeological Site in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon, Shapiro said.

Rashad will work with researchers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to collect, clean and catalog artifacts found at the research site, Shapiro said.

The third student, Danny Hidalgo, 17, of Sylmar, is off to the Bimini Islands in the Bahamas in August to study the life cycles and reproductive systems of lemon sharks as part of a University of Miami research team, Shapiro said.

Danny, who will live with the other researchers in a field house on the island, will also help tag, identify and collect information about the sharks, Shapiro said.