Meet Johan. He’s an aspiring climate scientist who performed cutting edge research that could help reverse global warming — while in the 6th grade. His project earned him one of 30 finalist spots (of out 60,000 projects) in the Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge, a national-level science fair for middle school students.
Check out Johan’s Major Accomplishments – Awards – Interview Questions
Hometown: Weston, MA
School: Weston Middle School
Grad Year: 2029 / 7th Grade
GPA: 3.9 UW
Finalist – National Middle School Science Fair
(top 30 out of 60,000+ projects)
Founder of FeaturedStudents.org
(showcases high achieving middle school, high school and college students)
Second Class Scout
Major Accomplishments
Finalist, Thermo Fisher Junior Innovator’s Challenge – Johan did a project that investigated how to make clouds more reflective so that global warming can be reversed. As part of the project, he designed and built a cloud chamber and then created clouds with varying attributes to see which would reflect the most heat.
Founder, FeaturedStudents.org – Johan has met so many kids that have inspired him through his involvement in science research, Scouts, and other activities. Not everyone gets to meet these people, though, so Johan launched FeaturedStudents.org a blog and social media network to share their amazing stories.
National Awards
- Finalist (top 30 out of 60,000 entrants) – 2023 Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge (National Middle School Science Fair)
- Gold Medal – National Roman Culture Exam (NRCE) – Lower Level
- Silver Medal – Pegasus National Mythology Exam – Lower Level
State / Regional Awards
- 2nd place – 2023 Massachusetts Middle School Science and Engineering Fair
- Finalist – 2023 Massachusetts State First Lego League (FLL) Robotics Competition
- 1st place / Aspire Award – 2023 Regional Qualifier First Lego League (FLL) Robotics Competition
- 6th place Overall Award – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention
- 1st place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – Pentathlon Exam, Intro Level
- 1st place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – Roman History Exam, Intro Level
- 1st place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – Roman Customs Exam, Intro Level
- 1st place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – Latin Derivatives Exam, Intro Level
- 1st place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – PMAQ Exam, Intro Level
- 1st place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – Mixed Media
- 2nd place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – Greeting Card
- 2nd place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – Original Poetry
- 3rd place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – Original Short Story
- 4th place – 2023 Massachusetts State Latin Convention – Mythology Exam, Intro Level
- Finalist – 2022 Massachusetts State First Lego League (FLL) Robotics Competition
- 1st place / Aspire Award – 2022 Regional Qualifier First Lego League (FLL) Robotics Competition
School / City / County Awards
- Grand Prize – 2023 Region V Science and Engineering Fair
- Aspire Award (Grand Prize) – 2022 Revere First Lego League Qualifier Meet
Clubs and Extracurricular Activities
- BSA Troop 157 Weston MA – 2022 to 2023 – Patrol Leader
- Chess Club
- Debate Club
- Bays Soccer Team
Hobbies
Johan loves to camp with his Scout troop, play chess, and he is obsessed with building the perfect paper airplane.
Interview Questions with Johan
Q – What made you choose your science fair project on making clouds more reflective?
A – Most climate research is focused on slowing global warming by cutting greenhouse gas emissions. But it’s too late this. Even if we cut emissions to zero, temperatures would still rise and create massive ecological changes such as rising sea levels and extreme weather which will in turn cause economic disruption. We need to find a way to not only slow climate change, but actually reverse it. Marine cloud brightening, the subject of my project, is one of the most promising technologies to do this. I originally started thinking about this when I read a book that showed how global temperatures would drop by up to 2 degrees after major volcanic eruptions because the ash clouds released into the air reflect the sun’s heat. It would dangerous to constantly have ash in the atmosphere, but there are other safe chemicals like salt which can have the same effect.
Q – You did your cloud-related project when you were in the 6th grade, so you probably have many years worth of middle and high school projects ahead of you. Will you continue researching marine cloud brightening?
A – I have thought of some interesting ways to take my marine cloud brightening project to the next level, but many of them would require a laboratory to do the research in and it’s really difficult for middle school students to get access to a lab so I may wait a couple of years. There is another possible project that would involve creating a drone-controlled blimp that can create massive salt-water clouds that I am considering. And, I’m also interested in energy storage, so I might do a project in that area.
Q – In your awards section, you mentioned that you competed in Latin. We didn’t even know that this was possible. Tell us more.
A – I know, right! You never hear about someone competing in French or German, but there is an interesting subculture of Latin competitions. Many states have a state Latin convention where students take academic tests, compete in public speaking (both in Latin and English), enter art projects, and compete in athletic events (usually track and occasionally swimming). And, then there’s certamen which is like quiz bowl but just on Latin and classics-related topics. Certamen has a cult-like following amongst Latin nerd like me. In fact, several of the Ivy League colleges like Harvard and Yale sponsor certamen tournaments for high school and middle school teams. But the biggest event is the NJCL (National Junior Classical League) Convention which is like the state conventions but on a massive scale. Every year a couple thousands kids descend on a university in late July and take part in these various competitions.