Classical junior wins science award from Mass. Maritime Academy

LYNN – Wearing a lab coat and goggles, and gazing studiously at a contraption used to conduct chemical analysis, 17-year-old Lynn Classical student Ashley Ellis looks completely in her element.”I love these things,” she said, holding a beaker and a tall, thin container she identified as a calibrated burette, in one of the school’s science labs Wednesday.Ellis was one of 40 high school juniors nationwide to receive the Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s Junior Women Leaders in STEM Award, said Donna Ducette, a Classical guidance counselor. The award was created to encourage young women to explore unique avenues in the math and science fields, Ducette said.Ellis, an honors student, tennis player and Drama Club member, said it “feels really good” to represent women interested in chemistry.”Every college I’ve visited says it’s a male-dominated field and all my friends say, ‘You know it’s mostly guys,’ but I’m going to do this and I’m going to change all that,” she said.Ellis attended an awards ceremony at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s campus on Buzzards Bay on May 10, where she heard speeches by female scientists she said were “really inspiring” to young women interested in traditionally masculine fields.Those who attended the ceremony also received a scholarship to the academy’s Sea, Science and Leadership Program, a three-day event held in July designed to simulate the life of an academy cadet, and teach high school students the basics of ship handling, navigation and cold water survival. Ellis said she is looking forward to learning about a subject she hasn’t had much experience with.”The engineering aspect is really interesting,” she said. “I’m just looking forward to anything hands-on.”To be eligible to receive the Junior Women Leaders award, candidates must be female, a junior in high school, have a minimum 3.0 GPA and must excel in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and math. Christine Lander, Ellis’ chemistry teacher for the last two years, said Ellis was one of the first students she thought of when she heard about the award.”I had two students I thought are interested in these kinds of things and Ashley happily jumped on board, as she always does. She’s always willing to help.”Ellis said she found her passion for science and math at a young age, but it was Lander who stirred her passion for chemistry.I started out liking math and grew into science,” She said. “Ms. Lander really made me want to learn.”Ellis hasn’t made a final decision about where she wants to attend college, but knows she wants to study chemical engineering. She said the University of New Hampshire and University of Massachusetts at Amherst are her top picks right now, but she hasn’t ruled out one of the state’s most prestigious engineering schools.”MIT is in the mix too,” she said.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].