Cate School student takes top honors at international Brain Bee competition in Florence, Italy.

July 18, 2011 - PRLog -- The International Brain Bee is a not-for-profit neuroscience competition for high school students. Directed by founder Dr. Norbert Myslinski of the University of Maryland, the Brain Bee is an attempt to motivate students to learn about the brain, to capture their imaginations, and to inspire them to pursue careers in biomedical brain research. There are currently about 70 Local Brain Bee coordinators worldwide that conduct competitions annually. The winner of each Local Bee is invited to attend a National Brain Bee competition in his or her own country, and the winner of each National Bee is invited to compete in the International Brain Bee Championship.

This year's international competition took place on Saturday, July 16 in Florence, Italy.

"TL" (as he is affectionately known on the Mesa) "had the time of his life," according to his mother, Le-Than Tran, who traveled to Italy with her son.  Noting the competition was very close, Ms. Tran said "…winning was just icing on the cake.  The kids made a Facebook group to chat before the competition, so by the time they got to Florence they already knew a lot about each other. When they parted on Saturday they were all so sad.  It was the friendliest group of competitors I have ever seen."  

This year's International Brain Bee competitors came from the USA, Australia, New Zealand,  Canada, India, Korea, Poland, Nigeria, Italy, Romania, United Arab Emirates, and Germany.  Ages ranged from 14 to 18.

In addition to a large traveling trophy which will be displayed at Cate School during the coming school year, TL received a personal trophy, a $3,000 prize, and a summer internship with an esteemed neuroscientist.

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Founded in 1910, Cate School is a grade 9-12, coeducational, college preparatory boarding school in Carpinteria, California.