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Hoover Uncommon Student Awards: Stigma-fighters, STEM get top awards
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · October 19, 2017


You like bugs? No? How about bees?


Hannah Fusselman, a senior at John F. Kennedy High School, tried Saturday to convince a panel of judges to think less of the stinging and more of the pollinating.

“I’ve always liked bugs,” she said.

Her Hoover Uncommon Student Award finalist presentation, the Bee Box Project, helps native plants and insects while also teaching about the benefits of pollination.

“It was a really fun experience” Fusselman said of fielding questions from the judges at the 20th Annual Hoover Uncommon Student Presentation Day. “I did not expect that (fun).”

In the end, the Cedar Rapids resident walked away with $1,000 for earning one of 14 finalist spots in the Hoover Presidential Foundation event, held at the Hoover Library-Museum.

The top three awards of $5,000 each went to:

• Makayla McMann of Southwest Valley High School in Corning, for bringing back Villisca Summer Camps for K-6 pupils.

• JJ Kapur of Valley High School in West Des Moines. His project, “Iowa Sikh Turbanators,” formed a youth-led civic group to battle negative stigma associated with the Sikh faith.

• Kaleb Cook of Linn-Mar High School in Marion, who created “Dancing Away the Stigma,” a 10-session dance therapy session for K-12 special education pupils.

The Mariah Becker Volunteer Leadership Award went to Wesley Hanson of Union High School in La Porte City. He created “STEM of New Opportunities for Youth. The project exposes children ages 5 to 11 to science, technology, engineering and math in converted classrooms.

Hanson called STEM “the future of the workplace,” noting President Herbert Hoover and wife Lou Henry were both trained in what are now considered STEM careers — engineering and geology, respectively.

The Union High senior found that 98 percent of the pupils who attended his program reported increased problem-solving skills.

“It was really cool” to present to the panel, Hanson said.

This year’s panel of judges included Public Interest Institute’s Jennifer Brown Crull of Mount Pleasant, Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine Dr. Richard DeGowin of Iowa City, ACT Inc. Chief Operating Officer Janet Godwin, Leff Law Firm attorney Bruce Haupert of Iowa City, Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann of Wilton, Scott Community College Past President Dr. Teresa Paper of Walcott, and Hoover Uncommon Student of the Class of 2001 Jeremiah Terhark of Iowa City. Former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray of Des Moines was named an honorary co-chair.