February 01, 2018

From left to right: Catalina Foothills High School student Mira Raju (3rd place) and BASIS Chandler students Grace Xu (1st place) and Latavya Chintada (2nd place)

On Monday, January 29th, Midwestern University welcomed some of Arizona's top high school students for the annual Arizona Regional Brain Bee, an educational competition similar to a spelling bee that focuses on neuroscience. The 2018 Arizona Regional Brain Bee at Midwestern University was presented in partnership with the BHHS Legacy Foundation.

This year, a record number of contestants -- 131 students from 19 Arizona high schools from as far away as Bagdad and Tucson -- converged on the University's Glendale Campus to test their knowledge of the human brain, how it governs human behavior, and the science that helps medical professionals understand brain function.

The top three Brain Bee finishers, in order, were Grace Xu and Latavya Chintada, both from BASIS Chandler, and Mira Raju from Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson. Ms. Xu and Ms. Chintada took the top two spots after finishing second and third respectively in last year's Brain Bee. BASIS Chandler won the team prize for the overall high score for the fourth straight year.

For her performance in the Brain Bee, Ms. Xu won a $2,000 scholarship towards tuition in any Midwestern University program at either the University's Glendale Campus or the campus in Downers Grove, Illinois, as well as travel expenses to help her as she competes at the upcoming USA Regional Brain Bee Championship in Baltimore, MD.

Midwestern University faculty and students served as judges, question readers, timers, and scorekeepers for the Brain Bee, using the book Brain Facts, published by the Society for Neuroscience, as the source text. Questions ran the gamut from identifying physical features of the brain itself to naming brain disorders and diseases to surgical and medical practices that modify neural behaviors.