MCPA 2007 SCHOLARSHIP REPORT

This Spring, the Morris County Psychological Association has offered a scholarship open to all high school students in Morris County who are taking classes related to the behavioral sciences, including psychology, human and/or animal behavior, child development, sociology, etc. The purpose of the scholarship is to stimulate and encourage the study of the behavioral sciences in high school students.

Students submitted papers they had written for their classes, which were completed as part of their regular course work. All identifying information was removed from each entry, and then each entry was judged independently by three doctoral level psychologists on a set of nine criteria, including:

• Awareness of social and cultural issues in the behavioral sciences

• Awareness of theoretical and technical issues in the study of behavioral sciences

• Clarity of written expression

• Originality of the study

All thirty-one public and private high schools were invited to participate in the program. Eleven enrolled, and six schools actually submitted entries. There were a total number of twenty-six entries received, judged by eighteen psychologists. There were two top scores, which were the 2007 winners, and eight additional exceptional entries were given honorable mention.

The winners received $100 awards, and the winners, honorable mention awardees, their parents, and their teachers have been invited to attend an awards reception at the May 9, 2007 MCPA meeting.

The winners are: Allison Mahler and Michael Medford, both from West Morris Mendham High School; Jennifer Brown, teacher.

The honorable mentions are: Joshua Kaplan, Beatriz Iglesias, Allison Wilkinson, Meredith Bress, and Elizabeth Biro, all from West Morris Mendham High School, Jennifer Brown, teacher; Meaghan Forte-McRobbie, Monica Schmidt, and Colette Shalhoub, all from The Academy of St. Elizabeth, Phil Petillo, teacher.

Judges were Drs. Lois Steinberg, Brendan McLoughlin, Lisa Greenberg, Nancy Sidhu, Rich Brewster, Paul Yampolsky, Francine Rosenberg, Stuart Leeds, Ma’ayan Greenberg, Gerry Lucignana, Roman Lemega, Brenda Stepak, Tom Kot, Ron Schroeder, Aaron Welt, Darin Schiffman, Ed Balyk, Martha Temple, and William Neigher.