Homeless teen misses science scholarship

Maybe there were smarter people who are finalists in Intel’s Science Talent Search, but it’s hard to believe there were more deserving candidates than Samantha Garvey, who at least could give the others a run in the “all around” competition.

Garvey was a homeless teen from New Jersey who captured the nation’s attention when she became a finalist in the competition for a $100,000 college scholarship.

The list of finalists came out today and Garvey’s name was not on it.

Her story has some reward, however. She received a $50,000 scholarship to the college of her choice after an appearance on the Ellen show.

Five Minnesota young people were on the semifinalist list along with Ms. Garvey. One made it to the finals. He’s Evan Chen of Wayzata High School who, according to Intel, is “unraveling the mystery behind satellite cell differentiation.”

That is: He’s trying to help people with Muscular Dystrophy. A classmate with MD motivated him, he told Lake Minnetonka Patch last year.

“Knowing that there is someone in my vicinity that can benefit from some of the research that I’m doing is really inspirational,” he said