Canada+science+oh my gosh I’m missing school? That’s right, your dream was just lived by three sophomore girls who got to miss school to attend a prestigious science conference,the American Junior Academy of Science, which took place in Vancouver. During this conference, the three girls were able to meet with scientists from all over the world, got to hear about up and coming inventions in science, and got to talk about science with a lot of different scientists, professors, and doctors. This conference, hosted by the AJAS,is the only national honor society recognizing America’s premier high school students for outstanding scientific research. In order to be able to attend this conference, you must be nominated by your State Academy of Science. In order for that to happen, you must place highly in a statewide scientific research competition. Too much work for you? Well, it wasn’t for Aparna Ajjarapu, Lupe MacIntosh, and Laura Graveline. These three high achieving students were given a golden opportunity as a reward for the hard work they had put into their own science projects and competitions. Sophomore Aparna Ajjarapu says, “It was really amazing to be able to talk to and meet all the extremely smart scientists who were meeting here. The projects they were working on were really high-tech.” Lupe MacIntosh agreed. “The best part was meeting all the smart kids from around the country, and seeing the cool science,” she said. “I would definitely do it again.” The AJAS mission is to introduce, encourage, and accelerate high school students into the professional world of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and in this case, it seems like they have succeeded. Ajjarapu, MacIntosh, and Graveline were all inspired by this amazing opportunity, and would definitely repeat the experience. Graveline, however, has a word of advice for those lucky enough to attend the conference: “Make sure you put your [Canadian] maple syrup in a bag so the TSA won’t confiscate it!”