FILIPINA WINS NY TIMES CONTEST

A 16-year-old Filipina, Natalia Araña has been named among the top 11 winners of New York Times STEM writing contest.

Araña, a student at Philippine Science High School, bested nearly 4,000 entries a with her essay on Stradivarius

The New York Times STEM Writing Contest invited students aged 11-19 to “turn complex ideas” about science, technology, engineering, and math “into easily graspable concepts in 500 words or less.”

Araña in her essay, said only a few hundred Stradivarius violins existed and these were hard to replicate due to global warming.

She said with the increase in global temperature, spruce trees grew wood with greater density, which affected the sound coming from an instrument.

The 16-year old student explained that this negatively affects the properties of an instrument’s vibrations, which are also known as sound waves.

Araña said she was still “in shock” after learning that she won, because she didn’t realize that the impact of it would be a huge thing.

But then she adds that she really have to let it be because it’s reaching a lot of people.

Araña revealed she had been a violinist since she was six years old, which motivated her to write the essay.

She says that it’s like part of her personality, something that has been with her for a lot of time and think she was fully a music lover.

Aside from taking an interest in music and science at such a young age, Araña also loves reading and writing.

She admits that she finished writing the 500-word essay for only two days because of her experience in student publication, plus the guidance of her mentors and friends.

Araña hoped stories such as hers could be instrumental in finding a solution, citing global warming as the culprit to having only “a few hundred of these million-dollar violins” left.

Though she admits she can’t do it alone, Araña is confident that if she inspire more people, she think that’s enough to advocate for change.