Erin Wong, a sophomore at Great Neck South High School,...

Erin Wong, a sophomore at Great Neck South High School, has won first place in this year’s Long Island Brain Bee.  Credit: Hofstra University

A Great Neck South High School student has been crowned champion of this year’s Long Island Brain Bee.

Erin Wong, a sophomore, placed first in the regional competition last month that tested students’ knowledge of the brain at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. This year, nearly 70 students competed from more than 25 high schools across Long Island.

Wong will advance to the national competition at the University of California on April 21-23. There, the winner will receive $1,500 and the opportunity to compete this summer at the International Brain Bee Championship in Washington, D.C.

“This whole experience has been really great,” said Wong. “I’m kind of overwhelmed because I wasn’t expecting this, but I’m excited about the next steps.”

The Brain Bee included a multiple-choice exam based on “Brain Facts,” a book published by the Society for Neuroscience. It also included a laboratory practical exam following a series of hands-on lab demonstrations to identify anatomical structures and functions in human brain specimens.

Second place went to Stephanie Hsu, a junior at Jericho High School, and third place went to Melody Hong, a sophomore at MacArthur High School in Levittown.

“The competition helps to expose young minds to neuroscience at an early stage in their academic careers,” said the bee’s organizer, Zeinab Nassrallah, an assistant professor at the Zucker School. 

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