HHS student realizes the limit does not exist

By Jonathan Ochart, Herald Post InternJune 18, 2010

HEIDELBERG, Germany - A small percentage of students can say they received the highest score on every science-oriented advanced placement test by the end of their sophomore year.

Such a student is Heidelberg High School junior Kevin Burdge, and after coming to school wearing a Darth Vader costume and conducting countless scientific experiments, he has the chance to build upon his diverse interests this summer as he participates in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Research Science Institute.

While Burdge will make up 1.25 percent of students attending the intensive and competitive summer-program in Boston, being one of the 80 students chosen worldwide will result in much more than a simple statistic.

After lectures from renowned scientists and professors, students conduct research projects for six weeks in Boston. Once students complete their examinations, they reveal their findings through written and spoken reports.

Burdge, who will partake in the physics department, plans to study superconducting.

In other words, the aspiring student's summer will consist of discovering how to create a conductor, or a material that transfers electricity that lacks resistance.

"High-temperature superconductors would be huge because right now our electricity is lost to resistance in power lines, and if we figure out a way to implement superconductors, energy usage would probably half," the student said.

Ray Smola, who teaches advanced placement chemistry and physics at HHS, believes Burdge will "do great. He's already done research up at the Max-Planck Institute, which deals with atomic physics. He'll be one-on-one with a professor and maybe work with a small research group."

After years of teaching and completing objective science experiments in class, Smola has subjectively seen Burdge's multifaceted personality.

"He's got a dry sense of humor, and he asks good, deep questions. I don't think he plays practical jokes, but he likes other people to," Smola said.

Similar to germinating seeds in an experiment, Burdge has grown throughout his years at HHS.

"(Burdge) is much more thorough now," Smola said. "He's definitely much better at thinking about other issues, like emotional aspects and more of the whole problem. He was a totally math-science person as a freshman, and now he's trying to do everything."

The student's various interests are evident in his plans for the future.

Career-wise, "I'm undecided right now," Burdge said. "If I go into science, it'll be in physics, but I'm also thinking about going into law and maybe into English."

While his exact career choice has not yet crystallized, Burdge knows which scientists rank as his favorites.

"I love Einstein because of his creativity," Burdge said. "I would say he's one of the most innovative men who's ever lived by coming up with the concept that time can travel at slower and faster speeds depending on how fast something goes and then went to prove it."

"I also love Richard Feynman, he was a professor at California Institute of Technology who did some work on quantum mechanics," Burdge added. "He really worked with people well and has one of the best physics jokes around."

By attending the program, Burdge will have the opportunity to understand Physics even better and maybe make some physics jokes of his own.

After achieving his goal of being accepted to RSI, Burdge will now "set a new one. I have to keep the goals going. I have to keep aspiring."

After all, according to Smola, "It's hard to limit his possibilities."