Annie Wright Freshman is Winner in National STEM Contest

Aurora Hake, an Annie Wright Upper School freshman, is one of ten winners in a nation-wide contest, THOR: THE DARK WORLD ULTIMATE MENTOR ADVENTURE, Disney announced today. The contest, sponsored by Marvel Entertainment, National Academy of Science, Discovery Science Center, Dolby Laboratories, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and El Capital Theatre, is aimed to empower girls in Grades 9-12 to explore the world of STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

On Friday, November 8, 2013, Aurora and nine other winners will be recognized at the Premier Screening of their Ultimate Mentor documentary short. This video short will be shown at the historic El Capitan Theatre prior to a screening of Marvel's THOR: THE DARK WORLD on the film’s opening day. The winners will also spend the week prior to the screening in California, interviewing influential professional women in the STEM fields and participating in experiments and interactive activities. Actress Natalie Portman, who plays astrophysicist Jane Foster in the movie and who also has a passion for STEM, is a spokeswoman for the contest.

The rigorous application process for this program included Aurora interviewing University of Washington particle physics professor Dr. Anna Goussiou and then filming herself speaking for five minutes. “It was a big experience for me to speak with particle physics professor Dr. Goussiou. It was extremely fascinating,” shared Aurora Hake of Lakewood, Wash. “I've been given the opportunity to speak with such amazing people and to push myself so far out of my comfort zone. Now I look forward to meeting the other girls who won. It'll be really cool for me to see what we have in common, and to learn how we all came to love the STEM fields.”

Aurora is the youngest of the ten finalists and is the only one from the Northwest. To see Aurora and her fellow winners, please visit: http://dep.disney.go.com/ultimatementoradventure/videos.php.