MIDDLEBURY — This Saturday, Feb. 10, the Ninth Vermont Brain Bee, a neuroscience day of competition and exploration for high school students, is happening at the University of Vermont, Larner College of Medicine. To prepare for the bee, a group of Middlebury Union High School students, mentored by three Middlebury College students have been meeting weekly at 7:20 a.m. on Wednesdays since early October.
Their Neuroscience Club has been able to delve into chapters from the “Brain Facts” neuroscience primer published by the Society for Neuroscience. The primer is used to test students from around the country in other brain bees. A total of nine Vermont high schools will be sending teams to this year’s Brain bee.
One of the Middlebury College studnets, Neuroscience major Chris Diak, has also  been nhelping students at Mt. Abraham Union High School as well.
Joseph Findlay, Owen Palcsik, Isabel Rosenberg and Grace Widelitz will represent MUHS at this year’s bee. Rosenberg and Widelitz are both veterans of the team, while Findlay and Palcsik are making their first effort. Rosenberg, a senior, she placed in the top eight last year and participated in the Final Oral Round, helping to the MUHS team with a win in the team category
“I am excited for the Brain Bee, “ says Rosenberg. “As a group, we have covered interesting material about the brain and how it translates into who we are and how we act.”