Academic Competitions and Tests
The following are the academic tests and competitions in which John Jay High School currently participates:
ENGLISH
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
Young artists and writers are free to explore any and all topics. There are no pre-defined prompts and no work is ever disqualified from the Scholastic Awards because of the nature of its content.
Judging Criteria:
- Originality - Work that breaks from convention, blurs the boundaries between genres, and challenges notions of how a particular concept or emotion can be expressed.
- Technical Skill - Work that uses technique to advance an original perspective or a personal vision or voice, and show skills being utilized to create something unique, powerful, and innovative.
- Emergence of a Personal Vision or Voice - Work with an authentic and unique point of view and style.
Students enrolled in grades 7–12 are eligible to participate in the Scholastic Awards.
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards partner with sponsors to offer creative challenges and special award and scholarship opportunities for students.
Learn more about The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards:
TECHNOLOGY
FIRST FTC Competition
Combining the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology.
Under strict rules and limited resources, teams of students are challenged to raise funds, design a team "brand," hone teamwork skills, and build and program an 18"x18"x18" robot to play a difficult field game against like-minded competitors. It’s as close to real-world engineering as a student can get. Volunteer professional mentors lend their time and talents to guide each team. Each season ends with an exciting US First Championship.
A big advantage to participating in FIRST is gaining access to millions in college scholarships made available by colleges, universities, and corporations who support FIRST.
https://www.firstinspires.org/scholarships
GENIUS Olympiad is an international high school project competition about environmental issues. It is founded and organized by the Terra Science and Education and hosted by the State University of New York at Oswego. GENIUS Olympiad will host projects in five general disciplines with an environmental focus.
The GENIUS Olympiad is open to all international and U.S. students studying in grades eight through twelve.
MATHEMATICS
The American Mathematics Competition
The American Mathematics Competitions are a series of examinations and curriculum materials that build problem-solving skills and mathematical knowledge in middle and high school students.
In the beginning of February each year, the high school offers the:
- American Mathematics Competition 10 – for students in 9th and 10th grade
- American Mathematics Competition 12 – for students in 11th and 12th grade
Students must register with their teacher to participate.
Learn more about the competitions and resources here:
WORLD LANGUAGE
The National French Contest/Le Grand Concours
The National French Contest/Le Grand Concours is an annual competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French. Students in grades 7-12 participate in the Secondary Contest. Students enter via their French teacher. All students are eligible.
There are two categories of awards: Chapter and National. Chapters offer prizes to those students who are among the top percentiles at the Chapter level for each level and division. National prizes are subsidized out of the fees paid by each entrant. National Prizes include Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze medals and Honorable Mention certificates.
http://www.frenchteachers.org/concours/index.html
The National Latin Exam
The National Latin Exam, sponsored by the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League, is a 40-question, multiple-choice test with a time limit of 45 minutes, offered to students on seven levels. On the Introduction to Latin, Latin I, Latin II, Latin III, Latin III/IV Prose, and Latin III/IV Poetry exams, there are questions on grammar, comprehension, mythology, derivatives, literature, Roman life, history, geography, oral Latin, and Latin in use in the modern world. The Latin V-VI exam contains two Latin passages as the basis for questions on grammar, comprehension, historical background, classical literature, and literary devices.
The philosophy of the National Latin Exam is predicated on providing every Latin student the opportunity to experience a sense of personal accomplishment and success in his or her study of the Latin language and culture. This opportunity exists for all students since, in the National Latin Exam, they are not competing with their fellow students on a comparative basis, but are evaluated solely on their own performance on the exam. The basic purposes of the NLE are to promote the study of Latin and to encourage the individual student.
SCIENCE
Regeneron STS - for seniors
Students perform independent science research at school, at a research institution, in the field, or at home. Frequently this research spans a year or more. They write a research report that would model a journal article explaining their experiments and conclusions.
All Regeneron STS entrants receive a digital badge in recognition of their completion of the application. Entrants may also be awarded a Research Report and/or Student Initiative badge for their well-written college-level research report and/or their extraordinary effort and accomplishment relative to the resources available to them. These are awarded via the same process used to select entries for the awards listed below.
Three hundred scholars are awarded $2,000; with an additional $2,000 going to their high schools to support STEM education. All 40 finalists win an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC for the Regeneron Science Talent Institute where they explain their research to some of the country’s top scientists and compete for the top 10 awards. The top award is $250,000.
Learn more about Regeneron STS here:
https://student.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts
Google Science Fair
Google Science fair is an online science competition, open to students between the ages of 13 and 18 from around the world. Google Science Fair partners with LEGO Education, National Geographic, Scientific American and Virgin Galactic to offer some unbelievable awards.
The projects that have attempted to solve engineering challenges will be eligible to win the Virgin Galactic Pioneer Award or the LEGO® Education Builder Award.
The projects that offer a new way to look at the world, asking questions and answering them with experimentation will be eligible to win the National Geographic Explorer Award or Scientific American Innovator Award.
The 16 global finalists, along with a parent or guardian, will travel to Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA to present their project to the judges and compete for the awards listed above.
https://www.googlesciencefair.com/en/competition
ISWEEP
Every ISWEEEP competitor has accepted the challenge to find and utilize Earth’s renewable resources. Their projects capture the focus and determination of realizing that dream. The International Sustainable World (Engineering Energy Environment) Project Olympiad draws hundreds of the brightest STEM-focused students in the world together each year to compete in a fun and collaborative environment.
Students across the globe accept the challenge of solving the world’s most pressing needs. ISWEEP and their corporate sponsors present more than $100,000 in awards and scholarships to student scientists from approximately 60 countries, including the United States, who compete with projects exploring topics such as renewable energy, sustainable development and medical breakthroughs.
The competition is open to all high school students up to age 21, grades ninth through the first semester of college.
- Contestants qualify through one of ISWEEEP’s affiliated science fairs, or after a proposal is chosen by the ISWEEEP Scientific Review Committee.
- A student, or group of students, may not enter more than one project each year.
- The project must be conducted within 12 months of the competition.
- The same project may not be re-entered unless it is a continuation to the project or changes have been made to it.