Germantown students invited to national biochemistry conference; board approves travel

Germantown High School students in the SMART team have been invited to present at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology conference in Washington, D.C., and the school board approved overnight travel for nine students and one advisor.

Michelle Griffin Wenzel, a GHS teacher representing the Germantown Education Association, told the board the ASBMB reduced its invited high-school spots from 20 to 10 and that last year’s Germantown team performed strongly and earned an invitation for this year. "We were 1 of the 10 teams that was invited back," she said. Wenzel said the students have been working with a new researcher at the Medical College and are continuing research on a bacterial strain with a new protein focus this year.

Board members approved the requested travel by voice vote and encouraged the team to return after the trip to present their work to the board and community. Wenzel also said several students who presented previously are now published authors, adding, "You can do a Google Scholar search, and they are actually published authors." The district noted the trip would require students missing one school day; travel logistics and permissions will be finalized by the school.

Next steps include finalizing flight and hotel arrangements, securing parental permissions and preparing a post-trip presentation to the board and community.