Petal teen is working at USM through Project SEED
Sixteen year-old Simon Beveridge isn't washing dishes or mowing yards to make money this summer.
The Project SEED grant promotes the study of chemistry at the college level by giving high school juniors and seniors the unique opportunity to work alongside professionals for eight weeks in academic, industrial and federal research settings.
"It's a great job," Beveridge said. "I've really learned a lot by using new kinds of equipment and learning new techniques. It's one of the best summers I've ever had."
Beveridge is engaged in a laboratory project at Southern Miss that focuses on new ways to prepare better amino acids, the building blocks of life, by creating a synthetic version that could have new and interesting properties. He likens his work to preparing a meal in his kitchen. "It's basically an advanced form of cooking, which I enjoy."
He is the only high school student in the state awarded the SEED grant, coming highly recommended based on his sterling academic record. He ranks near the top of his polymer science class at Petal, made a perfect score on the Mississippi Subject Area Test in biology and scored high on the Subject Area Test in algebra.
Beveridge also had a combined score of 1390 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test at age 12.
Masterson said that performance has carried over into his summer job in the lab. "To take a high school student and put him in a university setting like this is a challenge, but he's up to the challenge."
As much as he's learning about new technology and the inner workings of a university research laboratory, he's also seeing how much teamwork makes any research project a success. "I'm just making one part of the entire process," Beveridge said. "Everyone is depending on each other to do their part and do it right."
Students who successfully complete the SEED program are eligible to apply for a college scholarship funded by ACS, which Beveridge intends to pursue. He is strongly considering attending USM to study chemistry, polymer science, or both.
Whatever he decides to major in, working in Masterson's lab has put his future more into focus. "Before this, I wasn't sure about what I wanted to do, but this has inspired me to pursue a career in science," he said.
Beveridge is the son of Hattiesburg American online editor Lici Beveridge.