Four Suffolk students advance to Virginia You Be The Chemist Challenge®

SUFFOLK, VA, March 27, 2015 – BASF hosted The Hampton Roads You Be The Chemist Challenge® (YBTC) on Saturday, March 21 at the company’s Suffolk site. Nineteen area elementary students competed in the challenge with the top four advancing to the Virginia State Challenge to be held on Saturday, April  25. Qualifiers from that competition go on to the National Challenge this summer in Philadelphia.

Participants competed in a Jeopardy-like question and answer format that tested the students‘ knowledge of chemistry concepts and the relationships among these concepts. The top four placing students were: Ariyahna Cheeks, first place; Jamauri Demiel, second place; Conner Kauwell, third place and Jaylen Daughtrey, fourth place.

“We congratulate the top-placing students as well as all of the participants in the challenge,” said Patrick Hochstrasser, Ph.D., Suffolk Site Director for BASF. “We hope this experience has encouraged them to pursue studies and careers in science.”

BASF is a national sponsor of the YTBC a science education program created by the Chemical Education Foundation® (CEF),  that uses the excitement of competition to get students in grades 5 to 8 involved in science, technology, engineering and math, with a focus on chemistry.

Download photo on right, suggested caption: The top four placing Suffolk elementary school students at the The Hampton Roads You Be The Chemist Challenge® on Saturday, March 21 at the BASF Suffolk site will advance to the Virginia State Challenge on Saturday, April  25, also at the BASF Suffolk location. From left to right are:

Ariyahna Cheeks- 1st Place (left) - Mack Benn Jr. Elementary
Jamauri Demiel-  2nd Place (middle) - Booker T. Washington Elementary
Conner Kauwell - 3rd Place (right) - Mack Benn Jr. Elementary
Jaylen Daughtrey - 4th place (not pictured) - Booker T. Washington Elementary

About BASF

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 17,000 employees in North America, and had sales of $20.6 billion in 2014. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, visit www.basf.us.

At BASF, we create chemistry – and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of over €74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 employees as of the end of the year. Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

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