At just 18 -years -old, Noelle Nelson has accomplished a variety of noteworthy things, such as performing musical theater, leading her school’s Black Student Union as the president, assisting at an oncology and infusion unit at her local hospital as a bilingual volunteer, and most notably advocating for food allergy awareness which she is personally affected by.
Nelson is one of 15 finalists from across the world in the annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge competition. She submitted an original science video on epigenetics, the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression, and how epigenetics expresses the body’s DNA without changing the nucleotide sequence.
Now Nelson is in the running to receive $400,000 worth of prizes, including a college scholarship and a new science lab for her school.
Related Links:
https://youtu.be/f5klB8e9bbM – Noelles epigenetics video
https://teachtealfoodallergyawareness.weebly.com/ – Noelle’s website
The Breakthrough Junior Challenge is a global science video contest that motivates students to create engaging and illuminative videos demonstrating complex scientific concepts and theories.
“I definitely did not think that this could happen to me. I just love science. I loved the topic of epigenetics and I saw the cool opportunity, but there’s so many people that applied and so many incredible videos that being chosen is just incredible,” Nelson said.
Nelson teaches Teal: Food Allergy Awareness, contributes articles to Just Allergy Things magazine, is an Ambassador for Red Sneakers for Oakley, a non-profit organization, and facilitates a monthly Zoom camp for others affected by food allergies. Teal is the color for food allergy awareness and she created her curriculum during her sophomore year of high school as her Girl Scout Gold Award Project.
When Nelson was nine, she had a friend with type one diabetes and her experiences with her allergies paralleled with her friend’s diabetes symptoms. Nelson recalls becoming very interested in understanding the complex sciences behind diseases and conditions because she wanted to understand her and her friend’s situations.
Nelson learned at school that she was among the top 15 finalists of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge. She had known the finalists would be released that day but was too nervous to check since she also had a few exams during that time.
“I told my mom to look for me and not to tell me even if it was good or bad. She told me anyway.” Nelson said. “I’m so grateful and so thankful to Breakthrough Junior Challenge for allowing me to have the opportunity to showcase epigenetics and to be a finalist.”
In Nelson’s video submission, she explains epigenetics in such a dynamic and captivating way. Her excitement, knowledge and confidence in epigenetics shine through. She credits her spirit to her theater background, which she has been involved in since age 11.
Even with food allergies and advocacy, a lot of what Nelson does is public speaking in classrooms and at different events to put out food allergy awareness, whether with food allergy families or people who don’t have food allergies.
“My own racial identity, but also food allergies, has definitely been a huge aspect of feeling alone a lot in my life. That’s definitely helped me with wanting to teach people about empathy and understanding people’s experiences so that they can make other people feel seen, even if they don’t have food allergies or they don’t share the same racial identity as a person,” Nelson said.
Although she drew all the drawings, did the editing and added the animations in her submission video, her parents helped her film it and her younger sister even featured in the video.
“I definitely think my family supported me whether in endeavors with STEM or with even just food allergies. My younger sister doesn’t have any food allergies, but she’s grown up around it, so she’s always been really supportive. My parents and my whole community, whether it is the food allergy community or my school, have all been so supportive with whatever endeavors that I’m a part of. I’m really grateful for all of that as well.”
If Nelson were to win the scholarship, she said she’d put the money towards her med school undergrad. If she were to win the new lab for her all-girls school, she feels it would be an incredible life-changing opportunity for her fellow students.
“We have a lot of minority students that are interested in STEM, and especially because of my teacher I nominated, more students have been pursuing majors in STEM or careers in STEM,” Nelson said. “Giving an opportunity for my school to have a lab that would allow more minority women- not even just women, to pursue careers in science would definitely be an amazing opportunity.”
The teacher Nelson nominated is Mr. Michael Fane. She shared her gratitude for having him as an educator in science for all of her four years in school. She notes that he has allowed her to ask many questions about her scientific interests and would like to honor him if she won.
Nelson said she sees herself pursuing healthcare as a pediatric allergist in ten years. She loves working with kids with food allergies and is interested in being a part of the research to find a cure for those allergies, combining her love of science, teaching and advocacy.
See hashtags: #NoelleNelson #BreakthroughJuniorChallenge #FoodAllergyAwareness #TeachTeal #Epigenetics #Inspiringnarative #Heartwarming #Informative #AlyssahOHall
