Although Eyzlei Andreson is only in the fourth grade in the Newton Falls School District, she has been a busy student, involving herself in several extracurricular activities, including entering the America’s Favorite Student competition hosted by Bill Nye the Science Guy.
“I saw it online and brought it to her attention and told her it would be a cool thing to enter for fun just because of how well she is doing in school with her participation in the Beta Club. It just took off,” Eyzlei’s mother Cora told The Weekly Villager on April 18.
Sponsored by Colossal, Eyzlei is participating in a national competition that is open for any student to enter. She is currently in the fourth round of voting, as she is one of five students in her respective group. She has advanced through the first three rounds in the online voting. Should she advance to the next round, she would move on to the national voting portion of the competition.
The winning student selected by the popular vote will travel to Pasadena, CA to take a tour of The Planetary Society with Bill Nye the Science Guy, have a feature story about them published in Reader’s Digest, and receive a $20,000 prize that will be added to her college fund.
Eyzlei said that she is considering going to Art School when she graduates from Newton Falls High School.
She added that she is excited about having the chance to travel to California to tour The Planetary Society and meet Bill Nye the Science Guy, as science is one of her favorite subjects.
“I love that you get to do really cool things like volcanoes,” she said. “Another one is seeing what makes bread mold the most.”
Eyzlei’s scientific interests have extended beyond the classroom, recently participating in an afterschool science program where she worked on several science projects with her club.
To spread awareness of Eyzlei’s participation in the competition, Cora has passed out fliers around the community, has managed Eyzlei’s social media profile and has received help from Eyzlei’s three older siblings, who have promoted Eyzlei in their respective social media accounts to raise support for their youngest sibling.
Eyzlei has also been answering weekly questions and making posts on the website about continuing her educational journey.
Cora said that the competition has sent text messages with questions and has posted videos that have asked her questions.
Eyzlei acknowledged that several of these questions have made her think, such as the one about if she could choose a superpower, what would it be?
She said that her answer was the power of teleportation.
“I could get to places really fast and if I need to save someone or do something, I can just be there in a snap,” she noted.
In addition to having an interest in science, Eyzlei has also demonstrated an artistic flare, as she recently came in second place in the Digital Art Category for the Ohio State Beta Club Convention for submitting a drawing of an angel-like character that she created on her iPad through iArtbook.
Having artistic ability is something that she shares with her siblings and mother, who is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in graphic design and photography through online courses at Full Sail University.
“I would say that I have always encouraged all of my kids to pursue their passions and I have beee lucky enough that they have had an interest in some sort of art,” Cora added. “Eyzlei started off drawing little things, coloring and she got into making characters on her phone and her tablet; it has expanded. She has gotten into painting with watercolor paints so while we both share that love for art, she has branched off in her own creative way.”
Eyzlei has also been an exemplary student at Newton Falls Elementary School, as she has been on the high honor roll in the school district in almost each quarter, has been selected as the Leader of the Month twice and was recently inducted into the Newton Falls Elementary Beta Club last fall.
“In Beta club we have picked up trash, we have also gone to nursing homes and played games with the people there,” she said. “When I was leader of the month, we went to breakfast and had fun We had breakfast at the high school.”
Some of Eyzlei’s other accomplishments have included scoring the highest score on the Ohio State Reading exam when she was in the third grade, participating in gifted classes for reading and is currently doing math at a sixth-grade level.
