INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Evan MacKay grew concerned when the elm tree given to him by his sixth grade science teacher that he planted in his family’s backyard and nurtured for several years began attracting weevils.
He researched online, tried various pesticides and other chemicals and spoke to a family friend who is an entomologist about how to rid his beloved tree from the destructive beetles.
Evan’s passion for the tree he nurtured from one-foot high to 16-feet tall made him delve deeper and deeper into the problem.
What sprouted from there was a science fair project that piqued judges’ interest so greatly that it went all the way from regional to state to international competition.
Evan scored second place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May in Phoenix, Ariz., where roughly 1,000 of the best projects worldwide competed.
“I try to pursue things I love,” said Evan, 16, a junior at Vero Beach High School. That includes swimming, tennis, student government, spelling and geography bees, the math team and playing the viola on the school orchestra.
“I am definitely competitive,” he says with a grin. “I’m always looking for the next competition and program or thing that I should be doing.”
His parents provide plenty of motivation.
His father, Greg, is a respected gastrointestinal doctor in town. His mother, Debbie, is a retired school teacher who is an active PTA member and an active student herself.
“Mom said if there’s someone who is amazing at something, you should be with them, learn from people who are passionate about what they do,” Evan says.
Evan is doing just that. His summer is busy with a paid internship at the Agricultural Research Service working for Steve Lapointe, an entomologist and researcher at the Horticultural Research Laboratory in Ft. Pierce.
Meanwhile, he’s attending a three-week course on Mandarin Chinese offered by the U.S. State Department. He’s also finding time to do volunteer work for the Environmental Learning Center and Vero Beach Museum of Art.
Unlike others in his peer group, Evan is not whittling time away in front of the television.
“It’s easy eye candy,” he says of TV. “I have fun in other ways. As long as you are with people, anything can be productive and fun. Not on a couch with the TV on; all that time adds up.”
Lapointe has mentored Evan through the last two years on the weevil problem and values the teen’s help.
“I run out of superlatives when I talk about Evan,” he says. “He is a phenomenal young man, very bright, driven to succeed. He is good at everything he works on, picks up things quickly. He loves taking exams, excels at school, a member of every club at Vero Beach High School. He can do anything he wants; he can go in every direction.”
Evan considers that wild card thoughtfully.
“I don’t know what kind of career I want to go into. I like all of my subjects. They all have different parts that appeal to me.”
That said, his affinity for science is apparent. He’d like to continue scientific research, and a chance to work in the Stanford University laboratory someday.
When his grandmother was concerned about bacteria accumulating on the kitchen sponge, he went to work – researching, developing a hypothesis, experimenting and drawing conclusions.
He determined that after microwaving a sponge for one minute, 99.99999 percent of the bacteria on it would be killed.
“My grandparents were an inspiration for my eighth-grade science project. I didn’t want them to be worried about their sponge, I didn’t want them to be sick or worried about being sick.”
Therein lies Evan’s motivation when it comes to problem-solving.
“Somewhere in the middle of the day, I will see a problem and will wonder how I can fix it.”
From there, he’ll consider the project and idea and how to test it. Then the all-too-critical component – a mentor – must be sought out.
He is also not shy and finds that when asked, people really want to help others. With that in mind, he asks for help.
“You have to get in the car, pick up the phone, take the first step and they will help you.”
He is humble about his accomplishments and quick to spotlight those who play a role in them: parents, siblings, teachers, mentors and others.
“What I’ve done is a representation of the entire community. I’ve had so much help with my scientific research, it is nothing I could’ve done by myself.”
Also, key to his success, he says, is choosing topics that resonate with him, that he really cares about.
“If you don’t have a personal connection to it, or a judge asks you where you got the idea and you have to say ‘online,’ then you’re not doing anything new. You’ve just proven what’s already been shown; you aren’t really contributing to the scientific world.”
Evan’s still plugging away at answers to that weevil-on-tree problem. After trying a half dozen chemicals and pesticides, he resorted to a practical approach – picking each one off of the bark, one weevil at a time, to the tune of 150 of them.
He will continue his research on the topic, testing different plant compounds and compounds created by the weevil itself.
Doing a project that still has unanswered questions is what it takes to advance from a regional science fair to a state and international fair, he says.
He enjoys the caliber of other students who compete, and the opportunity to meet people from other countries.
Arizona State awarded him a scholarship, and the China Association of Science and Technology awarded him $3,000, which he put directly into the bank.
While Evan is undecided on his top choice college and eventual career path, he is intensely interested in scientific research, possibly in medicine.
In this day and age, he is stunned by the lack of answers to curing certain diseases.
“When we are so advanced as a culture, I can’t see why you can’t pop a pill that will cure your disease without any side effects. For lots of diseases there are multiple medications, and the hope is that one of them works. I don’t know why that is. I think if we are such an advanced culture, why can’t we do that?”
Even an asteroid was named after this boy wonder. He was among the first- and second-place winners at the international science fair who were given the honor, and he is very pleased that this asteroid is close to the earth.
“So someday my asteroid could come crashing into earth and the headlines would say, ‘Evan MacKay crashes into Earth!'” he said with a chuckle.