Montgomery Blair High School took home some hardware in the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium May 2-6.

Blair student Jessica Lu was the only student from the mid-Atlantic region to place in the competition. She took third for her research titled, “Determination of Binding Energy Hotspots on a Broadly Neutralizing Antibody against HIV-1."

“The students I've met are so talented, smart, and funny and are truly the cream of the crop of the next generation of science/engineering leaders," Lu said. "JSHS is a wonderfully supportive and tight-knit community to be a part of, and I'm so happy to have had to opportunity to join it.”

The category in which Lu competed, Life Sciences, is one of the most competitive ones, with more than three times as many entrants as some of the other categories.

For her effort, Lu received a $4,000 college scholarship for her third place national win in addition to the $1,500 scholarship that she was awarded for placing second at the JSHS of Greater Washington, D.C. regional competition in January.