18-year-old Redmond High School student, Abel Dagne, is one of 30 semi-finalists from across the globe in the annual Breakthrough Junior Challenge competition.

Founded in 2015, the Breakthrough Junior Challenge is a global science video contest that encourages students to create engaging and imaginative videos that demonstrate difficult scientific concepts and theories in physical and life sciences. This year’s competition has attracted over 2,400 applicants.

Dagne’s 90-second video focuses on the constructive and deconstructive interference with sound waves, which he thought of when wanting to get rid of background noise while driving in the car with his little brother; 2022 marks the third year he is competing in the competition.

Finalists’ videos, which are up on YouTube and Facebook, are up for the Popular Vote Challenge, which will take place until September 20. The public is invited to vote for their favorite semi-finalist, and the video with the highest number of combined likes, positive reactions (such as ‘love,’ ‘haha,’ and ‘wow’), as well as shares of the videos on Facebook and YouTube, will be declared top scorer in the 2022 Popular Vote.

On September 21, the top scorer in the Popular Vote regional categories and the 15 finalists will be revealed. The top scorer in the overall Popular Vote will receive an automatic entry into the finalist round.

The winner of the Breakthrough Junior Challenge will be awarded $250,000 in a college scholarship. The science teacher who inspired the winning student will win a $50,000 prize, and the winner’s school will receive a state-of-the-art science lab valued at $100,000.

This year’s semi-finalists created videos on topics ranging from quantum entanglement, time travel, adaptive immunity, and T-Cell therapies, among others. The semi-finalists come from countries including the USA, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, India, Iraq, New Zealand, the Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.