The McLean Area Branch of AAUW (American Association of University Women) recognized five winners of its 2026 STEM Essay Contest at the Branch annual potluck dinner held at the McLean Community Center on March 24. 2026.  The contest was open to 7th and 8th grade students (girls and boys) at six local public and private schools. The students were asked to discover and publicize women including women of color who made a difference in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields, but who received little or no recognition for their contributions while they were alive. Strong preference was given to essays about women who are not well known even today. Each essay described one woman’s contribution and its impact, as well as why the student selected the woman.

The winners of the contest are:

* 1st Place: Aleksandra Bidenko, Longfellow Middle School (8th Grade)

* Honorable Mention: Ridheema Dusange, Luther Jackson Middle School (8th Grade)

* Honorable Mention: Mario Fernandez Granda, Longfellow Middle School (8th Grade)

* Honorable Mention: Zafyr Rahman, Longfellow Middle School (8th Grade)

* Honorable Mention: Bowen Wu, Longfellow Middle School (7th Grade)

As part of the awards ceremony, the 1st place winner, Aleksandra Bidenko, read her essay on Valentina Prokof'eva, a Russian astronomer who did innovative research leading to the discovery of double and multiple asteroids. Other women who were the subjects of the winning essays were Bibha Chowdhuri, Jane Hinton, Janaki Ammal, and Huang-Wu Lu.

Eleven volunteers from the branch served as judges: Pam Bacher, Lynn Gutter, Christina Hamilton, Myrtle Hendricks-Corrales, Sherry Joslin, Sue Kaleish, Mafalda Marrocco, Judy Page, Ruth Nowjack-Raymer, Diana Parsell, and Adarsh Trehan. The essay contest was managed by a steering committee, consisting of Myrtle Hendricks-Corrales and Ruth Nowjack-Raymer together with Judy Page, STEM Chair.

For more information on the McLean Area Branch, visit the branch website at http://mclean-va.aauw.net.