Whiz Kid: Roeper Teen Mixes Baseball and Physics for Top Science Fair Prize

Each week, Patch spotlights young people in the Birmingham community who are successful, talented and just plain awesome. Today we introduce the latest Whiz Kid:

Michael Deneroff

• Age: 14
• School:
• Achievement: Deneroff was the first-place winner at the Science and Engineering Fair of Metropolitan Detroit with a project combining sports and physics. The young researcher from Bloomfield Hills examined how baseballs curve differently if pitchers have something on their hands, such as saliva, pine tar or Vaseline. He received the physics category top award during the four-day March event at Cobo Center in Detroit, which drew nearly 1,000 students from 73 middle schools in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties. Michael now is among semi-finalists with a chance to enter a national middle school science competition.
• Key to Awesomeness: An interest sparked by science teacher Wendy Mayer has become "a passion for physics," says Randall Dunn, head of school. "We are extremely proud of his efforts and are thrilled he has received recognition for his hard work and dedication." Also in March, Michael was on a Roeper team participating in a Model UN Conference at Hope College in Holland, MI.  Michael represented Brazil during a mock  Security Council discuission of the Kashmir region dispute between India  and Pakistan.

Do you know a special kid in the community who deserves applause because he volunteers after school? Or, maybe your daughter's science club challenges how we think about the environment? Or, perhaps your son's team won its first game in three years. Everyone deserves a little attention, and we want to tell these stories.

Email nominations to Editor Laura Houser at laura.houser@patch.com, provide the information given above and include a photo with names and ages. Then, come back every Tuesday for our Whiz Kid spotlight; you never know who's up next.