They are the creme de la creme of Texas, says Moy. Last summer, for example, Nobel Prize winners Richard Smalley and Robert Curl of Rice University visited the Welch Scholars and spoke to them. Before they return to their high schools, each Welch Scholar produces a serious research paper. Many Welch graduates go on to attend prestigious universities, usually to study science. Then again, some discover that science is not for them.
Welchers end up in fields as diverse as teaching, medicine, law, or business.
Even so, by exposing students to science and instilling an appreciation of scientific learning, the program does its job well. Christina Wong, now a junior at Cornell majoring in chemistry and classics, was a Welch Scholar in 1994 and a Resident Advisor at the UH site in 1996, as well as at the UT-Austin site in 1997. On all three occasions, Christina found the Site Coordinators, Mamie Moy and her counterparts, to be intense and deeply caring. The Welch program, Christina observes, gives you drive. It builds character.