Name: Marvin Kawabata
Age: 18
School: St. Louis
Pastimes: Diving, kendo
Future: Computer or electrical engineer

"When everything is riding on one moment, there were times when I screwed up, but you learn from screwing up," he said.

Kawabata, son of Kiyoko and Makoto Kawabata of Liliha, will attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall.

Besides being the National Honor Society president and editor of St. Louis' newspaper, the Collegian, Kawabata was part of a team that built a kayak using a donated $14,000 computer program and other equipment.

The kayak won first prize in two categories at the recent 47th International Science and Engineering Fair in Tucson, Ariz.

Kawabata and his teammates won an expense-paid trip to Helsinki, Finland, representing the United States at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. They also won a $6,000 team project award and a $2,500 interdisciplinary award.

Most of the money will go toward obtaining a patent for the design, Kawabata said.

Tom O'Connor, Marvin's adviser and physics teacher, said Marvin and the other team members could do the project again on their own.

"He's got a maturity to him where he can think and do things without you guiding him every step of the way," O'Connor said.