LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. — From the classroom to the national stage.

Lakewood Ranch High School senior Addison Shea is heading to Washington, D.C., on Thursday after earning a spot in the nation’s top science competition.

When it comes to finding information, you can find Shea at her computer.

“The Arctic is warming at least twice as fast as other biomes on Earth, according to recent climatology reports,” she said.

She was reading her research paper, part of a project she completed during her AP Research class last year titled “Bowhead Whale Migration Amid Changing Circulation Patterns in the Beaufort Gyre.”

“The Beaufort Gyre is a sea current located in the Arctic," Shea said. "During the 1900s, it was really interesting because it used to switch direction every five to seven years.”

But in the past 21 years, Shea says, that current has not changed direction — leading to changes for the whales.

Photo of Addison Shea from Society of Science website.

“The whales’ migration has changed. The scope of my study cannot derive an exact cause for this change. What could be happening is that perhaps the bowhead whales have begun migrating earlier, or their summer location has shifted,” she said.

This project landed her a spot in the top 40 of the Regeneron Science Talent Search — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.

She applied in the fall and got the news in January.

“I’m just incredibly honored to have gotten this far,” she said.

More women like Shea are going further in STEM. According to the National Science Foundation, from 2011 to 2021, women in the STEM workforce grew by 31%.

Meantime, 54% of applicants for the Regeneron competition this year were women.

The Society for Science says that since 2006, more than half of all entries have been female.

“I think it’s really incredibly important to encourage women to enter STEM fields," Shea said. "I am actually president of my school’s Girl Up club, which is a female empowerment organization here at Lakewood Ranch High School. And it’s really important for young girls to be able to see that there are girls in STEM and that it’s possible.”

According to the organization, whoever wins first place in this competition will receive a $250,000 scholarship.

“That would be life-changing — being able to go to a top-tier university and graduate without student debt,” Shea said.

She’s already been accepted to several schools, including Yale, but hasn’t made a decision yet.

“I intend to double major in environmental science and computer science in college, because I really want to be able to use programming skills to analyze large datasets in the environmental science discipline. My overarching objective is to analyze and help mitigate climate change,” Shea said.

She is ready to share her findings — but also use this competition as a stepping stone for her future.