Robinson, who will be a senior in the fall, made her decision after hearing German’s story during the artist’s visit to her school and reading the essay prompt. She saw a perfect opportunity to express her love for writing, spread her point of view and also gain more recognition in the Pittsburgh community. Robinson thought German was the perfect person to compare to King and really wanted to shed light on Pittsburgh women who are doing inspirational things right at home.
“She works in places where people are too frightened to go, which makes her a brave individual,” Robinson said.
As for the science fair, Robinson has been participating since the sixth grade. This can be evidenced by her Honorary Scientist Award, which recognizes five years of participation in the PRSEF. This year, Robinson’s experiment for the PRSEF, titled CYBER Psychology, was based upon and expanded from Itch Matrix, her eighth grade experiment that studied the theory of social contagion by having participants watch a video of people itching and then studying if they’d itch. CYBER Psychology also studied the theory of social contagion, but instead of video, via Twitter. In 2014, Robinson had done extensive research during an internship at Pitt Nursing School, looking into different platforms to study behavior.
CYBER Psychology serves to provide evidence of the social contagion theory over the Internet. Robinson used her self-created acronym CYBER, which Robinson said stands for Content, User Characteristics, Body Image and Emotional Reaction, to examine this. She examined 1388 tweets, 215 Twitter users, and 36 hashtags. Robinson’s results concluded that social contagion is present and plays a role in a user’s profile content, characteristics, body image and emotional reactions on Twitter.
Also, Robinson has received a number of other awards this year, they include First Place at the PJAS science fair, as well as winning the Third Place award in the PRSEF category of social behavioral science, the 2015 Award for Health Sciences from Duquesne University, a Certificate of Merit for excellence in presentation, and a $12,500 scholarship to Allegheny College.
On her success, Robinson said, “I feel truly blessed to have received so many awards this year and to have such a strong relationship with my mother. There have been so many times that I felt like choosing a different and easier project and picking sleep over working, but she pushed me forward and made sure that I stayed motivated. At the same time, I also feel inspired knowing that I set my mind to my goals and that it has paid off.
“I think my accomplishments break the stereotype because although I am set with lower opportunities, I am still achieving higher standards and breaking the boundaries that are set in my way.”
Robinson is involved in many activities, academic and extracurricular. Outside of school, she is a scholar in the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute program; competes in the Brain Bee, which is a quiz game about neuroscience; and has volunteered with the Market Day program, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, where she read and recorded books, and with the Kelly Strayhorn Theater.
At her former school, Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Academy of St. James Catholic Church, she started her own newspaper source. After graduating, Robinson was accepted into the FAME program and started high school at The Ellis School For Girls. At Ellis, she is vice president of the Student Diversity League and the scheduler for Ellis’ “Culture Jam”—a student led diversity conference where a large number of schools discuss topics related to race and diversity. She is editorial editor for the Ellis online newspaper, The Ellisian Times, and is also a peer tutor.
Robinson highlighted getting accepted in Ellis and FAME as one of her lifetime achievements. She said it has given her several opportunities that include interacting with a variety of cultures and growth on different levels.
As for her future, Robinson said she wants to pursue journalism and pre-med in college. Her favorite course is Literature and she truly believes that a journalism track would be a great way for her to develop writing skills and also integrate her opinions into largescale events. Robinson said she doesn’t see many African American doctors or scientist, so the medical field really stands out to her as well.
Along with volunteering, as well as in her free time, Robinson said, “I usually write, dance, and volunteer. I am also a major source of opinions! Whenever I have the chance I give my opinion and I try to force people to see both sides of every argument. From my beliefs, there’re always two sides to everything.”
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