By Anna Guido
Enquirer contributor

INDIAN HILL - Jason Juang says he is lucky to have qualified twice for the National Chemistry Olympiad Study Camp in Colorado Springs, Colo.

But those who know the recent graduate of Cincinnati Country Day School say Juang's achievements the past two years involve much more than luck.

"Jason has an insight into chemistry that really cannot be taught," said his chemistry teacher, Paula Butler.

"When given a chemistry problem or some type of puzzle or something to figure out, he has that extra intuition that will maybe lead to a creative solution that other people would find very hard to discover."

Juang, 18, of Blue Ash is at the camp competing to be one of four students who will represent the United States at the 36th international competition July 18-27 in Kiel, Germany.

About 10,000 students nationally compete in local level competitions, administered by the American Chemical Society. Of those, 1,000 qualify to take a five-hour exam, from which 20 finalists are chosen to attend the study camp at the Air Force Academy.

On Saturday, following two weeks of lectures, labs and three more tests - the list will be narrowed to four winners whose expenses are paid for by the American Chemical Society.

Top U.S. chemistry teachers and professors and Air Force Academy personnel run the camp.

"The general mentality here is cooperation," Juang said. "We all help each other out.''

Juang, who will attend Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge this fall, said he knew little about chemistry until ninth grade. Beyond general instruction at school, preparing for the competition didn't consume "huge amounts of time."

However, he said, auditing an organic chemistry class at the University of Cincinnati last summer and working in a chemistry lab there gave him an edge.

Only three Greater Cincinnati students have qualified for the national study camp since the United States joined the competition in 1983, according to local coordinator, John P. Williams, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Miami University.

"It's a remarkable achievement," Williams said. "The students who come to the top are just gifted in this particular area."

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