This article was written by Alex Becker, class of 2019.
Hours of hard work, research and stress paid off for 15 high school students and ten junior high students (see names below) last Friday, Jan. 11. Science fair coordinator and biology teacher Mrs. Leya Joykutty, along with the judging panel, released the school-wide winners of this year’s science fair winners.
All projects moving on to the district competition were carefully chosen by teachers and a panel of doctors, engineers and science researchers. “Teachers pick their best projects and enter them in to the fair. The most competitive projects are selected by committee to be interviewed by judges, and students are invited to present their projects to outside judges. Judge scores are normalized across the board and the top scoring projects are picked to move on,” Joykutty said.
With hundreds of projects to judge and only so many sets of eyes to see them, the projects can start to blend together. However, Joykutty knows what separates a winning project from the rest. “Good projects address questions that are innovative, applicable and interesting. They deal with scientific issues that are in the forefront of scientific research in the last three years. The experimental design must be elegant and results logical, irrefutable and replicable. The student has to be an enthusiastic expert on all aspects of their project,” she said.
With the county fair quickly approaching, students moving on must make sure both their boards and paperwork are up to date and correct, and practice for their presentations. The county fair will be held Feb. 8 at Broward College South Campus.
Winners:
Alejandra Abramson
Niles Alexis
Carla Del Rio
Sharon Fernandez
Ella Gohari
Seraphina Hsiao
Diya Jayram
Gabriel Majaoros
Angelin Mathew
Emilin Mathew
Saumya Narang
Emily Pallack
Rajat Ramesh
Maria Suberviola
Albert Ting
Allen Ting
Ashni Zaverchand
