Student projects shine at Science Fair

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Once a year, the Johnston High School’s cafeteria serves as the backdrop for the next generation of science projects.

Last Thursday, a total of 143 students – from freshmen to seniors – entered the school’s annual Science Fair with hopes of advancing to the State Science Fair, to be held March 16-17 at the Community College of Rhode Island’s Knight Campus in Warwick.

Keeping with tradition, the students shined in all areas. Six Panthers were awarded the coveted Blue Ribbon for their first-place finishes.

But as Greg Russo, the event’s chairman, said during the judging, “It’s really difficult to select a winner; all of these projects are well done.”

“The Science Fair gives students the opportunity to put the scientific method to work in a hands-on fashion,” he added. “Students are given the assignment in October and have regular opportunities to confer with their science teachers on the progress of their projects throughout the quarter, with the final presentations due in January.”

The project involves students choosing an experiment topic, conducting the appropriate research, collecting and analyzing data and making a final conclusion. Their findings are then incorporated into a research paper and displayed on a project board.

“The Science Fair is a requirement for all college preparatory freshmen and sophomores as well as upperclassmen in an honors or AP-level science course,” Russo said.

Each project is judged by three individuals, including teachers, administrators and community members. Six projects are chosen for first-place honors, and there are also awards for second and third place as well as honorable mention.

Judges had a difficult time selecting this year’s winners. They were impressed with the students’ work and the quality of the various displays.

Sophomore Lala Olagundaye’s project, titled “The Colors We See,” featured art including a human eye and a variety of information that the track and field standout collected during her research.

Junior DeSirae Smith chose the topic of her project – titled “Sucrose, Glucose, Fructose … Oh My!” – because her grandmother Yvonne has diabetes and she wanted to learn all she could about each topic.

Junior David Iannuccilli, a catcher for the Johnston High School baseball team, dove into the world of sports for his project, which was appropriately named “Slugging it Out.” His project was a comparison of aluminum bats versus wooden bats, both of which the backstop swings during the high school varsity and summer seasons.

Senior Grace Muller, a proud member of Panthers for a Cure – a group working to raise $50,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Rhode Island – chose “Playground Science” for her final science project at Johnston High.

In the end, Ivan Fernandez, Robin Fidel, David Iannuccilli, Nicholas Petrillo, Megan Philbrick and Madisyn Turcotte earned first-place honors.

Second Place honors went to Kayla Aquilante, Joyce Armstrong, Jenni Aubin, Janet Clements, Nicholas Cronan and Julianna Ferruccio. The third-place winners were Joshua Brien, Elizabeth Cruz, Emily Iannuccilli, Alison Kane, Audry Mahony and Kasem Sasa.

Honorable mentions went to Kaylee Lameiro, Grace Muller, Lala Olagundaye, Angelina Parrillo, Joseph Rotella and Joseph Thomas.

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