Students presented original science projects spanning a wide range of ideas at Alice B. Landrum Middle School's annual science fair Nov. 17. Categories included behavioral science, life science, chemistry and physics. 20 projects were awarded honors.
Seventh grader Katie Shapiro earned top honors in the behavioral science category with her "Impact of a Low, No-Added Sugar Diet on a Fitness Level" study. Eighth grader Benjamin Graham's "What Makes a Secure Password?" project finished in second place. Caroline Maxwell won third prize for her "Reaction to Motion with Color in Peripheral Vision" project. Maggie Benfield, Matthew Sides and Bella Brinson all received honorable mention awards.
In the life sciences category, seventh grade student Sai Prakash took first place with her study entitled “Neem vs. Chemical Pesticides.” She was testing an organic versus a synthetic approach to farming, and she plans to further experiment in the next stage of their journey to regionals. Alexis Magnano finished in second with "Hotter, Wetter and More Acidic: How Could Climate Change Impact Planaria Regeneration?" Finally, Victoria Wolker-Kraljic's "A Spectrum of Light: How Does Light Color Affect Plant Growth?" project received the third-place prize. Lauren Minx-Tomlinson, Andrew Hamm and Audrey Hackett were each awarded honorable mentions.
Eighth graders Aya Afsh and Rhoda Tawk won the first-place prize in the chemistry category for their "Which Tea Has More Fluoride: Expensive Cheap?” project. Theodore Maddox won second place for his study entitled "How Does a Different Form of Sucrose Effect the Length of a Carbon Tower?" Caroline Gentile also won second place with her "Got Gas?" project.
The physics category saw the most projects and two first place winners. Alison Rhoads won first for her “The Effect of Angle on Inclination on Solar Power Output” study, and Broc Obner clinched first place with "Cloud Chamber: See the Unseen" project. Gabriel Rigdon and her study entitled "Why is the Ice Melting Faster than Normal?" won second place, along with Noam Ben Simon's “The Rieman Hypothesis.” Landon McIntosh's "Image Generation through Machine Learning" and Carissa Talbert's "A Magnetic Cure for Leukemia" won third place, while Matthew Hendrickson and Matthew Anderson received honorable mention awards.
Category winners and other selected high-scoring projects will advance to the Regional Science Fair Feb. 6, 2018 at First Coast Technical College in St. Augustine. The winners will earn a chance to compete at the 63rd State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida March 27-29, 2018 at the Lakeland Center.
