LI students compete in science and engineering fair

Twenty-three students with top projects at the Long Island Science & Engineering Fair are advancing to compete at the international level.

First-place winners in various categories, ranging from animal sciences to translational medical science, qualified for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, scheduled May 12-17 in Phoenix.

That competition, which is administered by the Society for Science & the Public, brings together about 1,800 students from more than 75 countries to vie for a total of roughly $4 million in prizes. 

Long Island students selected to advance and their high schools are: Sean Pak, Commack; Danielle Kelly, Friends Academy; Ian Bailey, Garden City; Jared Bank and Matthew Weltmann, Half Hollow Hills East; Poojan Pandya, Half Hollow Hills West; Suchir Misra, Arianna Pahlavan, Shruthi Shekar, Madhav Subramanian and Caroline Yu, Jericho; Kaylie Hausknecht, Lynbrook; Samantha Chen and Serena Zhao, Manhasset; Jessica Goldstein and Audrey Shine, Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy; Jeffrey Yu, Roslyn; Ryan Siegel, Paul D. Schreiber; Anthony D'Amore and Matthew Mullahy, Smithtown East; Yuktha Chiguripati, W. Tresper Clarke; and Kelsey Ge and Leo Takemaru, Ward Melville.

The Long Island fair's first round, held in February, featured projects from more than 400 individuals and teams, from 81 schools. At least 25 percent of projects in each category were selected for the second round in March. Both rounds were held at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury.

LONG BEACH

Odyssey of the Mind

A six-student team from Long Beach Elementary School is the only local group advancing to Odyssey of the Mind's 2019 World Finals in Michigan on May 22-25. Odyssey of the Mind is a creative problem-solving program for students in kindergarten through college.

The team of Aaron Blau, Tabitha Freeny, Catherine Maguire, Geddy Moss, Jordi Perez and Aaliyah Trichter placed second in the "Hide in Plain Sight" division, which challenged them to create a mechanical creature that could change its appearance three times. 

To reach the national level, Long Beach's team first competed in the regional level, held at Caroline G. Atkinson Intermediate School in Freeport. The team then was among six Long Island teams to reach the state level last month in Binghamton.

COUNTYWIDE

Best music communities

Twenty-nine Nassau County school districts are among 623 nationwide named this year's Best Communities for Music Education by the NAMM Foundation. The designation recognizes efforts demonstrating an "exceptionally high commitment and access to music education," the organization said.

School districts receiving the recognition are Baldwin, Bellmore, East Meadow, East Rockaway, East Williston, Farmingdale, Freeport, Garden City, Great Neck, Herricks, Hicksville, Island Trees, Jericho, Lawrence, Levittown, Locust Valley, Long Beach, Lynbrook, Malverne, Manhasset, Massapequa, Merrick, Mineola, North Shore, Plainview-Old Bethpage, Port Washington, Rockville Centre, Syosset and Valley Stream Central.

ISLANDWIDE

Emerging Leaders

Twenty-seven students were first-place winners in the Huntington Chamber of Commerce's 16th annual Emerging Leaders Business Competition, which challenged them to deliver business presentations in categories such as entertainment marketing and travel and tourism. It attracted nearly 300 students from 17 high schools to St. Joseph's College in Patchogue.

First-place winners and their high schools were: Jason Brigandi and Aria Eghbali, Commack; Thomas Ford and Colleen Jordan, Eastern Suffolk BOCES' Eastern Long Island Academy of Applied Technology; Dino Galanoudis and Krish Malhotra, Half Hollow Hills West; Wade Leskody, Harborfields; Karan Kaknia, Bhavesh Patel and Emily Tucker, Herricks; Angela Chen, Sophia Chen, Gloria Cheng, Daisy Dai, Vicky Gao, Neha Jannu, Allison Lee, James Lin, Amya Luo, Yash Modi, Janice Rateshwar, Hunter Taubes, Min Yoon and Judy Zhou, Jericho; Jack Conklin and Gavin Solomon, Syosset; and Lloydine St. Martin, Western Suffolk BOCES' Wilson Technological Center.

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.