engineering

King Philip Students Earn Liberal Arts and STEM Graduation Distinctions

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King Philip Regional School District
Paul Zinni, Superintendent
18 King Street
Norfolk, MA 02056

For Immediate Release

Friday, May 17, 2019

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

King Philip Students Earn Liberal Arts and STEM Graduation Distinctions

WRENTHAM — Superintendent Paul Zinni is pleased to announce that 11 seniors at King Philip Regional High School have earned Graduation Distinctions in liberal arts and in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

King Philip High School’s two Graduation Distinction programs were launched in 2016 in an effort to provide students the opportunity to work on long-term projects of their choosing and conduct research in either the liberal arts or in STEM. The projects are required to have a community service component, and students in the program must also present their work and findings to teachers and administrators for review.

Achievement of each distinction will be noted on the students’ school transcripts, and a liberal arts or STEM Graduation Distinctions program description will be included in the school profile that is sent to colleges.

Students that earned the liberal arts distinction completed a specific program of classes throughout their high school careers including four years of English, two years of U.S. history, world history, and five credits in a liberal arts elective such as world language or art.

To earn the STEM distinction, students were required to take four years of science and mathematics classes, as well as five additional elective credits in science.

Both distinctions required students to develop a project under the guidance of an adviser that reflected the “real world” applications available through the liberal arts or STEM. Students worked on their projects for a year or more.

On Friday, May 10, students presented their projects to a faculty panel.

“These 11 students have worked incredibly hard not only in the classroom, but outside of school to apply these concepts in real life contexts,” Superintendent Zinni said. “They have fully earned these distinctions, and have completed a comprehensive course of study over their high school careers in these fields.”

Students that earned the liberal arts distinction include Jessie Kornfeld, of Norfolk; Jimmy Dumont, of Plainville; Ethan Ball, of Norfolk; and Max Armour, of Norfolk.

Kornfeld used graphic design experience she had gained from an internship to generate publicity for an art department fundraiser for her project. Dumont wrote an article that was published in the town pages of a local newspaper about the efficacy of service dogs. Ball developed a computer game and tested it on gamers. Armour gave out brochures about opioid addiction and awareness at a Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) walk.

Students that earned the STEM distinction include Ally Wood, of Norfolk; Caroline Robertson, of Norfolk; George ElMassih, of Wrentham; Justin Willson, of Wrentham; Olivia Atkins, of Norfolk; Maria Fabiano, of Wrentham; and Nikita Murli, of Plainville.

Wood gave a presentation at the Norfolk Grange about colony collapse disorder in bees. Robertson gave a lesson to King Philip health classes about cell phone addiction. ElMassih taught a computer coding class to middle school students. Willson conducted an experiment to test the efficacy of engineered materials on reducing zebra mussel attachment to pipes, and his research is also going to be published in the Journal of Emerging Investigators. Atkins presented research from her Rhode Island summer fellowship. Fabiano worked to increase awareness about physical therapy. Murli gave a lesson to King Philip health classes about the overuse of antibiotic medicines.

“Congratulations to each of these students for earning these remarkable distinctions and creating such thoughtful, well-researched projects,” said King Philip High School Principal Lisa Mobley. “These distinctions encourage students to take their studies one step further by making a real-life impact, and each of them found a way to share their findings in a meaningful way.”

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Littleton Middle School Students Earn First, Second, Third Place Awards at State Science and Engineering Fair

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Littleton Public Schools
Dr. Kelly R. Clenchy, Superintendent
33 Shattuck Street,
Littleton, MA 01460

For Immediate Release

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Media Contact: Jordan Mayblum
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: [email protected]

Littleton Middle School Students Earn First, Second, Third Place Awards at State Science and Engineering Fair

LITTLETON — Superintendent Kelly Clenchy is pleased to announce that several Littleton Middle School students earned first, second and third place awards at the Massachusetts Middle School State Science and Engineering Fair this weekend. 

The fair was held at Worcester Tech High School on Saturday, May 11. Six Littleton Middle School students competed in the fair with five science and engineering projects. 

Madeline Shea, an eighth grade student, received a first place award at the fair for her engineering project. Shea designed a device to measure the amounts of ozone and particulate pollutants in the air, and she also learned how to code and created three prototype devices for her project.

Brandon LaVoie, an eighth grade student, was awarded a second place award at the fair with his hovercraft project. LaVoie built a hovercraft and tested the effect of ground temperature on the lift and speed of the machine.

For her project on the effect of UV light in the degradation of watercolor pigments, eighth grade student Katherine McDonagh won a second place award. She built a UV light chamber for her project to expose selections of watercolor pigment to UV light. She then used Photoshop to measure red-green-blue color values in pigments that both had been exposed to the light and had not.

Aparna Deokar, an eighth grade student, placed third at the fair for a civil engineering project. Deokar tested her hypothesis to see if bioconcrete could be made with a fungal material instead of bacteria, which is added to fill any cracks that may form in the concrete. She made a control concrete block, a block with fungal mycellium and a block with non-activated mycellium. Deokar then used a compression machine to create cracks in the concrete blocks and measured the sizes of the cracks over time. 

“The depth of knowledge and understanding of science and engineering concepts that these students exhibited with these projects is remarkable,” said Valerie Finnerty, an eighth grade science teacher at Littleton Middle School. “Each one of them found rich topics, researched extensively and conducted their work with close attention to detail. It is so exciting to see them recognized for their hard work.”

Shea, LaVoie, McDonagh and Deokar are eligible due to their success at state and regional science and engineering fairs to enter the Broadcom Masters program, a national competition for students who earn top scores in regional and state science and engineering fairs.

“It is thrilling to see our students using their big-picture understanding of science and engineering to conduct such high-level, challenging research,” Superintendent Clenchy said. “Congratulations to each of these students. Your hard work and knowledge of these topics is exceptional.”

Earlier this month on Friday, May 3, seventh grade students Hannah Jonsson and Julianna Magin also placed third at a regional Middle School Science and Engineering fair in Lowell with their project, titled “OJ All the Way.” Jonsson and Magin compared the amount of vitamin C in frozen, fresh and concentrated orange juice.

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Rockland Students Attend STEM Day at Fenway Park

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Rockland Public Schools
Superintendent Dr. Alan Cron
34 MacKinlay Way,
Rockland, MA 02370

For Immediate Release

Monday, May 6, 2019

Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

Rockland Students Attend STEM Day at Fenway Park

ROCKLAND — Principal Elizabeth Bohn is pleased to share that Rogers Middle School students attended a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Day at Fenway Park last week.

On Wednesday, May 1, a group of about 30 National Junior Honor Society students from Rogers Middle School attended the STEM Day event at the home of the Red Sox.

At the event, students had the opportunity to take part in demonstrations from the Museum of Science, Zoo New England, IRobot, Project Lead the Way, JetBlue Foundation, Lego Master Builders, Mad Science and Meteorologists from Boston 25’s Weather Team.

Prior to the event, Rogers Middle School students also built an apparatus at school that was designed to protect a raw egg during a 37-foot “egg drop” from the Green Monster. Their design successfully protected the egg during the drop, and the students were presented with a STEM certificate recognizing their design.

“It was an experience of a lifetime, I really loved everything about our Fenway Day,” said Emma Cameron, an eighth grade student.

The day culminated with a Red Sox game, which the Red Sox won.

“This event was such a wonderful opportunity for students to learn and share their love of STEM,” said Susan Lonergan, the Rogers Middle School National Junior Honor Society adviser. “Students were engaged and excited to be introduced to so many STEM demonstrations and organizations, and had so much fun at Fenway.”

The event was sponsored by Citgo.

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Medway’s Burke-Memorial Elementary Holds STEM Saturday Event for Girls

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Medway Public Schools
Armand Pires, Superintendent
45 Holliston St.
Medway, MA 02053

 

For Immediate Release

Friday, April 5, 2019

Media Contact: Benjamin Paulin
Phone: 781-428-3299
Email: [email protected]

Medway’s Burke-Memorial Elementary Holds STEM Saturday Event for Girls

MEDWAY — Burke-Memorial Elementary School Principal Amanda Luizzi is pleased to share that female students recently had a chance to explore a variety of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and topics.

On Saturday, March 23, approximately 150 girls in grades two through six attended the fourth annual STEM Saturday for Girls at Burke-Memorial Elementary School. The free event was sponsored by Exelon Generation.

At the beginning of the event, students were encouraged to explore an array of science projects completed by female middle school students before moving on to participate in a series of workshops. These included a coding activity using a “bee-bot” robot made to look like a cartoon bee, tide-pool adaptations, chemistry lab, “squishy circuits” activity where students learned the principles of open and closed circuits, and an overview of the anatomy of a flounder.

“The goal of this event to show girls from a young age that they can pursue careers and interests in these subject areas,” Principal Luizzi said. “It’s all about challenging the gender stereotypes that have kept women away from these fields for generations and introducing students to female role models in STEM fields.”

A group of local STEM professionals and educators in the field also spoke to students during a panel at the event. Panelists included Sinead Bergeron, a seventh grade student at Medway Middle School and member of the Sense and Sound robotics team; Ceramic Engineer Susan Rozak; Electrical Engineer Jenn Forsyth; Massachusetts Academy of Math and Science senior Marissa Langille; Medway High School junior and aspiring doctor Amanda Heafey; and Medway High School junior Olivia Dennehy, an officer of the school’s Women in STEM club and member of the Girls Who Code club.

Several middle and high school girls volunteered at the event, sharing their knowledge and acting as role models to younger students. Members of Women in STEM (WiSTEM) club at Medway High School conducted a workshop that included a series of five short hands-on experiments, the Sound and Sense Robotics team conducted a demonstration at the start of the event, and 10 middle school student volunteers helped set up the event and assisted younger students during workshops.

Approximately 24 faculty also volunteered to support the event. The event is organization annually by a STEM Saturday for Girls Committee, which is co-chaired by Annie Colamaria and Mary Evans.

“Each year, STEM Saturday is full of excitement, fun and exploration,” Principal Luizzi said. “Thank you to all of the faculty, students, parents and community volunteers who took time to celebrate women in STEM and support our students, and for Exelon Generation for supporting us in this initiative as well.”

 

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