Local kids win big at state science fair

An Oak Park High School stu- dent was the lone Ventura County student to place first Tuesday at the 58th annual California State Science Fair in Los Angeles.

Ishan Puri, a junior, was honored in the Senior Division's Behavioral and Social Sciences category for his project "Lexical Distributions and Electronic Literacy: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of Textual Richness." His adviser was Dr. Edward Stabler.

Two other Conejo Valley students took home third-place awards.

Elly Shao, a ninth-grader at La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks, placed third in the Senior Electronics and Electromagnetics category for her project "Light, Color and Electricity." Shao's adviser was Marilyn Usher.

Cynthia Yiu, a seventh-grader at Colina Middle School in Thousand Oaks, placed third in the Junior Physics and Astronomy category for her project "How Do Varying Amplitudes, Weights and Lengths Affect the Period of Motion of a Pendulum?" Yiu's adviser was Denis Agapoff.

The following Ventura County students earned honorable mention:

•Rima Deshpande, eighth grade, Redwood Middle School in Thousand Oaks, Junior Biochemistry/Molecular Biology category. Adviser: Michael Williams.

•Wyatt Gormley, 10th grade, Thousand Oaks High, Senior Physics and Astronomy category. Adviser: Dr. Nikki Malhotra.

•Garrett Fortner, sixth grade, Pinecrest Elementary School in Thousand Oaks, Junior Product Science category. Adviser: Michelle Stone.

•Bailey Van Ommeren, eighth grade, Sequoia Middle School in Newbury Park, Junior Product Science category. Adviser: Cynthia Vodraska.

The competition drew 965 participants from 374 schools statewide.

The local students qualified for the state science fair by placing first or second in their division's category at last month's Ventura County Science Fair at Seaside Park in Ventura in March.