Local students shine at science fair





Students from area schools were big winners at the recent 50th Ventura County Science Fair, "50 Years of Discovery."


La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks had five students with first-place projects in the Senior Division (grades nine to 12), while Colina Intermediate School, also in Thousand Oaks, had five winning entries in the Junior Division (sixth through eighth grade).


Agoura High School had one winning entry. Calabasas High School, with two winning projects, was the only other high school with more than one winning entry.


Sponsoring science teachers for La Reina High School students were Kathy Havel and Marilyn Usher.


The students and their winning projects were:


Claire Totlen, Chemistry: "Finger printing the crime scene investigation"


Kelsy Laity-D’Agostino, Engineering: "Keeping the Rover rolling"


Shanley McDonald, Human Behavioral and Social Sciences: "Black and white images better?"


Tierney Burke, Human Biology: "Incidence of mercury exposure in childhood vaccination schedules exceeding federal safety guidelines during the last 20 years"


Christina Llanes, Mathematics, Computer Science and Electronics: "Neurotic about hidden neurons"


The other students with first-place projects in the Senior Division were:


Nattacha Heidebrand of Calabasas High School, Animal Behavior and Social Sciences: "Seed?"


Sara Imberman of Calabasas High School, Botany: "How does coffee affect plant growth?"


Ellis Kim of Agoura High School, Physics: "Electro hydrodynamics in space"


In the Junior Division, the following are Colina Intermediate School students and their winning projects:


Morgan Mcleod, Animal Behavior and Social Sciences: "Chew on this"


Erik Aidukas, Engineering: "Does drumstick material affect the rebound of drumsticks on the snare drum?"


Abhishek Jairam, Human Behavioral and Social Sciences: "Cell phone distraction"


Nicole Rothschild, Human Biology: "Whew, I’m winded, the long capacity test"


Philip Shao, Mathematics, Computer Science and Electronics: "Practical uses of sampling theory"


Sponsoring teachers for Colina Intermediate School students were Denise Agapoff, David Matras, John Braaten and Donna McDaniel.


Students from Medea Creek Middle School in Oak Park, Chaparral Middle School in Moorpark, and Bethany Christian School in Thousand Oaks had one first-place project each. The other Junior Division winners and their projects were:


Nikki Mercado of Medea Creek Middle School, Botany: "Purification of water through solar energy"


Chelsea Balikian of Bethany Christian School, Chemistry: "Perfect polish"


Caitlin Chrans of Chaparral Middle School, Zoology: "Spinning a web"


More than 700 budding scientists countywide participated in the Science Fair, sponsored by Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Office. Local professionals in the sciences served as judges.


All first-place finishers, as well as those placing second in each division category, qualify to compete in the California State Science Fair on May 24 and 25 in Los Angeles.


For complete science fair results, visit Website www.vcsf.us.



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