School Notebook: LI winners in health science competition

Five Long Island students have been named first-place winners in a local health science competition.

The NSPC Brain & Spine Surgery Health Science Competition asked participants to create a Google site and upload images of poster boards, digital poster boards, or PowerPoint presentations — as well as an eight-minute video explaining their science project.

This year's competition received a record 340 entrants from 40 high schools across Long Island. Topics ranged from measuring the social aspects of being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes to investigating the detrimental effects of text-based digital communication on emotional literacy of adolescents.

"The 2020 and 2021 school years presented many challenges for students and educators," said Michael H. Brisman, the CEO of Rockville Centre-based NSPC Brain & Spine Surgery, which sponsored the competition. "The young people who entered this year's competition persevered and continued to engage with their studies."

First-place winners, their high schools and categories were: Ethan Chiu, Syosset, biology-medicine/health; Emily Kim, Jericho, health-related biochemistry and biophysics; Andrew Lee, Jericho, biology-microbiology/genetics; Olivia Schmidt, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK, behavioral sciences; and He Xuan, Jericho, bioengineering and computational biology. They each received $5,500.

Second-place finishers and their high schools were: Ashley Hsu, Commack; Lucas Sher, Jericho; Nora Kane, Lynbrook; Leigh Baratta, Smithtown East; and Miah Margiano, St. Anthony's. Third-place finishers and their high schools were: Harry Poulose, Commack; Bianca Cinquemani and Anna Limb, Manhasset; Keira Talty, Mineola; Aaryan Vira, North Shore; and Jessie Dong, Roslyn.

The competition is a program of the Center for Science Teaching & Learning in Rockville Centre.

BAY SHORE/GREAT NECK

Maglev winners

Students from Bay Shore and Great Neck South middle schools swept first place in various categories of Brookhaven National Laboratory's 2022 Maglev Competition, which challenged pupils to design vehicles that floated over a fixed track using magnetic levitation. 

First-place winners and their categories were: Rachel Waide, Bay Shore, electrified track; Madison Wolferd, Bay Shore, gravity; Aiden Sha, Great Neck South, self-propelled (balloon); Max Stolove, Great Neck South, self-propelled (other); and Madeleine Lennox and Caylin Wong, Great Neck South, appearance.

MASTIC BEACH/VALLEY STREAM

Spark! Challenge

Teams from Valley Stream South High School and William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach won first place in this year's Northwell Health Spark! Challenge, which asked participants to join a medical department for a day and create posters or videos representing the career they observed. 

Valley Stream's team of Hannah Azeez, Manahil Chaudhry, Tajwar Hoque, Arham Kham and Emrecan Sonmez won in the poster category, while William Floyd's team of Tara DiMaio, Sarah Duenzl, Madison Hoffman and Joshua Sutherland won in the video category. 

Each team was awarded $3,000.

ISLANDWIDE

NYS Science Congress

Twelve Long Island students won highest honors, high honors or honors for their science projects at the 2022 New York State Science Congress, which was held last month at the Museum of Science & Technology in Syracuse.

Collin Lung of Lynbrook High School and Ashwin Narayanan of Jericho High School won highest honors in the competition's senior division, while Vivienne Cierski of Northport High School and Krisha Kothari and Chloe Ng of Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School won highest honors in the junior division. 

Hanah Youn and Aasiya Zaidi of Roslyn High School and Natasha Kulviwat of Jericho High School won high honors in the senior division, while Emily Zhao of Manhasset Secondary School won high honors in the junior division. 

Emily Kim of Jericho High School and Emily Lam and Aidan Quinn of Smithtown High School East won high honors in the senior division.

— MICHAEL R. EBERT

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.