Suffolk: ExploraVision regional winner

A team of Locust Valley fifth-graders has reached the national level of a prestigious science competition for proposing a filtration device that removes carbon dioxide from vehicle exhaust.

The Locust Valley Intermediate School pupils — Hana Glavan, Michelle Hsu and James O’Connell — were among 24 regional winners last month in the 21st annual ExploraVision Program, a K-12 contest that asked students to imagine technologies that could exist in 20 years.
More than 5,200 entries were submitted throughout the United States.

“I’m ecstatic to see the kids think outside the box,” said Locust Valley physics teacher Alan Stella, who mentors the team with librarian Anne Joyce. Of the idea’s importance, he said: “Green technology is a hot topic, as we’re in a global community facing lots of uncertainty.”

The project, titled “Triple C: Carbon Capture for Cars,” proposed a membrane to separate carbon dioxide and convert it to liquid that could be extracted for disposal at gas stations. The team’s next task, Stella said, is to create a website promoting its idea for a chance to win a $10,000 or $5,000 bond.

A show of gratitude.

COUNTYWIDE.

SkillsUSA winners.

Thirty-five Suffolk County students were first-place winners last month in various categories at the regional level of SkillsUSA, a nonprofit that prepares teens for careers in trade, technical and skilled services.. Winners were: Michael Forsberg, Greg Ferguson, Briana Kerns, Caleb Muller and Jake Tuohy of Brookhaven Tech Center; Juhara Bushra, Casey Catrone, Danielle Christie, Emily Lutz, Miranda Matthews, Ashley Murdock, Danielle Pagano, Annie Ross-Gates, Lauren Rozmus, Ana Salguero, Jocelyne Salvador, Susan Spellman, Stephine Stanton, Pahola Tene and Kim Walsh of H.B. Ward Career & Technical Center in Riverhead; Christine Galvez and Jamillah Herrera of Newfield High School; Erik Adams, Tyler Dauth, Katalina Diaz, Melissa Distante, James Fileccia, Dana Finazzo, Olivia Hancock, Pam Jedlicka, Kaitlyn Kennedy, Jen Podraza, Kim Ramirez, Andres Rodrigues and Tom Younghanss of Wilson Tech.

ISLANDWIDE

LISEF winners.

Twenty-eight Long Island students were regional finalists last month in the Long Island Science & Engineering Fair, which included 530 teens from 75 high schools at Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. They will join 1,600 teens from 70 countries at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair in Phoenix on May 12-17.. Long Island's regional finalists were: Anthony Bisulco, Trinity Russell and Josh Zweig of Commack High School; Shilpa Iyer and Shweta Iyer of Comsewogue High School in Port Jefferson Station; Shujat Khan and Shamoon Rizvi of East Meadow High School; Dan Hanover of Great Neck North High School; ByeongHo Jung and Ben Pleat of Herricks High School; Samantha DiSalvo, Ryan Kenny and Amy Vitha of Hewlett High School; Sonia Joshi, Olivia Novick and Amy Xu of Jericho High School; Natalie Giovino of JFK High School in Bellmore; Albert Kim, Archie Kong, Randy Tung and Arthur Wang of Manhasset High School; Minah Kim of Schreiber High School in Port Washington; Ben Akhavan of Rambam Mesivta High School in Lawrence; Arshia Aalami Harandi of Roslyn High School; Aneri Kinariwalla of Sayville High School; Evan Chernack of South Side High School in Rockville Centre; Aakash Jhaveri of The Wheatley School in Old Westbury; and Ganesh Ravichandran of W. Tresper Clarke High School in East Meadow