New Tampa’s elementary and middle schools once again had a strong showing at the 38th Annual Hillsborough County Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) Fair on March 6.
In fact, more than 50 students in New Tampa were recognized for their projects, including a pair of Best of Fair awards.
All students in Hillsborough County were allowed to submit a qualifying project in 13 major STEM subject areas. The top 27 winners advanced to the State STEM Fair, and the two best projects from Hillsborough County also will go on to compete in the International STEM Fair.
The Best of Fair winners were Chiles Elementary third-grader Rohan Apte and Clark Elementary fourth-grader Harrison Shirey.
Rohan won for his project entitled “Crash! Did it Break?: Do Seat Belts Matter?” His project involved crashing a LEGO car with eggs inside wearing (and some not wearing) rubber band seat belts.
It’s not the first Best of Fair aware for the Apte household — Rohan’s sister Ria also won the award, in 2016, also when she was in the third grade.
Harrison won his Best of Fair award for his project “What Material Does Wi-Fi Travel Through?”
Local elementary schools earned 15 Superior scores, including four each by Clark and Turner/Bartels K-8 and three by Chiles and Tampa Palms.
In the older division, Liberty Middle School’s Uma Panchal (“The Vitamin C Integrity Project”), Ellie and Olivia Pliska (“The Algae is Blooming: Does Synthetic or Organic Fertilizer Contribute more to Algae Growth?”) won first-place awards, while Wharton High took home seven top-3 finishes, including a first-place by Kylie Orihuela and Mackenzie Schaecher for “Copper Heals.”
The complete list of local winners are:
ELEMENTARY DIVISION GROUP PROJECTS 3rd GRADE
Superior
Magnetic Magic — Joel Madadha, Miles Shi, and Lucas Aguerreberry, Clark Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • GROUP PROJECTS • THIRD GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/MATTER
Excellent
Time for Dissolving Fun — Jeshwitha Avula and Pranjal Kot, Pride Elementary
Excellent
Which bubble gum blows the biggest bubble: Super Bubble or Double Bubble? — Emily Lara and Isabella Santiago, Heritage Elementary
Superior
How Does the Brand of Nail Polish affect How Long it Lasts? Isabella Baez and Sophia Sauer, Turner/Bartels K-8
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • GROUP PROJECTS • FOURTH GRADE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
Excellent
Cookie’s Maze — Alexa Gonzalez and Luciana Guaman, Chiles Elementary
Superior
How Does Brain Dominance Affect Hand-Eye — Gal Lawrental Schori and Linney Kim, Chiles Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • GROUP PROJECTS • FOURTH GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/ENERGY
Excellent
Lightning Magnets — Archith Gaddam and Saisharat Yenka, Pride Elementary
Superior
Energy From Garbage: How Much Methane Do Different Types of Food Scraps Produce? — Aayush Mehta and Anjali Mehta, Tampa Palms Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • GROUP PROJECTS • FOURTH GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/MATTER
Excellent
Dissolve the Bomb! — Ana Clara DeJesus, Zeina Mughrabi, and Madison Long, Pride Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • GROUP PROJECTS • FIFTH GRADE EARTH/SPACE SCIENCE
Superior
Feeling Salty — Ethan Bahs and Morgan Aulet, Clark Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • GROUP PROJECTS • FIFTH GRADE LIFE SCIENCE
Outstanding
Fantastic Fertilizer — Logan Andress and Chase Andress, Chiles Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • GROUP PROJECTS • FIFTH GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/ENERGY
Superior
Harnessing The Heat — Aditya Shukla and Aditi Shukla, Tampa Palms Elementary
Superior
Flying Trains — Dev Parikh and Evan Stepanek, Turner/Bartels K-8
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • GROUP PROJECTS • FIFTH GRADE PHYICAL SCIENCE/MATTER
Excellent
Fear of Water: How Do Materials Stay Dry And Clean? — Eesha Venkatesh and Harini Iyer, Tampa Palms Elementary
Superior
An Apple a Day…Keeps the Spoils Away — Danai Bernard, Anu Badiger, Jayone Heo, and Kanishka Mittal, Chiles Elementary
****INDIVIDUALS****
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • THIRD GRADE EARTH/SPACE SCIENCE
Superior
Looking to Kill an Oil Spill? — Ani Marsland-Pettit, Clark Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • THIRD GRADE
Superior
Which Truss to Trust? — Nathaniel Bostic Jr., Turner/Bartels K-8
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • THIRD GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/ENERGY
Excellent
Dear Dad, Don’t Drive Distracted! — Rex Knuckles, Chiles Elementary
Superior
Crash! Did it Break? : Do Seatbelts Matter? — Rohan Apte, Chiles Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • THIRD GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/MATTER
Outstanding
Spoiler Alert — Logan Jones, Heritage Elementary
Excellent
The Race To The Fizz Line: How Does The Temperature Of Water Affect How Fast A Bathbomb Dissolves? — Maanini Kuruganti, Tampa Palms Elementary
Excellent
Stain, Stain, Go Away! — Dylan Farner, Heritage Elementary
Superior
Absorbing Socks — Advay Joshi, Pride Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • FOURTH GRADE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
Superior
Right Vs Left — Rhea Varma, Tampa Palms Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • FOURTH GRADE EARTH/SPACE SCIENCE
Excellent
Which is Better: Tap Vs Fountain Water? — Madison Fang, Chiles Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • FOURTH GRADE PHYSICAL
Outstanding
Tooth Decay — Isabella Pappalardo, Heritage Elementary
Outstanding
Chocolate Geodes — Jared Creel, Hunters Green Elementary
Superior
Which Substance Will Cause Soap Bubbles to Last Longer? — Jhanvi Anand, Turner/Bartels K-8
Superior
What Material Does Wi-Fi Travel Through? — Harrison Shirey, Clark Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • FIFTH GRADE EARTH/SPACE SCIENCE
Outstanding
Oil Clean Up — Sofia Rojas, Tampa Palms Elementary
Excellent
Slowing the Landslide — Radha Panchal, Clark Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • FIFTH GRADE
Superior
London Bridge is Falling Down! — Aryan Sriram, Pride Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • FIFTH GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/ENERGY
Outstanding
Does a magnet’s shape affect the height it levitates? — Mohnish Satheesh Kumar, Chiles Elementary
Excellent
There’s No Debate, Properly Inflate: How the Amount of Air in Tires Affects Bike Riding — Allison Wells, Chiles Elementary
Superior
Solar Powered Car (Next Generation Car) — Raj Guntuku, Tampa Palms Elementary
ELEMENTARY DIVISION • INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS • FIFTH GRADE PHYSICAL SCIENCE/MATTER
Outstanding
Alka-Seltzer Action — Frances McKoen, Hunters Green Elementary
Excellent
Nail Nonsense! How Does the Brand of Nail Polish Affect How Long the Paint Takes to Dry? — Kacy Hauck, Turner/Bartels K-8
Superior
Don’t Underestimate the Insulate — Andrew Feaster, Clark Elementary
3rd Grade Best of Fair
Crash! Did it Break? : Do Seatbelts Matter? — Rohan Apte, Chiles Elementary
4th Grade Best of Fair
What Material Does Wi-Fi Travel Through? Harrison Shirey, Clark Elementary
SECONDARY AWARDS
Elaine Feaster, Liberty Middle
Title: Naturally Cool
Memorial Award: Helen Johnson’s Award
Sarrah Abdulai & Olivia Giraldo, Wharton High
Title: How Effectively Oysters Filter Different Types of Water
Award(s): Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration
Alisha Bhatia, Freedom High
Title: Similarities Between Humans and Animals in The Huntingtin (HTT) Gene
Award(s): Big Cat Rescue
Elaine Feaster Liberty
Title: Naturally Cool
Award(s): Cardinal Roofing Broadcom
Zion Flavien, Wharton
Title: Global Warming: The relation between chlorophyll production and a healthy Earth
Award(s): American Meteorological Society
Uma Patel, Liberty
Title: The Vitamin C Integrity Project.
Award(s): Broadcom
Ellie & Olivia Pliska, Liberty
Title: The Algae is Blooming: Does Synthetic or Organic Fertilizer Contribute more to
Award(s): Broadcom
Junior Animal Sciences Awards
3rd: Lisa Maeda, Benito: Which Length of Electromagnetic Waves Repels Mosquitoes the Most?
Junior Biomedical and Health Sciences Awards
1st: Uma Panchal, Liberty: The Vitamin C Integrity Project
Junior Earth and Environmental Sciences Awards
1st: Ellie and Olivia Pliska, Liberty: The Algae is Blooming: Does Synthetic or Organic Fertilizer Contribute more to Algae Growth?
Junior Environmental Engineering Awards
2nd: Elaine Feaster, Liberty: Naturally Cool
Junior Mathematics and Computational Sciences Awards
3rd: Osman Eksioglu, Liberty: Machine Learning and how it adapts
Senior Behavioral and Social Sciences Awards
2nd: Nicole Carlin, Genesis Dalcourt, & Maria Pinilla-Baquero, Freedom: How Does Music Impact Test Taking?
Senior Chemistry Awards
3rd: Yash Patel, Wharton: Using Banana Peels as Eco-friendly Supplements to Livestock feed
Senior Cellular/Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Awards
1st: Kylie Orihuela & Mackenzie Schaecher, Wharton: Copper Heals
2nd: Aaron Ha & Clyddyll Uyan, Wharton: Chlorophyll Extraction/Chromatography
Senior Earth and Environmental Sciences Awards
2nd: Sarrah Abdulai & Olivia Giraldo, Wharton: How Effectively Oysters Filter Different Types of Water
3rd: Meghna Desai & Neelam Patel, Wharton: Is it Worth Paying for Water Bottles?
Senior Engineering and Materials Sciences Awards
2nd: Jaclyn Saldana, Wharton: Bridge Breaking
Senior Physics and Astronomy Awards
2nd: Laura Deloso, Wharton: Proving Acceleration Due to Gravity
Senior Plant Sciences Awards
2nd: Crystal Castro & Isabella Kim, Wharton: The Effects of Different Concentrations of IAA on Root Initiation
3rd: Sarah McInvale, Wharton: Radiation on Germination
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