“A revolution of ideas” was the slogan of the 56th annual Fairfax County Regional Science and Engineering Fair, and with over one hundred of the most promising projects, the fair proved to be a true scientific marvel. Students who participated in this regional fair were selected from the top of their individual school’s competitions, and from Langley 22 students attended this prestigious event. Freshman and participant Stephanie Dubois said, “It was really amazing to see all the different projects and just how in depth some students went into their category.” The fair hosted numerous categories of entry from animal and earth sciences to Physics and Cellular Biology.
During a three day judgement and presentation period, students were able to display their hard work for a chance at winning first place in their category and being nominated for the Grand Prize. On Mar. 20the awards ceremony took place with the sponsor organizational awards presented first. Langley students freshman Samuel Houmaoui and junior Kelly Martins obtained awards, with Houmaoui receiving third place in the organizational award for mechanical engineering and Martins winning the first place award from the Autobahn Society of Northern Virginia. Awards received varied from savings bonds and certificates of merit to scholarship funds. Tours of the CIA building were even up for grabs, and were won by Langley contestants Martins and freshman Jason Cui.
Numerous participants from Langley also received third, second, and honorable mention awards, such as sophomore Allie Sherlock who said, “I was happy to get second place, because I did a project I was proud of and overall it was a great experience that I can’t wait to try again next year.”
Junior Catherine Henry received an honorable mention in the category of Biochemistry, freshman Erin Klein received the second place award for the Physics and Astronomy category, and juniors Nathaniel Howe, Alina Zufall, and Nick Ruloff received a second place award in the physics category as a group as well. Freshman Quan Pham received a second place award in the mechanical engineering category and Dubois took home the second place award in the category of Materials and Bio-engineering. The team of freshmen Brady Alden and Oliver Zufall received the first place award for a project regarding environmental analysis.
Martins and Cui both received a first place medal in their categories and a Grand prize award for the overall science fair. Cui’s project utilized a rare Tibetan fungus to isolate a key protein which worked in slowing the rate of cancerous tumor growth and Martins used different types of plants to synthesize an ethanol-like bio-fuel that would both decrease pollution and maximize fuel efficiency.
“I’m very impressed with the overall quality of the projects, and to have two grand prize winners is a phenomenal feat,” said Principal Ragone.
Both Martins and Cui now qualify to attend the international science fair, which will be held in California.
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Photos by Andrew Havasy