BRMS Eighth Graders Win at Local Science Fair

The Somerset County Science Fair was held March 9 at Hillsborough High School, and several Bridgewater students took home top prizes.  

The fair was organized and hosted by the Hillsborough High School Robotics Team 75, RoboRaiders.

Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School eighth graders Hasith Bomma, Maanav Patel and Sreeakhil Pulipaka worked together as a team to model and test different types of alternative energy sources, including wind energy, solar energy and geothermal energy.  

The team won first place in the seventh and eighth grade age bracket.

BRMS eighth graders Katie Derderian and Meghan Sheasley presented "Robots That Could Change the Future," and showcased an RCX robot that they built and designed to help people.

BRMS 8th grader Rita Kat Sasse won third place in the seventh and eighth grade age bracket with her experiment on velocity. It proved Galileo's Law of Uniform Acceleration through the design of an apparatus that showed a projectile falls at the same rate as an object with no forward velocity.

The Hillsborough High School RoboRaiders sent notice of the fair in late January, said BRMS eighth grade Earth science teacher Rob Ambrose.  

"I advertised the fair throughout the school so all interested students had the chance to participate," he said. "Interested students saw me to propose their idea for an experiment. I advised them as needed and helped them register for the fair. Students independently designed and conducted their experiments and created their presentations outside of school."