St. Alphonsus School Captures 16 First Place Wins at PJAS

St. Alphonsus School seventh-grade and eighth-grade students received 16 first-place awards at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science’s 78 Annual Region VII competition Feb. 4.  

In addition to the first-place wins, five of the 16 students also received six special awards from various corporations, professional societies and local universities. Three students received second-place awards for their work. All first-place winners will participate at the PJAS state competition, which will be held at Penn State University May 13-15.

School science teacher Nancy Snyder and numerous parents accompanied the students to the competition and served as mentors throughout the project. Snyder has been sponsoring the project for 12 consecutive years at St. Alphonsus. All seventh- and eighth-grade students complete an original research project as part of the science curriculum. Work usually begins over the summer months as students prepare their proposals and receive approval from Snyder to begin. Snyder chooses the top projects to be presented at the local PJAS competition.  

“I am extremely proud of all of my PJAS competitors. They all worked very hard to do their best. We had a clean sweep,” Snyder said.

The Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) is a statewide organization of junior and senior high school students designed to stimulate and promote interest in science among its members through the development of research projects and investigations. It is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Academy of Science, as an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a nonprofit organization. 

First place winners (grade) and their projects:

Colleen Ballantyne (8) “Which Cleaning Solution Disinfects Tile the Best?” *

Caroline Ciocco (7) “Does Spending More for Nail Polish Pay Off?”

Sean Farrell (7) “Are All Water Bottles Created Equal?”

Christopher Foley (8) “Dangerous Decibels: Teens and Music”

Peter Gemperle (8) “Optimal Hand Washing Time for Bacteria Removal” *

Regina Gebhardt (8) “What Factors Affect Short Term Memory Skills?”

Sam Huddleston (8) “Caffeine and Sleep Deprivation”

Jonathan Kim (7) “How Strong is Wood?”

Andrew King (7) “Which is the Best Way of Storing a Tomato?”

Annamarie Lovre (8) “Do Variations in Written Notes Affect Test Scores?” *

Anthony Patsy (7) “The Freezing and Melting Time of Several Popular Liquids”

Samantha Potter (7) “Probability of Lucky Numbers”

Emma Sledge (8) “What’s in your Brain:  Shapes or Words?” *

Alexandra Sturgis (7) “Assessment of Methods for Recalling Information”

James Vinski (8) “Running 40-Meter Dashes”

Ryan Wasil (8) “Windmill Blade Design and Efficiency” *

Second place winners (grade) and their projects:

Zachary Gaubert (7) “How Permanent are Permanent Markers?”

Nathan Mrdjenovich (8) “How Does Electricity Affect Bacterial Growth?”

Matthew Tarasovich (8) “Sound Insulation”

Other Special Awards Received:

Caroline Ciocco – Duquesne University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and also the Society of Women Engineers

Peter Gemperle – Allegheny-Erie Society of Toxicology

Annamarie Lovre- Carnegie Mellon C-MITES

Emma Sledge – University of Pittsburgh Center for Neuroscience

Ryan Wasil – Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc.

- Submitted by Jill Taylor, on behalf of St. Alphonsus School. Have news you'd like to share with Patch readers? Email information and photos to at amyjo.brown@patch.com.

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