Young Scientists Shine at Greenwich Middle School STEM Fair

By Avery Imp

Th fourth annual Greenwich Middle School STEM Fair took place at the Greenwich Water Club on Saturday. This event provides students with the opportunity to share scientific research, connect with peers from across town, and celebrate their interest in STEM.

The STEM Fair was an initiative of the First Selectman’s Youth Commission, a group of high school students committed to promoting the youth voice and improving the quality of life for young people in Greenwich.

Greenwich High School junior Zara Haque, who organized the event, said it was close to her heart.

“I participated the first year, judged the second year, and have now directed it for two years,” she said. “So not only do I truly believe in the mission of this fair, which is to foster a sense of community amongst like-minded youth in our town, but I can also speak directly to the effects that this event has had on my life.”

Under Zara’s leadership, the event has tripled in size. Last year, there were 12 projects submitted to the fair. This year, there were 36.

Some students shared projects they completed as students in Junior Innovators, an elective course in which Greenwich Public Schools eighth graders engage in science research.

This course is modeled after the Honors Science Research Seminar at GHS and taught by the same teacher, Andy Bramante.

Other students shared projects they completed in STEM to Stern, a program through the Boys & Girls Club and Greenwich Water Club that offers rowing and STEM education to middle school students who might not otherwise have access to these opportunities.

Several students also brought projects they completed in their middle school science classes or at home.

The projects were judged by volunteer high school students: Aanya Jaiswal, Allie Petrizzo, Amrutha Nandakumar, Anna Leventon, Annie Slocum, Asher Benn, Caitlin Tice, Charlotte Frank, Dahlia Barrett, Dua Khan, Justin Bernstein, Lauren Huang, Lucy Li, Mackenzie Gillen, Melina Salame, Rena Georgekopoulos-Ueta, Tavishi Choudhary, Thomas Ybarra, and Vasilisa Banks.

Other student volunteers at the event included Alex Jackson, Arnav Bhatia, Charles Fong, Hannah Dcruz, and Sara Rahimtula.

Danielle Jean-Guillaume Sittol, the Greenwich Youth Services Bureau Administrator and Advisor of the First Selectman’s Youth Commission, spoke at the event. Before transitioning to the human services sector, she worked as a research associate in several academic and pharmaceutical settings, including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Merck, and Regeneron.

She said that in high school she participated in a program through UConn Health Center studying a potential cancer therapeutic called bleomycin. This experience sparked her interest in research.

“I was fascinated with how really tiny compounds could have global impacts,” Sittol said.

As an undergraduate student, Sittol worked in a lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and was tasked with analyzing rotaviruses to determine the prevalent strain of the virus that existed in different communities.

She explained that labs across the world engaged in similar work, which ultimately aided in the development of a rotavirus vaccine.

Sittol concluded her speech by reflecting, “I found a lot of joy in science, but I found greater joy using what I learned in science in my work in human services. I still use the curiosity, the critical thinking, and the patience and persistence that inspired my scientific work, and I just hope that science takes you in directions you never imagined.”

GHS alumna Hiba Hussain, who recently graduated from Northeastern University with a major in biology and minors in English and public health, has plans to pursue medical school.

She discussed the three qualities that she believes every scientist should possess: creativity, resilience, and curiosity.

In high school, she participated in the Honors Science Research Seminar. She utilized the same sensor technology used for Apple Pay payments to develop a breath-based diagnostic device for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

She reflected, “Creativity in science is about making connections with previously known concepts and using them to think about old problems in really new ways, and this is what ultimately leads to great innovation and scientific discovery.”

She recalled that while working on this project, there was a two-week period when she was unable to get any readings out of her sensor, but she persevered to find a solution.

She said, “I kept going back to read more papers to see if anyone else had the same issues, and I kept testing new materials until I found a solution, and in the end, I was able to get readings off my sensor and share my work with other people. But more importantly, I learned to embrace the challenges of scientific research instead of fighting against them.”

Finally, she encouraged the young scientists to stay curious: “Today, each of you answered a question with your project, but really this is just the beginning. Keep asking questions because each one can lead to new discoveries.”

The Greenwich Middle School STEM Fair concluded with a brief awards ceremony where the following students were recognized:

• Best in Fair: Macky Wilson (EMS 8) for the project “Shedding Light on the Prevalence of Harmful Butylated Hydroxytoluene Preservative in Artificially Formulated Dog Foods”

• Honorable Mention (x4): Sophia de Mata & Alysha Sadel (WMS 8) for the project “What Liquids Make Jewelry Tarnish the Most?”, Tyler Malkin (CMS 8) for the project “Development of a Simple Salivary Rapid Diagnostic for the Detection of Iodine Deficiency,” Jiahao Luo (EMS 6) for the project “Arduino Ultrasound Technology Assistance For The Visually Impaired,” and Laila McQueen (WMS 6) for the project “How Are Ozone Holes Affecting Antarctica?”
• Community Impact Award: Briar Lissauer (CMS 8) for the project “Modeling of Fairfield County Fresh-water and Estuary Waterways to Highlight Contamination of Ecosystems/Environments”
• Excellence in Presentation: Carly Sole (CMS 8) for the project “Wind Beneath Their Wings: Impact of Wind Speed and Temperature on Migration of Birds of Prey”
• Most Creative Display: Aaryan Agarwal, Zain Haque, and Gregory Kasprzak (EMS 7) for the project “Pedal-Powered Bike Safety Lights”

See also:

Meet Andy Bramante, Modest Teacher Behind GHS Whiz-Kids on the Science Fair Circuit