The top scientific student minds of the Diocese of Arlington put
their months of hard work on display at the 21st annual science fair at Paul VI
Catholic High School in Fairfax April 14. While all seventh- and eighth-graders
are required to do a science experiment, only the top 10 projects from each school
compete in the annual diocesan fair.
“I think this does a lot to keep science in the forefront of our
curriculum,” said Leslie Lipovski, assistant superintendent of Catholic
schools. “Our kids get to high school and they know how to run an experiment and
collect data.”
The experiments were divided into 13 categories that ran the gamut
from behavior and social sciences, to physics and zoology.
Sofia Parfomak, a seventh-grader at St. Ann School in Arlington,
presented her zoology project, Testing Water Quality
with Macroinvertebrate Sampling. Macro invertebrates — organisms that do
not have a backbone such as snails, worms and larvae are good indicators of
water quality because they cannot survive in polluted environments. She got the idea when her family was on
vacation and met a biologist who showed them how to catch the invertebrates
with a net. She started working on her project in early November, trudging
through the woods with her dad to reach the streams she wanted to test. According
to Parfomak, only one of the three streams received a good health score, while
the others were more polluted and had few macro invertebrates.
After the projects were evaluated by the science fair judges,
participants in each category received a participation ribbon while the top category
winners received ribbons for honorable mention and medals for first, second and
third place.
Trophies were given to the three top scoring schools, with St. Bernadette
School in Springfield winning first place out of the 31 schools participating.
Chiara De Angelis, an eighth-grader at St. Joseph School in Herndon
won the top individual prize for her engineering project, Sunglasses for the Masses, which tested 15 pairs of expensive
and inexpensive sunglasses for their ability to block out harmful UV rays. By first
integrating a computer board with a UV sensor and digital-to-analog converter,
she was able to then write a computer program in python code to read and
display the measurement of UV light filtered through the sunglasses. Her
findings concluded that all of the sunglasses tested provided satisfactory
protection from UV rays while their optical quality varied considerably.
Marc Boyer, an eighth-grader at St. Theresa School in Ashburn, won
a special first-place prize for his project, which tested the effects of a magnetic
field on the corrosion rate of iron conducting electricity. The prize was presented
by Bill Kilpatrick, a science fair judge and outreach director for the Northern
Virginia post for the Society of American Military Engineers.
The nonprofit society likes to honor unique projects, especially
those that can be applied to national defense. They invited Boyer to present
his findings at a society networking meeting. Boyer was recently accepted into
the Academy of Science in Sterling where he plans to pursue his interests in
bioengineering. He and his family credit his success to the great teachers and
curriculum at St. Theresa School.
St. Timothy School in Chantilly received special recognition for
their participation in the first STEM Fair, which was judged separately from
the diocesan fair at the school April 11. The STEM fair, proposed by Lipovski
earlier in the school year, challenged eighth-graders to develop completely STEM-focused
projects. The students also created digital presentations, which utilizing
everything from Google websites to virtual reality.
See below for a full list of Science Fair Winners for 2018
Overall School Winners
1st place: St. Bernadette School, Springfield: Mary Sinnott,
Science Fair Coordinator
2nd place: Holy Spirit School, Annandale: Debbie Cogliano, Science Fair Coordinator
3rd place: All Saints School, Manassas: Debbie Woolfrey and Jacqueline Cottingham,
Science Fair Coordinators
Top of the Fair
Chiara DeAngelis, St. Joseph School, Herndon
Behavioral and Social Sciences
1st: Andriko Bilaniuk, St.
Mark School, Vienna
2nd: Aidan Furey, Holy Spirit School, Annandale
2nd: Jennifer SanPietro, Sacred
Heart Academy, Winchester
3rd: Virginia Schwarz, Nativity School, Burke
HM: Chloe Davies, All Saints School, Manassas
HM: Aida Rhilinger, Blessed Sacrament School, Alexandria
Biochemistry
1st: Vivian Spendley, St. Bernadette School, Springfield
2nd: Mary Callahan, St. Bernadette School, Springfield
3rd: Nurianna Stevens, St. Theresa School, Ashburn
HM: Aileen Fezzie, St. Veronica School, Chantilly
HM: Amy Nguyen, St. Michael School, Annandale
HM: Sarah Terpenning, Holy Spirit School, Annandale
Botany
1st: Christina Shaver, St. Agnes School, Arlington
2nd: Caroline Fletcher, St. Thomas More Cathedral School,
Arlington
3rd: Augusta Marty, Sacred Heart Academy, Winchester
HM: Pio Nguyen, St. Ambrose School, Annandale
HM: Sofia Solis, St.
Patrick School, Fredericksburg
Chemistry
1st: Teresa Reilly, St. Ambrose School, Annandale
2nd: Kate Delaney, St. Patrick School, Fredericksburg
3rd: Mario Rozzi, St. Thomas More Cathedral School, Arlington
HM: Camelah Cornejo, St. Thomas More Cathedral School, Arlington
HM: Qin Kramer, St. Louis School, Alexandria
HM: Gianna Macedon, St. Thomas Aquinas Regional School,
Woodbridge
HM: Sarah Mitchell, St. Ambrose School, Annandale
HM: Kristen Pruitt, St. Patrick School, Fredericksburg
Computer Science
1st: Varun Varma, All Saints School, Manassas
2nd: Joseph Moran, St. Theresa School, Ashburn
3rd: Andrew Pearce, St. Joseph School, Herndon
Earth and Space
1st: Brigid Campbell, Sacred Heart Academy, Winchester
2nd: Evan Link, St.
Bernadette School, Springfield
3rd: Diego Salazar-Jara, Corpus Christi School, Falls Church
Engineering/Technology
1st: Chiara DeAngelis, St. Joseph School, Herndon
2nd: Luci Stoltz, St.
William of York School, Stafford
3rd: Katie Koper, St. William of York School, Stafford
HM: Kevin Balagtas, All Saints School, Manassas
HM: Timothy Mills, All
Saints School, Manassas
Environmental Sciences
1st: Ryan Curry, St.
Bernadette School, Springfield
1st: Michael Hoess, St. Veronica School, Chantilly
2nd: Sofia Tejada, St. Leo the Great School, Fairfax
3rd: J.P. Felmlee, St. Mark School, Vienna
3rd: Michael Caturano, All Saints School, Manassas
Mathematics
1st: Elizabeth Brown, St. Mark School, Vienna
2nd: Andres Dubon, St. Agnes School, Arlington
3rd: Ryan Murray, Holy Cross Academy, Fredericksburg
Medicine and Health
1st: Calvin Paradise, Holy Spirit School, Annandale, *Calvin also
received the Medicine & Health Award donated by Chi Young, M.D.
2nd: Piper Buswell, St. Bernadette School, Springfield
3rd: Christina Spirides, Holy Spirit School, Annandale
HM: Allison Dunnegan, Corpus Christi School, Falls Church
HM: Catherine Travez, St. Luke School
Microbiology
1st: Conan Ugaz, St. Joseph School, Herndon
2nd: Mary Gartner, St. James School, Falls Church
3rd: Erin Garvert, St. Mark School, Vienna
Physics
1st: Sofia Stallard, St. Patrick School, Fredericksburg
2nd: John Tigani, St. Bernadette School, Springfield
3rd: Anna Bohli, Holy Spirit School, Annandale
HM: John Bartholme, St.
Leo the Great School, Fairfax
HM: Jack Battaglia, Queen of Apostles School, Alexandria
HM: Blake Brown, St. James School, Falls Church
HM: Danica Fielding, Holy Spirit School, Annandale
HM: Christopher Huertas, Queen of Apostles School, Alexandria
HM: Isabella Matheu, Corpus Christi School, Falls Church
Zoology
1st: Sophia Beebe, St. Joseph School, Herndon
2nd: Sydney Vargo, St. Bernadette School, Springfield
3rd: Ava Mansfield, Sacred
Heart Academy, Winchester
Special Prizes Awarded by Dr. Bill
Kilpatrick of the Society of American Military Engineers:
1st Prize: Marc Boyer
Certificates of Excellence:
Jack Baccara
Danaca Fielding
Katie Koper
Alexander Krushka