Fairbanks teens advance to national science competition

March 8, 2016

Photo courtesy of ASHSSS. Organizers, teachers and participants in the Alaska Statewide High School Science Symposium gather during the event in early March. The eight high school participants included, at rear third from left to right, Finn Swingle Yates, Rocky Schaefer and Joey Harun-Delong, and, at front third from left to right, Maia Rothman, Piper Brase, Hayley Zacheis, Annemarie Timling and David Chen. At left front are teachers Greg Kahoe and Cynthia Beale, and at left rear are ASHSSS co-directors Denise Kind and Abel Bult-Ito.

Five high school students from Fairbanks’ West Valley High School took top honors at a regional competition for original scientific research. They will advance to a prestigious national competition in Dayton, Ohio, to compete for scholarships up to $12,000.

The winners of the 31^st Alaska Statewide High School Science Symposium, March 5-6, are Hayley Zacheis (first), Piper Brase (second), Maia Rothman (third), Rocky Schaefer (fourth) and David Chen (fifth). They also won cash prizes, travel funds and scholarships for college.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Natural Science and Mathematics hosts the symposium. The wins qualify the students to compete with more than 200 high school students across the nation at the 54th Junior Science and Humanities Symposia Program, April 27-30. The research arm of the U.S. Department of Defense sponsors the national competition.

“To be honest, I just feel overwhelmed,” said Zacheis. “I didn’t expect this would happen.” She said the competition was stiff, but that she enjoyed researching correlations between spring temperatures and the breeding season of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor).

Photo courtesy of ASHSSS. Piper Brase hugs her mom after finding out she will be one of the eight finalists. Eventually she placed second overall and will advance to the national competition in Dayton, Ohio.

Her first-place win meant that her high school teacher, Gregory Kahoe, will also travel to national competition. Abel Bult-Ito, the UAF professor of neurobiology and anatomy who co-directs the Alaska symposium, will also accompany the students.

Bult-Ito said all the student’s research projects and presentations were of a high caliber. “The judges had a very difficult time deciding on the winners,” he said.

The Alaska symposium is open to high schools students across the state, although all entries this year came from West Valley High School.

Nineteen students completed original research and competed against each other within four different categories of science. They wrote a scientific paper and gave an oral presentation about their research before a panel of judges. The top two winners in each category then gave additional presentations to vie for spots at the national competition.

To see a full list of winners including those by category, please visit cnsm.uaf.edu/ashsss-winners.

About the Alaska State High School Science Symposium: ASHSSS helps high school students in Alaska develop science research, writing and oral presentation skills as they work on research projects for the competition. The program is one of 46 regional affiliates of JSHS.

About the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium: The JSHS is designed to challenge and engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields and is a collaborative effort with the research arm of the U.S. Department of Defense and nationwide colleges and universities. Regional winners receive scholarship money and paid travel to the national JSHS competition.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Abel Bult-Ito, ASHSSS co-director and UAF professor of neurobiology and anatomy in the Department of Biology and Wildlife, at 907-978-2169 or abultito@alaska.edu

ON THE WEB: JSHS: www.jshs.org; ASHSSS: www.uaf.edu/cnsm/ashsss/