The Middlebrook School PTA and Wilton Education Foundation held the annual Middlebrook Science and Engineering Fair on Tuesday, Jan. 23. There were 67 students from sixth to eighth grades who participated across 46 projects exhibited at the fair.
This year, projects were evaluated by volunteer judges from fields spanning science and engineering, including employees from ASML, Wilton High School AP Chemistry students and the greater Fairfield County community. Top-performing projects in the categories life science, engineering and physical science will now advance to compete at the Connecticut Science and Engineering Fair, with finalists invited to Quinnipiac University this March.
Kabir Rokkam and Shushruth Balaji were awarded the “Best of Fair Award” for their project, “Beat The Peat! Rice husk, a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to peat moss.”
The annual “Teacher Award,” determined by student nominations, recognized Mrs. Janica Bagosy for her substantial commitment to students participating in the fair. In addition, the “Students’ Choice Award,” which was voted on by the entrants’ peers, was awarded to Brianna Shiue and Alison Pham, for their project titled “Hand Dryers and Bacteria.”
The Science and Engineering Fair Committee thanked Middlebrook Principal Jory Higgins, science teachers and staff; Wilton Public Schools Math and Science Curriculum Coordinator Dr. Trudy Denton; Superintendent Dr. Kevin Smith; and the Wilton Board of Education for their support in making this year’s science fair a success.
Before the prizes were awarded, participants and guests were treated to a live robotics demonstration by Wilton’s Singularity Technology and the Wilton High School Robotics Team.
Awards
Best of Fair
Kabir Rokkam and Shushruth Balaji, “Beat The Peat! Rice husk, a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative to peat moss”
7th & 8th Grade
Life Science
- 1st place: Vidit Prabhu and Mateo Arizu, “Green Grind — Can used coffee be used as an organic fertilizer rather than chemical fertilizer?”
- 2nd place: Nadia Khan, “Leveraging Zea Sheaths to Prolong Food Freshness: Mitigating Bacterial Growth and Reducing Food Spoilage”
- 3rd place: Arav Gupta and Gopika Kaimal, “Using Mycelia to create biodegradable alternatives to environmentally harmful substances”
Physical Science
- 1st place: Kanira Baskar, “Energy Content In Varieties of Foods”
- 2nd place: Leila Ward, “Shattering frequencies”
Engineering
- 1st place: Jackson Norful, “Burnt: Coding a novel web-based app to monitor stress and mental health in middle school students”
- 2nd place: Muskaan Kalra, “How Lie Detectors work”
- 3rd place: Ishan Chugh, “Wireless Power Transfer”
6th Grade
Life Science
- 1st place: Bennett Norful, “MicroMiddle: The presence of bacteria in common middle school areas that may contribute to infection risk”
- 2nd place: Serena DeCandido and Ava DiDonato, “How does an ecosystem become self-sustaining?
- 3rd place: Pratap Sharma, “Five-second rule”
Physical Science
- 1st place: Rohan Sardana and Carter Dobson, “Thermodynamics”
- 2nd place: Madison Siegel and Sofia Coppola, “Baking soda vs. Baking Powder”
- 3rd place: Athena Jiang and Carlotta Spano, “The World of Magnets”
Engineering
- 1st place: Anandita Arjun and Anamitra Arjun, “Effective pollutant monitoring device”
- 2nd place: Jiya Praveen, “Trivia Sweet Dispenser”
- 3rd place: Advitia Maheshwari, “Water distillation using solar energy”
