Students Earn WESEF Medals, Junior Advances to International Genius Olympiad
Five members of the high school Science Research program – Annie Horowitz, Aayushi Jha, Elizabeth Lee, David Markowitz and Hannah Monack – earned awards at the 19th annual Westchester Science & Engineering Fair, held at Sleepy Hollow High School on March 16. The competition featured more than 650 projects from 41 high schools across Putnam and Westchester counties.
Horowitz, a senior, won the Stockholm Junior Water Prize; Jha, a senior, won third place in the Environmental Science category; Lee, a junior, won second place in the Medicine and Health category; Markowitz, a senior, won the Critical Behavioral Science Achievement Award, and Monack, a senior, won third place in the Medicine and Health category.
In addition, Lee was awarded a grand prize and will advance to the prestigious International Genius Olympiad, which will be held June 17-21 at SUNY Oswego. She will compete against 1,200 students from 75 countries and 39 U.S. states.
“This is a very prestigious award and well-deserved,” said Nadia Parikka, who advises the program with Stephanie Schilling and Geri Winterroth. “I have known Elizabeth as a student for the last three years. I met her as a freshman in our Honors Biology class and have had the pleasure of watching her develop into a lovely young scientist through this Science Research program.”
Other presenters at the fair included seniors Julia Caldropoli, Rishi Madabhushi, Inez Mendez, Ben Schiffman, Erika Sipos, Chrysime Wong and Jerry Wu, and juniors Zoe Jacobs and Maxwell Riseman.
“All the presenters are hardworking and put a lot of passion into their work,” Parikka said. “They spent countless hours with their mentors, writing their own research papers and presenting their impressive poster boards at the competitions this year. We are so proud of them.”