Northbrook Junior High Science Students Win Regional Competition

NORTHBROOK, IL — It was quite a showing for Northbrook Junior High School's Independence Science Research students, who recently brought home the Division C championship trophy following the Illinois Junior Academy of Science regional competition at Niles North High School.

According to district officials, 17 students received gold awards, two received silver and one received bronze, earning the school the best overall performance during the March 4 competition. The gold award winners qualify for the state competition, which will be held April 28-29 at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

To qualify for regionals, the students received gold awards at the school-based competition. Each student made a presentation to a panel of three judges on a research project they designed and completed in a semester-long independent science research class. The judges evaluate the oral presentation, the written work and scientific method of the experiments based on the Illinois Jr. Academy of Science rubric.

The students who received gold awards at the regional Illinois Junior Academy of Science and qualify for the state competition are Cailyn De Guzman, Lauren Yoon, Lily Smolik, Sasha Ship, Maya Schmitz, Wali Zeeshan, Lily Musselwhite, Aaria Mehta, Eila Song, and Sammi Saperstein;, Owen Brown, Zack Schwartz, Luke Davidson, Remi Weiman, Naoto Majoros, Henry Gartz and Andrew Wetter.

In addition, the following students earning special recognition:

• Cailyn DeGuzman — Material Science and Engineering Special Award
• Aaria Mehta — Best in Category for BioChem
• Luke Davidson — Best in Category for Engineering