Middle School Students Earn Recognition at Jersey Shore Science Fair

A contingent of science students recently competed in the largest Jersey Shore Science Fair in history, with one student advancing to the prestigious Delaware Valley competition.

The Jersey Shore Science Fair, held at the on March 17, featured a record number 700 projects from 43 different schools, according to Science Teacher Debra Sommers.

“There was anywhere between 20 and 40 projects in each division,” Sommers said. “We had one student make it to the Delaware Valley competition. She didn’t win, but she and all the students did an awesome job representing the school.”

The student who advanced was Deanna Bigio, who placed third in the Jersey Shore competition. Her project focused on the sensitivity of a martial artist’s skin. The project, titled “Martial Artists … They Don’t Feel a Thing,” explored whether or not constant physical contact made a martial artist’s skin more or less sensitive than the skin of other people.

The Delaware Valley Fair was held April 3-5 in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

Bigio was present and dressed in martial arts gear during Monday night’s Galloway Township Board of Education meeting at the middle school, where she and the other students who participated in the fair were honored.

Galloway Township Middle School student Gitika Malhotra took home Honorable Mention honors for his project, “Drink at Your Own Risk.”

Caitlyn Fee and Nick Polis also presented projects at the Jersey Shore Fair. Fee’s project was titled, “Going … Going … Dark,” and Polis’ project was titled, “Water: Dirty or Clean.”

“We work on these projects from September through March,” Sommers said. “They’re not graded. The kids do it for the love of science.”