Ossining Student Wins Top State Science Prize

Ossining High School Senior Juliet Ivanov received the top prize at the 30th Annual Upstate New York Junior Science and Humanities Symposium over the weekend and will lead the New York delegation at the 53rd National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium April 29-May 2.

This is the third consecutive year that an Ossining student has finished in first place at the New York symposium. Science research students from 42 schools competed in the event, which was judged by scientists and industry experts.

Elizabeth Keeley, also an Ossining High School senior, placed second overall in the state competition and secured the second spot in the delegation to the national symposium in Hunt Valley, Maryland. This is the first time the two New York representatives are from the same school. Both their projects are in the biochemistry field.

Ossining High School student Christopher Gallego earned a trip to the nationals as a student observer by winning the Biomedical Sciences competition and finishing in fifth place overall in the state symposium.

At the national competition, 230 of the most promising young scientists in the country present their research to professional scientists for numerous cash awards and scholarships.

The local selection process to choose the best in New York began on Feb. 7 at the Westchester-Rockland Junior Science Humanities and Symposium at John Jay High School in Cross River. More than 400 students from 34 high schools competed in the event. Ossining students earned eight first-place awards.

Angelo Piccirillo, one of the two science research teachers from Ossining, is quick to point out that Ossining has outstanding research students who are dedicated to making a difference. “The fact that these students shine among so many bright young scientists from numerous other schools make these results even more gratifying,” he said.

Valerie Holmes, who co-teaches the Ossining High School Science Research Program, credits the consistent success of the Ossining Science research students to the collaboration that exists between the all the teachers, mentors and staff of Ossining High School, along with parental support.

“Our philosophy is simply to nourish an environment that puts all our students in the best position possible to succeed and then it is up to them to take advantage of the opportunity,” she said.

The outstanding effort by the students of the Ossining research program was augmented by several other impressive research projects whose merit was recognized at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. They are

Tess Halpern- 2nd place in Behavioral Sciences;

Charles Gulian-2nd place in Physical Sciences;

Stephanie Becker- 3rd place in Biomedical Sciences;

Ariel Kanevsky- 3rd place in Physical Sciences;

David Leibert- 4th place in Behavioral Sciences;

Rebecca Hannan- 4th place in Biomedical Sciences.