Pelham Students Participate in Science Research Fair

From Pelham Public Schools: The Pelham Middle School STEAM Research Club participated in its first non-competitive display poster event on March 18. The students presented their work and showcased their science research poster boards. The club, supervised by Mrs. Maria Buckley, is in its first year and has been assisted by the PMHS sceience research students. The middle schoolers first competition will be at the Tri-County Science and Technology Fair on April 22 at White Plains High School.

Among the topics that the students researched was designing a waterproof and more comfortable back brace for people with scoliosis, finding which sugar yeast was able to metabolize during respiration, determining how music affects memory and attention, and finding how closely related dogs are to wolves.

“I really enjoy it,” said 6th grader Leah Sherbansky, who studied bacteria growth on surfaces at home and in school. “What really made me want to do this was that I want to limit the spread of diseases and the spread of bacteria at home and at school.”

Eighth grader Jamie Burke, who is working on improving back braces for people with scoliosis, said the experience at the poster display event was helpful and she is looking forward to competing soon.

“I learned how not to be nervous when you’re presenting and how to explain my project to people who don’t know all of the research,” she said.

Sixth grader Julia Meyerson also said she enjoyed presenting her work, and has learned a lot from her experiment involving yeast fermentation, which she chose because of her love of baking.

“I find it very interesting how something you bake with and don’t really think twice about is actually a living organism,” Julia said.

Photos courtesy of Pelham Public Schools