Sleepy Hollow Students Land in Top 100- International Physics Contest

Rising Sleepy Hollow High School (SHHS) senior Emily Orellana wins third place in the “Contrived Category” in the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) photo contest. Eight Sleepy Hollow Advanced Placement Physics 2 students place in the top 100.

Each year the AAPT hosts an international contest for high school students which provides them with an opportunity to explore physics on a new level. Teachers and students work together to explore natural and contrived phenomena by creating artwork and writing about their process and findings. They then compete against their peers and are judged on several photographic details and an essay of no more than 250 words. There is a limit of 15 entries per school, which SHHS took advantage of, and in mid-July winners, who were chosen by a committee of physics teachers, were announced. This year, there were more than 500 submissions.

Several Sleepy Hollow High School students came in the top 100 for their photography and essays. “I thought we had some strong photographs. Students who listened to feedback and put forth the most effort are the students that ended up making it into the top 100,” Sleepy Hollow High School physics teacher Leila Madani said. “I was pleased with our performance and I actually feel that we had a couple more photos that could have won the top prizes.”

Students at Sleepy Hollow are given the opportunity to take 9th Grade Honors Physics their freshman year and then AP Physics 2 in either their junior or senior year. This year three seniors, class of 2023, were selected for the Top 100 for their entries; Carter Grose for "Waterworks", Daisy Guichay for "Physics Saves the Little Monster", and Sophia Golub for "Skipping Stones." The following from the upcoming class of 2024 were also selected for the Top 100 for their entries; Emily Orellana for "Melting Smiley Face", Devin Chimbo for "Spinning Coin", Arturo Almanzar for "Cheese Fondue", Cynthia Pintado for "Water-Salt Art", and Sebastian Hernandez for "Wine Lens."

In 2016 Sleepy Hollow High School received the Physics in Focus grant through The Foundation for the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns to purchase a Nikon. This camera has been requested by several students every year to take photographs for this competition. This year, Cynthia Pintado used the Nikon to capture her salt-ice art photo.

Emily Orellana used her phone camera to capture her award-winning photo. “Emily had submitted her photo to me and really worked hard. When she took the first set of photos, we decided to focus more on the images through the stream. Even once she captured the photo we eventually submitted, she continued to take more photos to see if she could take an even better one,” said Ms. Madani. “What was really impressive about her submission was that it was on the topic of geometric optics and lenses, which was a topic that hadn’t been discussed yet in class. So she had to pre-teach the concepts to herself to write her essay.” Ms. Orellana stated in her essay, “Refraction, or the bending of light, occurs when light changes speed and direction when passing through different materials forming an image,” indicating that some light rays were bent at more extreme angles, causing the melting effect at the bottom of the stream.

Ms. Madani has been working with students throughout the year to help them perfect their understanding of physics and capture it in action. Art and science come together to bring a whole new perspective. “What I really like about this project is that these kids are bringing art into physics; this is the whole idea behind STEAM and it’s pretty cool,” Ms. Madani said. “They can take a picture of something they feel may be physics and then explore the science behind what makes the photo so striking.”