Mahopac High School students Mikaela DiBello and Samantha Hacket are on a roll, scientifically speaking. Mikaela won first place in Chemistry and Samantha Hackett won second place in Biology last week for their science research projects at the Tri-County Science and Technology Competition at White Plains High School. The pair also won awards at the Westchester Science and Engineering Fair in March.
Mikaela DiBello earned first place in chemistry in the competition for her work on altering the chemistry of popular hair-care products to create a better beauty-balm type of cream and cleansing conditioner. She was able to create a product that was more effective in increasing the manageability of hair and a cleansing conditioner that was equal in performance with other products already on the market.
“I love chemistry and wanted to apply it to everyday life,” said Mikaela.
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Samantha Hackett won second place in Biology for her study of the effects of the nutritional value of a chicken egg when the hen is exposed to a 27-hour day. She used a schedule of 14 hours of light and 13 hours of dark, instead of a typical 14 light, 10 dark. The 27-hour group had a vitamin A increase of 19.6 percent, while the control group had an increase of 1.2 percent cholesterol and 0.10% more of polyunsaturated fat.
“I've raised ducks and hens,” Samantha said, “and I wanted to see if giving them more rest would create a more nutritional egg.” Samantha, through her experiment, found that it did.
Mahopac High School’s Science and Technology Research course enables students to perform authentic, original independent scientific research.
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“I couldn't be more proud of Mikaela, Samantha and the rest of our Science Research and Technology students for their hard work and dedication,” said Mahopac High School science teacher Jennifer Degl.
All entrants in the Tri-County Science and Technology Competition present their projects both visually and orally, to a minimum of two judges comprising scientists and engineers specific to their fields. The competition is open to students in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties,
