Whiz Kid Scores at Science Fair

Name:  Victoria Laczo

School:  Eighth-grader at Eyer Middle School.

Accomplishment:  Victoria won a first place with a perfect score in the Field and Zoology category at the Region 3 science fair for the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science.

Students are scored on a rubric, or a set of rules, of 25 points in five areas by each judge. The scores are then divided by five and rounded; therefore a perfect score would be a 5.0, which was Laczo’s score. She also took home a $75 cash prize. 

Key to Awesomeness:  As her science fair project, Victoria chose the topic “How Do Different Types of Sunscreen Affect Marine Life?”  She did her experiment using brine shrimp and several different brands of sunscreen found in stores.

Victoria said, “I decided to use brine shrimp due to their quick life cycle, and they easily represented marine life.

“To run my experiment I took 10 empty Snapple bottles and filled them with the same amount of water.  An aeration system kept the water oxygenated. 

“Then I put in the shrimp.  In trials one and two, I hatched my own shrimp using special hatch mix, but in trial three, I used fully grown adult shrimp. 

“I then added a small amount of sunscreen and mixed it into the water.  I measured the overall health, longevity, color, maturation rate, and reproduction of the brine shrimp throughout all three trials.”

She discovered certain brands of sunscreen do, in fact, affect marine life.

Victoria’s favorite subject in school is science.  She is a member of the National Junior Honor Society, Mystix lacrosse team, and Little Fire Styx field hockey team.  She plans to try out for the Emmaus High School field hockey team as a goalie.  She also enjoys playing basketball and soccer.

Victoria plans to attend college and become a physical therapist, but at this time is unsure which college.