Competition Celebrates Bucks County Students’ Scientific Research
Bucks County students gathered at Delaware Valley University to share their scientific research at the Bucks County Science Research Competition open house and awards ceremony on Wednesday, March 13. The competition encourages local students to explore scientific research and celebrates their work.
The competition attracted a diverse group of students who submitted more than 400 projects. The event kicked off March 11 and ran through March 13. The competition was open to grades 6 through 12 and included 13 different categories. Over $6,000 in cash prizes were awarded, along with thousands of dollars in scholarship offers from DelVal. Competition winners who enroll at the University are eligible for a variety of significant scholarships. The top scholarship is a full-tuition award for the first-place winners in the biochemistry and chemistry categories of the competition.
The University offered full full-tuition scholarships to first place winners Gabriel Wingert, of Central Bucks High School West, and Andrew Yang, of Central Bucks High School East.
Students said they enjoyed having a chance to participate.
“I liked that I could do scientific experiments and find something that I could apply to real life,” said Max Lin, a seventh-grader from Newtown Middle School, about competing for the first time.
Entries explored a wide range of topics and questions.
Lauren Boylan, an eighth-grader from Holicong Middle School, said she enjoyed seeing “the diverse projects and what other students were doing.”
Credit: Delaware Valley University. Lauren Boylan, an eighth-grader from Holicong Middle School, with her poster.
Students showed off a combination of scientific research and artistic creativity as they presented their work to the community. Genevieve Adamow, a sixth-grader from Our Lady of Mount Carmel, looked at sunglasses and which kind of lenses offer the best protection for her project. Her project, “Color Me Protected,” included a giant pair of sunglasses that she made for the competition.
Credit: Delaware Valley University. Genevieve Adamow, a sixth-grader from Our Lady of Mount Carmel,
with her poster on sunglasses and sun protection.
DelVal has been partnering with the competition for about 30 years providing space for the event and, faculty volunteers. The following DelVal faculty helped judge this year’s competition:
- Dr. Gary Fortier, from the Department of Animal Biotechnology and Conservation
- Laura Herbst, from the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Management
- Dr. Cynthia Keler, Bridget McLaughlin, and Dr. Elizabeth Skendzic, from the Department of Biology
- Dr. Jimmy Mopecha, Jeff Young, and Michael Tabachnick, from the Department of Mathematics and Physics
Dr. Jason Downs, from the Department of Biology, serves as DelVal’s contact for the competition.
For more information, please visit sites.google.com/site/bcsrchome.