By Debbie Adams
Roanoke County Public Schools held the annual Science Fair on Feb. 24 at Northside High
School with over 100 students entering individual or group projects.
According to RCPS, “The Roanoke County Science Fair brings together the best student projects
from Roanoke County’s secondary schools and the Roanoke Valley Governor’s School.”
Seventy-five projects were entered in the fair in both middle and high school divisions in
categories which included Behavioral and Social Sciences, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Earth and
Environmental Sciences, Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design, Materials Science, Physics,
Astronomy, Robotics and Intelligent Machines, Systems Software, Engineering Technology,
Animal Science, Biomedical Sciences, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Embedded
Systems, Statics and Dynamics, Microbiology, and Plant Sciences.
Several William Byrd Middle and High School students placed in the competition. Middle
school students in first, second, and third place will advance to the Western Virginia Regional
Science Fair at Hollins University on March 16. High school students taking first and second
place will be advancing to regionals.
The award winners include:
Marygann Jenkins of WBMS won first place in the middle school division in Chemistry with her
project “The Dissolution Rate of Bath Bombs with Different Amounts of Cornstarch.” Turns out
adding more cornstarch to bath bombs makes them dissolve more slowly.
Aaron Start of WBMS won second place in Chemistry with his project entitled, “Which Gas is
Most Efficient and Consistent in Tires?” According to his research, helium is more consistent
than nitrogen, but more expensive.
Oliver Moore of WBMS won third place in Chemistry with “Which Woods Would Warp More
than Other Woods When Weathered?” His research indicates Ash is the most reliable.
Brett Gardner (WBMS) won second place in the Physics and Astronomy category with “Hot or
Cold? How Far Will It Go? The Effect of Temperature on the Distance a Puck Travels.” He
conducted his experiment at the Lancerlot Sports Complex ice rink, determining that a heated
puck travels the farthest—more than ones that are frozen or room temperature. (The heated
pucks were warmed with a hair dryer.)
Sofia Gonzales and Kaylin Bumgarner from William Byrd High School won third place in the
Animal Sciences category for “Environmental Effect on the Migratory Behavior on Trichechus
manatus latirostris.”
Gonzales
Braeden Booth and Elizabeth Martinez, both band students at WBHS, won first place in the
Behavioral Sciences category with “The Effect of Different Music Genres on Blood Pressure.” According to their research, jazz is the best music genre for lowering blood pressure.
Jenny Nguyen (WBHS) won second place in the Behavioral Sciences category with “The
Associations of Chronic Pain and Obesity with Delay Discounting and Unhealthy Behaviors in
Individuals in Recovery from Substance Use Disorder.”
Kyle Saccocci (WBHS) won first place in the Biomedical and Health Science/Computational
Biology and Bioinformatics category with his project “Is Genotype-Based Dosing More
Effective than Conventional Dosing for the Anticoagulant Warfarin?”
Health Science/Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Grace Onwi (WBHS) won second place in Chemistry with “Investigations of the Reaction
Between Catalase and Different Volumes of Hydrogen Peroxide.”
Emma Rupe (WBHS) won third place in Earth and Environmental Science with her project
“Efficacy of Purification Methods on Local Stream Water.”
Andrew Bartley and Ryan McIntyre (WBHS) won second place in Materials Science with “The
Effect of Temperature on Trumpet Intonation.” A warm trumpet has better intonation. Both are
band students at William Byrd.
Gabrielle Romeo (WBHS) won second place in Microbiology with her project “The Effects of
Silver, Copper, and Nickel Infused Gauze on staphylococcus aureus.”
Meera Raichura won first place in Plant Science by “Determining which cryptochrome gen in A.
thaliana exhibits the most growth in the presences of a magnetic field.”
Other William Byrd Middle School students who advanced to the county science fair included:
- Emma Whitcomb, “Can Fertilizers and Phosphates Cause Algae to Ruin Our Underwater
Ecosystems?”
- Caleigh Aremia, “The Way of Heat”
- Jackson Price, “The Effect of Colors of Paint on Temperature of Boards after Sun
Exposure”
- Ace Adkins, “Under Pressure: The effect of air pressure on bike tires.” (40 psi is the best
pressure for bike riding)
Other William Byrd High School students who advanced to the county fair included:
- Kaylee Makuch and Graysen Divers, “The Effect of Temperature on
Chemiluminescence—the Limitations of the Cool Blue Light”
pictured)
- Macabe James and Cody Gardner, “An Analysis of Identifying Writing Samples
Authored by Students vs. Artificial Intelligence.” Teachers were asked to decide whether
an essay had been written by a student or by a student using artificial intelligence.
- Kendall Lecas, “Industrial Metal Performance in Oxidative-Corrosion Environments”
- Mallory Peroulas, “Rate of Evaporation from Select Moisture-Wicking Fabrics.” Tip: Choose polyester for the quickest drying.
The 2024 Roanoke County Science Fair was sponsored by Southern Auto.
Roanoke County Science Supervisor Tammy Sauls facilitated the 2024 event. She thanked the
students for their hard work, along with their teachers and the judges. She expressed her
appreciation to School Superintendent Dr. Ken Nicely for being a “champion for STEM
education.”
Nicely commended the students who participated not only for their love of learning science, but
for the communication skills they have developed which enabled them to explain their research
to the judges and to members of the public who visited this year’s fair.
