SSHS Hosts Annual Science Fair

presented its annual Science Fair Thursday night, showcasing hundreds of students' hard work over the past school year in visual displays.

Exhibits ranged from ninth grade projects to the senior Science Research program, whose presentations were so impressively complex that many needed extra explaining to onlookers. For instance, one project was titled, "Optimizing the Expression of Chemokine CCL3 for use in Tests of Cross-Reactivity and in Mice."

The author of that project is senior class Valedictorian Maria Passarelli. Passarelli is a member of the Science Research program and a finalist for the National Merit Award.

"The science fair is great because we get the chance to share our work with the comminuty, and parents can come and see what we've been doing in class," Passarelli said.

Ninth-grader Tom Ryan, 15, did a project on the Swine Flu.

"Many people don't realize that there was a much more damaging strain in 1918, where 50 million to 100 million people died," Ryan said. "Because our medical systems are so advanced, we can prevent that from happening now. We won't see another outbreak for at least another few decades."

Tenth grader Samantha Prashad's project was inspired by her garden at home. "The seeds from my spinach garden are originally from Giana, South America," Prashad said. "I wanted to examine the effects of microscopic vertabrates on the environment of the spinach."

Students in the Core 2 special education program displayed a project on the progress of caterpillars in metamorphosis. "We usually give them some kind of hands on project to complete," said Gina Peck, a Core 2 teacher. "We can step back and let them do their own work." Peck said the students also recently took a field trip to the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan.

Herb Weiss, a science teacher and coordinator of the Science Research program in the district, explained the significance of the fair.

"If you look around, it gives you an understanding of how well the school functions," Weiss said. "All freshmen and sophomores are required to participate, while the students in advanced chemistry and group 4 physics demonstrate their continuation in the sciences."

Weiss explained that there will be a Science Research Symposium on April 27 at the High School at 7 p.m. The student members of the program will go into further detail about their projects. Over the course of the program, students studied with mentors at higher education institutions to develop and prove or disapprove a theory in the science field.