Lakeland’s collective IQ increased exponentially this week as more than 800 students who won their counties’ science fairs converged on the RP Funding Center for the 69th annual State Science and Engineering Fair of Florida.
The middle and high school students brought 700 projects to the three-day fair, which concludes today. They are competing in 13 categories — everything from agricultural and biomedical engineering to plant sciences.
More than $1.2 million in scholarship nominations are expected to be awarded this evening, including a new Florida Polytechnic University State Science Fair Provost Scholarship. Up to five of the Florida Poly awards will be given out, which include $2,470 per semester over four years.
The awards ceremony will be live-streamed on the fair’s Facebook page. The list of winners will be posted to the group’s webpage.
There are 17 Polk County students competing this year:
Katya Isabel Gonzalez
- School: Dundee Ridge Middle Academy
- Category: Biomedical and Health Sciences
- Project: “Sweet Juice!”
Mattison Phillips
- School: Davenport’s Ridge Global Studies Academy
- Category: Chemistry
- Project: “How Dark Beverages Affect the Color of Your Teeth”
Zoe Alice Quel
- School: Davenport’s Ridge Global Studies Academy
- Category: Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Project: “Methods to Prevent Beach Erosion”
Ellen Rayno
- School: Davenport’s Ridge Global Studies Academy
- Category: Physics
- Project: “Polar Opposites”
Megan Riley Heter and Savannah Kay Watts
- School: Dundee Ridge Middle Academy
- Category: Physics
- Project: “Run, Hide Fight”
Noah Stone
- School: Davenport’s Ridge Global Studies Academy
- Category: Animal Sciences
- Project: “Does Temperature Affect the Superworm Life Cycle?”
Santiago Aguirre Lopez
- School: Haines City High School International Baccalaureate
- Category: Biomedical and Health Sciences
- Project: “The Effect of Antacid Pills on Your Stomach”
Farha Rubiya Rahman
- School: Haines City High School International Baccalaureate
- Category: Chemistry
- Project: “The Effect of Rosemary Essential Oil on the Peroxide Value and Rancidity of Olive Oil”
Syed Imtiaz Rob
- School: Haines City High School International Baccalaureate
- Category: Cellular/Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
- Project: “Investigating Neurotransmitter Precursor Amino Acid Stability at Different Human Body Temperatures”
Audrey Mabel Bristol Rodas
- School: Haines City High School International Baccalaureate
- Category: Earth and Environmental Sciences
- Project: Investigating the Quality of Florida Soils
Danielle Barcos Howell and Faith Chika Okereafor
- School: Bartow International Baccalaureate
- Category: Engineering, Machines and Systems Software
- Project: “Can It Take The Heat?”
Aksh Sachin Ladegaonkar
- School: Bartow International Baccalaureate
- Category: Microbiology
- Project: “Antimicrobial Properties of Metals Against Staphylococcus epidermis”
Alexandra Beatriz Eary
- School: Haines City High School International Baccalaureate
- Category: Physics
- Project: “What is the Ringing? Does the Density of Water in a Glass and the Glass Shape Affect its Resonant Frequency?”
Isabella Wenxiu Wang
- School: Haines City High School International Baccalaureate
- Category: Plant Sciences
- Project: “Should Trees Melow-Tone-In for Citrus Greening?”
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