The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts claimed its sixth straight school title in the Southwest Energy Arkansas Science and Engineering Fair and set a new record for the number of students to qualify to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.
ASMSA finished in first place in the Best School category at the state science fair held March 30-31 at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. They were followed by Little Rock Central, Alma High School, Osceola High School and Pulaski Academy. Individual school awards are determined by the highest number of first-, second- and third-place finishes by the school’s students in each individual category. Schools must have a certain number of participants in the contest to be considered for the school prize.
ASMSA students also represented the school well in the Best in State and Overall categories. John Ostermueller of Little Rock placed second in the Best in State category. Students compete in the Best in State category if they won a place in their regional science fair. Ostermueller won first-place overall at ASMSA’s West Central Regional Science Fair in February.
Seven ASMSA students placed in the state Overall category, sweeping third through sixth place. The team of Lily Ann Easley of Garland City and Hollie Hagler of Ozark won third place; Rachel Stall of Clarksville won fourth place; Akarsh Kumar of Fayetteville won fifth place; and the team of Justin Austin of Sherwood, Brad Greenway of Jacksonville and Reed McCollum of Mulberry took sixth place.
Students who placed in the state Overall category qualified to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the largest international pre-college science competition and a program of the Society for Science and the Public, in Pittsburgh on May 13-19. They will join the three students who won the top three overall at ASMSA’s science fair— Ostermueller, Sanidhya Tripathi of Conway and Sabrina Jones of Russellville— and earned trips to compete at the international fair.
The 10 students who qualified for the international fair is the most in school history. ASMSA sent eight students to the international fair in 2017, tying a previous mark set in 2002. Nine of the 10 students are seniors. Stall is the first junior at ASMSA to qualify for the ISEF competition in 18 years, said Dr. Brian Monson, director of the West Central Regional Science fair and a physics instructor and chair of the Science Department at ASMSA.
Monson noted that it was an atypically good year for team projects at the state science fair, as well. He praised the ASMSA students’ achievements at the state fair, including individual category performances.
“ASMSA had one its most successful state science fairs ever,” Monson said. “Our students earned first place in eight of the fifteen categories they entered, and seven more ASMSA students qualified to compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair this May. These two team projects and two individual projects join the three ASMSA seniors who qualified for ISEF at the West Central Regional Science Fair in February. These awards recognize the strength of our curriculum and the authentic research experiences our students work through in their capstone projects.”
Students who finished third place or higher in their category at their regional fair were eligible to compete at the state science fair.
Arkansas Science and Engineering Fair Results
Students who earned first-place awards and their individual categories: team of Alison Follmer of Eureka Springs, Trace Jones of Cabot and Emma Hickok of Hot Springs Village, Animal Science; team of Justin Austin of Sherwood, Brad Greenway of Jacksonville and Reed McCollum of Mulberry, Computer Science; team of Emily Sullivan of Bryant and Luke Nester of Hot Springs, Earth and Planetary Science; team of Jared Block of Judsonia and Worthy Fleming of Little Rock; Rachel Stall of Clarksville, Environmental Sciences; Kyle Sadler of Alexander, Mathematics; Akarsh Kumar of Fayetteville, Physics and Astronomy; and the team of Lily Ann Easley of Garland City and Hollie Hagler of Ozark, Plant Sciences.
Students who earned second-place awards and their individual categories: Clementine Payne-Weeks of Greenbrier, Cellular and Molecular Biology; Benjamin Allen of Bella Vista, Computer Science; Callen Gast of Cabot, Mathematics; and team of Alyssa Easterling of Benton and Sarkis Kalajyan of Cherokee Village, Microbiology.
Students who earned third-place awards and their individual categories: Ly Hoang of Jonesboro, Animal Science; Katie Evans of Bryant, Behavioral and Social Science; Jarrell Imamura of Conway, Cellular and Molecular Biology; Toby Ebarb of Sherwood, Computer Science; Halo Skinner of Sherwood, Environmental Sciences; and Kashti Shah of Marion.
Students who earned honorable mention awards and their individual categories: Riddhi Modi of Hot Springs, Chemistry; Johnathan Cato of Blytheville, Engineering: Eletrical and Mechanical; Noah Raby of Newport, Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering; Louis Lammers of Blytheville, Mathematics; Joanne Lee of Gosnell, Microbiology; and Devin Sha of Stuttgart, Plant Sciences.
Several special awards were announced. They included:
Arkansas Fisheries Best Project: Rachel Stall of Clarksville and her adviser, Dr. Lindsey Waddell;
Acxiom Award (for computer science): team of Justin Austin of Sherwood, Brad Greenway of Jacksonville and Reed McCollum of Mulberry;
Computer Science Teachers Association Award: team of Justin Austin of Sherwood, Brad Greenway of Jacksonville and Reed McCollum of Mulberry, first place; Benjamin Allen of Bella Vista, second place;
Intel Excellence in Computer Science: team of Justin Austin of Sherwood, Brad Greenway of Jacksonville and Reed McCollum of Mulberry;
Mark Welch Excellence in Animal Science Research Award: Emma Hickok of Hot Springs Village;
Mu Alpha Theta (for mathematics): Kyle Sadler of Alexander;
Office of Naval Research (for environmental science): Rachel Stall of Clarksville;
UCA Physics Department Award: Akarsh Kumar of Fayetteville; and
U.S. Air Force: Akarsh Kumar of Fayetteville, Physics; Kyle Sadler of Alexander, Mathematics; and Benjamin Allen of Bella Vista, Computer Science.
Contestants also competed in the Arkansas Science and Engineering Fair Junior Academy of Sciences. Participants give an oral presentation of their research, which is judged. Students who won awards in the Junior Academy of Sciences include:
Overall: Akarsh Kumar of Fayetteville, second place; team of Saoirse Disney-McKeethen of Fayetteville and Morgan Russell of Wilson, third place;
First place: Katie Evans of Bryant, Behavioral Science; team of Lily Ann Easley of Garland City and Hollie Hagler of Ozark, Plant Science; team of Emily Sullivan of Bryant and Luke Nester of Hot Springs, Earth Science; Kyle Sadler of Alexander, Mathematics; Clementine Payne-Weeks of Greenbrier, Cellular and Molecular Biology; team of Alyssa Easterling of Benton and Sarkis Kalajyan of Cherokee Village, Microbiology; Akarsh Kumar of Fayetteville, Physics and Astronomy; and Saoirse Disney-McKeethen of Fayetteville and Morgan Russell of Wilson, Animal Science.
Second place: Sanidya Tripathi of Conway, Chemistry; Benjamin Allen of Bella Vista, Computer Science; Camlilia Nauden of Augusta, Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering; Rachel Stall of Clarksville, Environmental Science; Louis Lammers of Blytheville, Mathematics; Sabrina Jones of Russellville, Medicine and Health Science; and Cassidy Alexander of North Little Rock, Microbiology.
Third Place: Tanner Adams of Arkadelphia, Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering; and Kashti Shah of Marion, Microbiology.