The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts won the school trophy and two students were recognized among the best projects in the state at the Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair.
Junior Miranda Lee of Conway won second place in the Best in State Individual Awards, and junior Anna Le of Fort Smith placed third in the Best in State Individual Awards. Their placement in the state competition qualified them to compete at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, which will be held May 10-16 in Columbus, Ohio.
They will join four other ASMSA students — seniors Kolten Shook of North Little Rock, senior Lukas Bowler of Hot Springs, senior Carmella Lewis of Alma, and senior Christine Dunning of Clarksville — who earned the opportunity to compete at ISEF at the West Central Regional Science Fair held at ASMSA in February. ISEF is the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition. Students from around the world are expected to compete for awards, prizes and scholarships.
The school trophy winner is determined by the number of points each school accumulates based on their place award winners divided by the total number of projects entered in the state science fair. The Arkansas State Science and Engineering Fair was held April 4-5 at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
State science fair participants also compete for individual awards within various topic categories. ASMSA participants who earned individual awards were:
Animal Sciences: 2. Team of Mason Meenen of Gravette and Plinio Tola of Little Rock 3. Team of Evan Fowlkes of Mountain View and Kendra Grant of Bismarck Honorable Mention — Reagan Smith of Marion
Behavior and Social Sciences: 1. Sindia Michael of Jonesboro 2. Alice Dong of Arkadelphia
Cellular and Molecular Biology: 2. Team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Syed Imam of Little Rock Honorable Mention — Kayleigh Murphy of Alexander
Chemistry: 3. Team of Nathan Grady of Blytheville, Emily Lin of Little Rock and Kaitleen Toh of White Hall
Computer Science: 3. Team of Kelvin Orduna of Huntsville, Evan Quirk of West Fork and Cody Schulist of Russell
Earth and Planetary Science: 1. Team of Drayton Makepeace of Hagarville and Riley Richardson of Belleville
Energy and Transportation: 2. Karilynn Arrellano of Mineral Springs
Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering: 2. Miranda Lee of Conway
Environmental Management: 1. Team of Daymond Franklin of Lexa and Haven Herring of Benton 2. Kaiyan Yu of Benton 3. Team of Finneas Salazar of Searcy and Ezekiel Summers of Paragould
Enivronmental Science: 1. Kira Burnett of Farmington 2. Aarush Goyal of Little Rock Honorable Mention: Team of Ashley Espinoza of Corning, Addison Nance of Delight and Maxien Uriarte of Sparkman
Mathematical Science: 1. Anna Le of Benton 2. Jackson Whittaker of Benton
Medical and Health Science: 1. Meera Patel of Hot Springs
Microbiology: 2. Team of John Carter of Hot Springs Village, Aurora Moran of Cabot and Thor Seay of Hot Springs Honorable Mentions: Maya Allen of Harrison and Paola Sustaita of Sheridan
Physics and Astronomy: Honorable Mention: Team of Ty Carmichael of Hot Springs, Titan Dinwiddie of Sherwood and Levi Fason of Conway
Plant Sciences: 1. Team of Nora Medlock of Dyer and Bianca Navarro of Hot Springs 2. Jeremiah Chen of North Little Rock
Participants who earned ISEF qualification at their regional science fairs are eligible to compete in the state science fair in an ISEF Finalists category. ASMSA students who earned recognition in that category include Carmella Lewis of Alma, second place, and the team of Kolten Shook of North Little Rock and Lukas Bowler of Hot Springs, honorable mention.
Several Special Awards were also announced during the competition. ASMSA students who earned recognition are:
American Psychological Association award for an excellent project related to psychology: Team of Nathan Grady of Blytheville, Emily Lin of Little Rock and Kaitleen Toh of White Hall
Arkansas American Fisheries Society Award for students and teachers whose projects promote the objectives of the society: Kira Burnett of Farmington and Dr. Allyn Dodd Honorable Mention: Team of Graydon Anderson of Little Rock and Syed Imam of Little Rock.
Arkansas Environmental Education Association awarded for projects that promote environmental literacy in Arkansas: Kira Burnett of Farmington and Paola Sustaita of Sheridan
Arkansas Soybean Challenge award for projects that advance knowledge of soybean science: 3. Team of Bianca Navarro of Hot Springs and Nora Medlock of Dyer and Dr. Lindsey Waddell, advisor
EE Quest Award, sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment, for a project that showcases the next generation’s quest for advancements in science related to energy production or protection of the environment: Kaiyan Yu of Benton.
NASA EARTH System Science Award for an outstanding project in Earth System Science: Kira Burnett of Farmington
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration award for a project related to ecosystems, climate, weather and transportation: Aarush Goyal of Little Rock
Naval Science Award by the Office of the Navy for excellent student research: Kira Burnett of Farmington and Meera Patel of Hot Springs
Prince Award by the University of Central Arkansas Department Award for projects that demonstrate excellent use of physics: Miranda Lee of Conway
Yale Science and Engineering Association award for the top 11th-grade project in the areas of computer science, engineering, physics or chemistry: Kaiyan Yu of Benton.