On Monday, February 29th, 300 budding scientists, from throughout Hudson County, arrived at the Liberty Science Center to participate in the Jersey City Medical Center – Barnabas Health’s STEM Showcase science fair. Ranging from grades 5 through 12, these young scientists were given the opportunity to present their research to a team of judges from Jersey City Medical Center and New Jersey City University.

Although this is the 58th iteration of a STEM showcase event, this is the first year that the Jersey City Medical Center has sponsored the event.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals were awarded to young scientists for each of the elementary grades and in 17 high school categories ranging from physics, engineering, and medicine and health.

Within the high school group, the 13 Gold Medal finalists were placed in a round of “super judging” where they presented their projects in much more detail. Two of the 13 finalists, Christopher Frias and Giselle Pena of Union City High School, were in fact participants in the 2015 Partners in Science Program here at the Liberty Science Center. Out of the super judging round, two finalists will be chosen to represent the STEM Showcase at the Intel International Science and Enginnering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona this spring.

Within the younger group, finalists will be chosen to advance to attend the Broadcom Masters competiion in Washington D.C.

Winners of the super judging round will be announced in the near future. As for the medalist receipients from the STEM Showcase, a special ceremony will be held in April at New Jersey City University.

The following are the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal receipients from the showcase:

Elementary and Middle School

Gold Medals:

Krushay Bhavsar, Huber Street School, Secaucus—Grade 6

Yasmeena Elmahdy, Veterans’ Memorial School, Union City—Grade 5

Hudson Matullo, Wallace School, Hoboken—Grade 5

Aashi Mishra, Huber Street School, Secaucus—Grade 5

Tyler Lam, Huber Street School, Secaucus—Grade 6

Alberto Landaverde, Woodrow Wilson School, Union City—Grade 7

Arsh Banarjee, Nicholas Oresko School, Bayonne—Grade 8

Jenha Jalajel, Emerson Middle School, Union City—Grade 8

Team:Alexander Vogiatzis, Andrew Kibalo and George Vogiatzis, Explore 2000 Middle School, Jersey City—Grade 7

Silver Medals:

Sophia Benavente-Sayani, Huber Street School, Secaucus—Grade 5

Five Brianna Crespo, Veterans’ Memorial School, Union City—Grade 5

Chase Kemmerer, Hoboken Catholic—Grade 5

Melany Matos, Woodrow Wilson School, Union City—Grade 5

Sofia Oro, St. Nicholas School, Jersey City—Grade 6

Ergen Banja, Secaucus Middle School—Grade 7

Andres Zuniga, Woodrow Wilson School, Union City—Grade 7

Seven Amy Ghaly, Woodrow Wilson School, Bayonne—Grade 8

Bronze Medals:

Ayush Agarwal, Clarendon School, Secaucus—Grade 5

Juan Gonzales, St. Nicholas School, Jersey City—Grade 5

Darius Rush, Frank R. Conwell PS # 3, Jersey City—Grade 5

Madison Duboue, Woodrow Wilson School, Union City—Grade 6

Ruqya Elouarraq, Woodrow Wilson School, Union City—Grade 6

Vedanti Patil, PS # 27, Alfred Zampella School, Jersey City—Grade 6

William Rial, St. Francis Academy, Union City—Grade 6

John Pena-Batista, St. Augustine’s School, Union City—Grade 7

Ahmad Khalil, Academy I, Jersey City—Grade 7

Eshaan Mangat, Secaucus Middle School—Grade 8

Sri Manyata Peddioti, Secaucus Middle School—Grade 8

Kaitlyn Romero, Emerson Middle School, Union City—Grade 8

High School

Gold Medals:

Cisco Espinosa, Bayonne High School

Emely Fernandez, Dickinson High School

Christopher Frias, Union City High School

Nardeen Khella, Bayonne High School

Shane Meledathu, McNair Academic High School

Kara Neal, High Tech High School

Srija Patcha, McNair Academic High School

Giselle Pena, Union City High School

Josue Sanchez, Union City High School

Sarbari Sarkar, McNair Academic High School

Emily Tumbaco, Union City High School

Raefah Wahid, Mc Nair Academic High School

Jackson Weaver, McNair Academic High School

Silver Medals:

Victoria Cuevas, Bayonne High School

Melanie Arroyave, Bayonne High School

Anakarla Gonzalez, Union City High School

Charles Ta, Union City High School

Fujia Ren, High Tech High School

Isadora Faris, Bayonne High School

Mehul Modi, McNair Academic High School

Arhum Choudhry, Bayonne High School

Juhi S. Naik, McNair Academic High School

Wahhaj Khokar, McNair Academic High School

Jaqueline Suarez, Union City High School

Gayatri Anguloori, McNair Academic High School

Team: Mackenzie Woods, Colin Woods and Vincent Calderone, Bayonne High School

Bronze Medals:

Brandon Lyons, Hoboken High School

Jessica Zakkak, McNair Academic High School

Vanessa Martinez, Union City High School

Jisell Rosario, Union City High School

Sophia Dominguez, Union City High School

Anish Patel, Bayonne High School

Parth Vora, McNair Academic High School

Genesis Osorio, Union City High School

Justin Gabriel, McNair Academic High School

Aastha Patel, Dickinson High School

Hasumi Hayashi, High Tech High School

Harshal Agrawal, McNair Academic High School

Justin Di’Angelo Quezada, Union City High School

Nina Arslanovic, McNair Academic High School

Musef Syed, McNair Academic High School

Varun Choski, Dickinson High School

Shivam Patel, Dickinson High School

Wabil Asjad, McNair Academic High School

Jessica Driscoll, High Tech High School

Edith Vu, McNair Academic High School

Team: Alyanna Mejias and Kiara-Lynn Jimenez, M.E.T.S. Charter School

Team: Martina Eskander and Martina Yousef, Bayonne High School

Congratulations to all the winners!

STEM blog by Alejandro Melendez. Alejandro is a Distance Learning Specialist here at the science center. He also facilitates Electronic Field Trips and our very popular Live From Surgery program.