Between a Special Award from the Society of In-vitro Biology and second place in their category, the Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair proved productive for juniors Abby Schneider and Sarah Quattrocki.
The pair, along with another team of Alison Lenert and Mili Mittal, competed on April 2 at Old Dominion University at the state science fair competition. Both teams were grand prize winners at Marshall’s science fair and placed first at the Fairfax County Regional Science and Engineering Fair on March 20.
“We wanted to show the harmful effects of pharmaceutical runoff,” Schneider said of her team’s project.
IB Biology 1 teacher Sunny Nieh said that the team’s project “was a successful project because they did everything a good science project should do,” citing their extensive research and data.
Schneider and Quattrocki both had gone to the regional science fair in previous years, but neither had qualified for the state competition before. Schneider had called making it to states their “biggest goal for this year.”
Neither Schneider nor Quattrocki will be required to complete a science fair project next year, though they are still “undecided” about pursuing an extension of their research, according to Quattrocki.
“Anybody could do a great science fair project,” Nieh said, if he or she is willing to commit to the topic.