On Saturday, March 8, Niles North hosted and competed in the annual Illinois Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) regional science fair. Overall, 70 students presented a project, 52 of them earning gold, 13 earning silver, four earning bronze and one earning a participation medal. Those many awards placed Niles North first again beating Niles West and Stevenson High Schools.
The following students won gold awards:
Ilma Lodhi, Maggi Kreisheh, Moshe Rubin, Raisa Salik, Sam Bearman, Sara Berlowe, Sarah Ly, Shahina Hussain, Zainab Shah, Aaliyah Williams, Aidan Perreault, Ajmal Ahmed, Sasha Weiss, Alia Flowers, Amanda Ly, Ambria Benesch, Ashley D’Costa, Charmee Kamdar, Judy Kim, Christopher Scheithauer, Cindy Lawando, Daniel Kang, Elizabeth Poozhikunnel, Emily Roman, Emma Eschker, Jessica Clark, Jiedong Duan, Kiana Lee, Komal Khoja, Lily Shearer, Mary Jablowicz, Max Hill, Med Jimenez, Mia Temkin, Nathan Selinger, Nikko Quiballo, Paul Richter, Rahim Lalani, Samuel Eschker, Sara Siddiqui, Sara Wilson, Sayed Quraishi, Shahina Hussain, Sharmain Siddiqui, Sumona Banerjee, Sophie Cho, Suraya Kaiser, Syeda Zaidi, Vincent Rodriguez, Zach Harris, Shaina Kravetz, Zahra Domin and Zainab Shah
The following students won silver awards:
Matt Gaynes, Quynh Nguyen, Sarah Stauber, Sofia Tagkaloglou, Angela Martin, Jasmine Gloria, Brandon Sit, Daniel Kwak, Ethan Brown, Jess Lipka, Josh Byster, Joshua Tatsui and Victor Camacho
Bronze awards were given to Sam Dentzer, Spencer Schwartz, Eddy Kang and Faisal Khalid. Jimmy Gonzalez-Vicker earned a participation award.
Eight students also earned themselves the Best in Category award, which consists of a plaque and $50. Maggi Kreisheh won for cellular and molecular biology, Ilma Lodhi won for zoology, Suraya Kaiser won for consumer science, Sasha Weiss won for computer science, Nikko Quiballo won for electronics, Ambria Benesch won for environmental science, Sam Bearman won for material science, and Sam Eschker won for mathematics.
There were also plenty of special awards given out that night, including an invitation to one of the most prestigious science fairs in the world. Daniel Kang took home the Intel Computer Science award, earning himself $200 and a spot at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). This year, ISEF will be held in Los Angeles, California from May 11 to May 16.
Ambria Benesch was also invited to attend the International Sustainable World Energy Engineering Environment (I-SWEEEP) science fair to be held in Houston, Texas from April 30 to May 5.
Other special awards recipients are as follows:
Jimmy Gonzalez-Vicker and Zainab Shah – Stockholm Junior Water Prize
Jimmy Gonzalez-Vicker – American Meteorological Society
Raisa Salik – Society for In Vitro Biology
Komal Khoja – Chemistry Iota Sigma Pi Award
Amanda Ly – Association for Women Geoscientists
Sam Eschker – Mu Alpha Theta Mathematics Society
Only 32 of those who earned gold will be moving on to the project session state competition. Those students are Flowers, Rodriguez, Selinger, Lee, Salik, Berlowe, Domin, Lawando, the Eschker siblings, Duan, Khoja, Jimenez, Scheithauer, Banerjee, Kang, Kreisheh, Lalani, Ly, Siddiqui, Quiballo, Clark, Shah, Weiss, Roman, Lodhi, Jablowicz, Hill, Rubin, Richter, Kaiser, and Benesch. Three of these students will also be competing at the paper session State level; those students are Eschker, Rubin and Kreisheh. State takes place on May 3 at Northern Illinois University.
Congratulations to all participants and good luck moving forward!
