On Saturday, February 3, 2024, the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) Regional Competition was held at Baldwin High School. Quaker Valley Middle School had the best showing of scientific experimental design they have had in many years. A total of 17 students from Ms. Margot Bruno's 8th Grade 4000-Level Physical Science Class presented their experimental design project to the judges at this year's regional competition.
Students are placed in small presentation groups by topic category and age group to present their self-designed experiment which they have worked on for many months. Students compete against the criteria of a well-controlled experiment and presentation quality rather than competing against each other. All students who earned a first-place award are also invited to present their experiment at the PJAS state competition in May, which is held at Penn State University in State College. Twelve Quaker Valley students qualified for the next round of competition.
QVMS Students:
Rachel Abbott - ZOOLOGY - Analyzing the Correlation Between Dog Breeds and IQ Score
2nd place
Lila Carver - PHYSICS - Air Pressure Related to How Many Times a Soccer Ball Bounces
2nd place
Charlotte Chappell - CHEMISTRY - Analyzing the Effect of Different Lip Balm on Water Droplets
2nd place
Elena Cindrich - BOTANY - The Effect of the Speed of Classical Music on Plant Growth
1st place
Director’s Award for top score in middle school in the category of botany ($100 prize)
Carter Hawes - PHYSICS - Analyzing How Far Different Tennis Ball Brands Can Travel
1st place
Rachel Johnson - BIOLOGY - Analyzing the Effect of Substances on Apple Brown Spots
1st place
Zoe Hermenau - ZOOLOGY - Effect of Bird Food Type on Diversity of Winter Birds
1st place
Joseph Kamnikar - PHYSICS - Analyzing the Effect of Different Brands of Wiffle Ball Bats
2nd place
Leasia Karto - MICROBIOLOGY - Bacteria Growth in Viral Brands of Liquid Blush
1st place
Madelyn Main - PHYSICS - How High a Basketball Bounces on Different Ground Surfaces
1st place
Lucy Montagnese - PHYSICS - Analyzing the Effect of Stretching Warm-Up on Running Time
2nd place
Cameron Neal - PHYSICS - Analyzing the Velocity of Different Brands of Baseballs
1st place
Hannah Olawaiye - BOTANY - Analyzing the Effect of Npk Levels on the Height of Parsley
1st place
Lena Rothbauer - BEHAVIORAL PSYCHOLOGY - Effect of Exposure to Vocabulary on Spelling Level
1st place
Director’s Award for top score in middle school in the category of behavioral psychology ($100 prize)
Katie Schillo - ZOOLOGY - Disco Party in the Coop: What Light Do Chickens Like Best?
1st place
Director’s Award for top score in middle school in the category of zoology ($100 prize)
Finn Thompson - PHYSICS - The Effect of Different Surfaces on a Soccer Ball
1st place
David Watts, Jr. - BOTANY- Analyzing the Effect of Water Pollutants on Plant Weight
1st place
Special award from University of Pittsburgh Biology Outreach for best experiments in biology related categories ($100 prize)