This Saturday, February 4, the first in-person Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) competition since February 2020 was held at Baldwin High School. Quaker Valley brought their largest group ever of 18 Quaker Valley Middle School students presenting their 8th grade science experimental design project to the judges at this year's regional competition. Two Quaker Valley High School freshmen, Emma Currier and Ella Palmer, also decided to design their own experiment again on their own time and compete in the high school division at PJAS regionals after enjoying the PJAS experience so much in 8th grade last year.
Students are placed in small presentation groups by topic category and compete against the criteria of a good experiment and presentation rather than competing against each other. All students who earned a first-place award (Quaker Valley has a total of seven first-place winners) are also invited to present their experiment at the PJAS state competition in May, which is held at Penn State University in State College.
QVHS Students:
Emma Currier Effect of Time Spent Drying on Weight of Clay After Firing, 2nd place
Ella Palmer Analyzing the Effects of Visual Imagery on Genetics, 2nd place
QVMS Students:
Rachel Bartels Analyzing the Effect of Color of Puzzle on Time Solved, 1st place
Josephine Courtney The Effect of Distractions on Time to Complete a Puzzle, 1st place
Sofia DiCicco How Do Different Genres of Music Affect Short-Term Memory?, 2nd place
Kian Hopkins Analyzing the Effect of Vision Range on Maze Time, 3rd place
Madeline Horton Analyzing the Effect of Temperature on Reaction Time, 2nd place
Arjun Kathju The Effect of Stick-length on the Velocity of a Hockey Puck, 2nd place
Jake Mangan Pesticide Recipes on Decreased Plant Height (cm), 2nd place
Will Meagher* Impact of Temperature on Solar Energy Production, 1st place
*Will also won the Director's Award for best middle school experiment in Physics Category ($100).
Rose Pocasangre Water pH and Purification Methods: Do the Two Correlate?, 2nd place
Alex Polce Different teachers- Different grades?, 3rd place
Tiya Singh The Athletic Effect on Music, 2nd place
Max Soderstrom Analyzing the Effect of Music on Dogs, 2nd place
Katherine Steinfurth Too Much Stress, Try Music!, 1st place
Kennedy Waffensmith Analyzing the Effect of Essential Oils on Reaction Time, 1st place
Rowan Wallace Does Color Affect Memory?, 1st place
Hope Waller Effects of Essential Oils on the Growth of Plants, 2nd place
Maggie Watson Effect of Free Throw Routine on Made Free Throw Percentage, 1st place
Evelyn Zutter Analyzing the Effect of Warm Up Time on Mile Time, 3rd place