Kamehameha Maui, Baldwin students advance to international science fair
A Kamehameha Schools Maui student and two Baldwin High School students will represent Maui County at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Dallas in May.
Kamehameha’s Ava Davis won the overall Senior Division Grand Award for her project, “Parental Involvement vs. Student Achievement,” at the 64th Maui County Regional Science and Engineering Fair held Thursday at the University of Hawaii Maui College. Davis also won first place in the Behavioral and Social Science senior category and will receive the Alexander & Baldwin Inc. Merit Award.
Baldwin’s Brie-Ann Fukutomi and Penelope Tupou took second place in the Senior Division Grand Award category for their project, “Erosion.” The pair topped the Earth and Environmental Sciences senior category and also won recognition from the Association for Women Geosciences, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Ricoh USA Inc. Award and the A&B Merit Award.
The three will advance to compete in Dallas.
Rounding out the Senior Division Grand Award category were Kamehameha Schools’ Kyani Bateman (“Does Trauma Allow Teens’ Limbic Systems to Develop Faster?”) and Taylor Aloy and Damari Wright (“Menstrual Madness”) with third place, and Jed Teagarden of Hawaii Technology Academy (“Radio Telescope”) with honorable mention.
All Senior Division Grand Award winners will receive the A&B Merit Award and advance to the Hawaii State Science and Engineering Fair on Oahu.
Meanwhile, Iao Intermediate School swept the Junior Division Grand Awards.
Asher Tokuoka won the first-place Grand Award for his project, “Near Earth Object Recovery.” He also topped the Theoretical Sciences junior category and won the NASA Earth Systems Science Award.
Thea Sijalbo, winner of the Plant Science junior category, finished second for the Grand Award for “Effects of electromagnetic fields on plants,” while Ryder Tokuoka, the second-place winner in the Theoretical Sciences junior category, came in third for “Comparison of Exoplanet Transits.” Jonathan Nature McQueen earned honorable mention for “The Effect of Gravitational Lensing” and third place in the Theoretical Sciences junior category.
The four students will be eligible to compete in the Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge, the nation’s premier STEM research competition for intermediate students. They will also all advance to the science fair on Oahu.
This year’s event drew 25 high school researchers in the senior division and 30 students in the junior category, according to organizers.
About two dozen students will represent Maui County at the state fair on Oahu. In addition to the senior and junior winners, these students are: Taizo Kahai, Lila Devery, Ellexie Watts and James Ancheta of Iao Intermediate; Kristin Camit, Olive Harper and Lauren Imamura of Lokelani Intermediate; Brian Tarimo and June Wu of St. Anthony School; Tehzion Cordero of Baldwin High; and Deana Kamaka, Makana Gomes and Lauryn DuBach of Kamehameha Schools.
Educators were also honored at the fair, with Sharon Aguinas of Lokelani Intermediate taking home the Junior Division Teacher Trophy and Lena Devery of Baldwin winning the Senior Division Teacher Trophy.