Garden City High School honors science research students excel in 2025 LISEF and NYSSEF competitions
Garden City High School honors science research students excelled in the recent LISEF and NYSSEF competitions, with many earning awards and moving to the next round.
On March 13, several GCHS students earned achievements at this year’s Long Island Science and Engineering Fair, with Taylor Maguire winning first place in the earth and environmental sciences category and earning the Stockholm Junior Water Prize for her work on eco-friendly sunscreens. She was recognized for having one of the two best projects of the 47 entered and scored among the top 20 best in projects during the final round. Taylor will be traveling to the 2025 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, the most prestigious high school science competition in the world, on May 10-16.
Additionally, junior Alexandra Gregory won the first-place grand award in environmental engineering, with her project being named the best out of 21. Junior Sara Shamail placed in the top five out of 17 entered and earned the Yale Science and Engineering Association award for the most outstanding 11th grade project in STEM.
The titles of the student projects from LISEF were as follows:
Alexandra Gregory: Novel Magnetic Device for Microplastic Capture via Van Der Waals Forces
Sara Shamail: Development of an Innovative Hydroxyapatite-Agarose Hydrogel Grid to Enhance Bone Stabilization and Regeneration
Taylor Maguire: Evaluating the Long Range UVA Blocking Abilities of an Eco-Friendly Sunscreen Substitute Derived From Musa acuminata on Girardia tigrina Locomotion and the Degree of UV-Induced Cellular Damage
On March 24, four additional honors science research students traveled to round two of the New York State Science and Engineering Fair at the New York Hall of Science. This highly competitive state level event draws top students from Westchester, New York City and Long Island. Out of 400 initial applicants, only 160 were selected for round two.
Garden City students performed well once again, with Alexandra Gregory winning the second-place grand award in environmental engineering for her project on removing microplastics from the water supply. Sarah Phinney won the Society for In-Vitro Biology Award for the best 11th grade project exhibiting plant or animal in-vitro biology. She also won honorable mention in plant science for her project combining molecular dynamics simulations and plant biology. Junior John Crouchley won honorable mention in environmental engineering for an energy efficient flywheel design and junior Hannah Lam won honorable mention in embedded systems for a project to help visually impaired students in the classroom.
Each of these Garden City students were recognized for being among the top students in the region.
“This is the first time that GCHS won first place in both the earth and environmental & environmental engineering categories,” said science research teacher Dr. Steve Gordon. “Many projects were conducted in the new science research center that opened in the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year. Based on our results for projects developed in school since then, the extra space and equipment for students has had a major positive effect.”
“Our students worked incredibly hard on achieving these successes. I'm lucky that we have fantastic students!” Dr. Gordon said.
Students will present their work at the Garden City High School Science Research Symposium on May 27, at 7 p.m., in the GCHS library.
