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Ravenswood student wins gold at Science and Engineering Fair

By Staff Reports 11 min read

CHARLESTON -- The West Virginia Department of Education hosted nearly 300 students at the 2024 West Virginia Science and Engineering Fair at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center on March 4 with one area student coming home with a gold medal.

"It felt good. I was really nervous in the award ceremony," Alex Waskey, a Ravenswood Middle School student, said about winning first place in the Behavioral and Social Science category with his project "Does Candy Make You Smarter?"

Waskey's project investigated how different types of candy may impact cognitive abilities like reaction time. For the project, he said he tested 54 students on an online reaction test after consuming various candy flavors including watermelon, cinnamon, butterscotch, cherry, peppermint, and no candy. He said he found that watermelon candy yielded the fastest average reaction time of 2.5 seconds and that enjoying the flavor of the candy could help lower that time.

"Because it develops a memory in their brain that they can look back on if they like it," Waskey said.

Candace Lewis, Wood County Schools curriculum coordinator for Math and science, said science fairs provide students with the opportunity to investigate the world around them, be creative problem-solvers and think critically by identifying and focusing on a problem, investigating a solution through research and experimentation, and drawing and communicating conclusions from collected and analyzed data.

"Many students enjoy the problem-based learning that occurs when preparing their projects and they continue to participate in the Science Fair each year because they enjoy the experiences the Science Fair can provide," Lewis said.

Waskey said participating in the science fair has really helped his speaking skills.

"I don't really like to talk," Waskey said. "So, it helps me talk to other people and do my speeches."

He said everyone should participate in science fairs and that he is looking forward to next year's fair, but knows coming home with another first place win won't be easy.

"As the science fair grows, more and more people do the science fair every year," Waskey said. "So, there will be more and more competition every year."

A full list of results from the 2024 West Virginia Science and Engineering Fair can be found in the online version of this story.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com

Official results from the 2024 West Virginia State Science and Engineering Fair:

Division I, Animal Science:

1st – Scarlett Hayes – Preston County – Which Dog Treats Dogs Like Most?

2nd – Tyler McMillion – Nicholas County – How Do Drinks Affect our Teeth

3rd – Addison Withrow – Mason County – Do You Know Your Dog's Favorite Color?

Division I, Behavioral and Social Sciences:

1st – Emmalyn Webb – Greenbrier County – The Turkey Myth

2nd – Annabel Francis, Clara Tidd, Vaughn Veltri – Harrison County – Level Up Your Game

3rd – Marion Williams – Pendleton County – Taste the Rainbow

Division I, Chemistry:

1st – Ayaan Patel – Greenbrier County – Turning Milk Into Plastic

2nd – Caden Pascarella – Wood County – Which natural preservative works best?

3rd – Mollie Wilkinson – Harrison County – My 2 Cents on Cleaning

Division I, Earth and Environmental Sciences:

1st – Jacob Heubi – Preston County – Soil Erosion in Motion

2nd – Clacy Fields – Mercer County – Model Water Flow in Rivers

3rd – Kamrie Anderson and Alyson Bond – Wood County – Is something "fishy" about this water?

Division I, Energy:

1st – Claire Litten – Berkeley County – Electric Slime

2nd – Emma Goodrich – Preston County – Sparks From a Spud

3rd – Austin Taylor, Kash Kincaid, Vance Hamrick – Clay County – Do Energizer Batteries Keep Going?

Division I, Engineering:

1st – Everett Eastman – Jefferson County – What Do Tech Decks Roll Better On?

2nd – Penelope Kemmerer and Preston Argabrite – Harrison County – Up UP & Away…

3rd – Carter Lake – Wood County – Water Purification Method: Which is best?

Division I, Material Science:

1st – Lillian Walker – Nicholas County – Walking Water

2nd – Alayna Lyons – Wyoming County – Apple of My Eye Test

3rd – Laina Cusack and McKena Shay – Ohio County – Potion Power

Division I, Mathematics and Data:

2nd – Maggie Evans – Grant County – Popcorn Party

3rd – Jayce Bush – Greenbrier County – Flipping Out: Bottle Flipping

Division I, Medical Sciences:

1st – Christian Herron – Grant County – Too Much Sugar!

2nd – Carter Smith – Pocahontas County – Do Video Games Affect Eyesight?

3rd – Joseph Petro – McDowell County – My Pop Has Gas

Division I, Physics and Astronomy:

1st – Carter Lemon – Wood County – Landed or Lost: A Deep Dive Into Fishing

Line

2nd – Garrett Maclachlan – Berkeley County – Radioactivity Exposure and Shielding

3rd – Jacob Whisler – Ohio County – Parachutes: Is Bigger Better?

Division I, Plant Science:

1st – Emma Young – Nicholas County – Decomposition of Fresh vs Processed Food

2nd – Samantha Tidwell – Berkeley County – How Environmental Factors Affect Plants

3rd – Zooey Brown – Mercer County – Searching For The Sun

Division I, Technology:

1st – Brynlee Franklin – Berkeley County – Error 404: Wi-Fi Not Found

2nd – Izabella Suwal, Paris Matney, Kile Minnix – Cabell County – Farming With Bob

3rd – Liam Rogosky – Upshur County – The Pig Protector

Division II, Animal Science:

1st – Anya Steuer – Jefferson County – Duck, Duck, Chicken

2nd – Ava Kirkpatrick – Mason County – What's Eating our Goats

3rd – Aven Pifer and Adley Ritchie – Wood County – Predicting Foaling by Milk pH

Division II, Behavioral and Social Sciences:

1st – Alex Waskey – Jackson County – Does Candy Make you Smarter?

2nd – Gavin Lockart, Molly Grass, Alex Le – Raleigh County – Spot the Bot

3rd – Pryce Dejneka and Bryce Sandt – Putnam County – Testing Behavioral Incentives

Division II, Chemistry:

1st – Harlan Fravel – Morgan County – Rethink Your Drink

2nd – Nadiya Kerr – Pocahontas County – One Tough Cookie: Finding the Best Baking

Powder Substitute

3rd – Madalyn Turner – Raleigh County – What water splits into hydrogen and

oxygen better?

Division II, Earth and Environmental Sciences:

1st – Kensie Grigsby – Marshall County – Is Your Water Safe to Drink?

2nd – Preston Stover – Raleigh County – All Bottles Up

3rd – Jacob Carsey – Wood County – What is the harm of dumping used motor

oil on the ground?

Division II, Energy:

1st – Isabella Powell – Morgan County – How Does Water Flow Affect Hydroelectric

Power Generation?

2nd – Tayton Martin – Greenbrier County – Wind Turbines: Blade Size vs Power Output

3rd – Carleigh Jo Cochran – Marshall County – Are you Positive You're Getting the Best

Bank of your Buck?

Division II, Engineering:

2nd – Jaxon Dolan-White – Greenbrier County – N95 Faceoff

3rd – Brycen Craft and Caden White – Roane County Magnetic Cars

Division II, Material Science:

1st – Hayden Rector – Roane County – Will It Get Wet?

2nd – Dylan Eye – Pendleton County – Are You a Bethiever

3rd – Stephanie Rollyson – Clay County – Do White Candles Burn Faster Than

Colored?

Division II, Mathematics and Data:

1st – Amelia Mills – Berkeley County – Logic or Lucky: Wordle Probability

2nd – Gabriel Floyd – Wood County – Game Theory

3rd – Wyatt Lamb – Webster County – Paper vs.iPad

Division II, Medical Sciences:

1st – Danica Reed – Jefferson County – Surface Germs

2nd – Aubrey Welch and Kylee Barr – Preston County – What's on the Surface

3rd – Jayden Mathew – Wood County – Does exercise skimp with age?

Division II, Physics and Astronomy:

1st – Yashmit Panta – Raleigh County – Science of Energy Demonstrated by a Yo-yo

2nd – Cooper Withrow – Mason County – The Pressure Is On

3rd – Ainslie Koreski – Wood County – Just A Swinging

Division II, Plant Science:

2nd – Milea Miihlbach – Jackson County – How soil affects plant growth

3rd – Knox Kelly – Mineral County – How Much is Too Much?

Division II, Technology:

1st – James D'Eramo – Wood County – Wacky WiFi

2nd – Levi Chapman and Braxton Pace – McDowell County – Stress Level

3rd – Breslyn McCoy and Christee Coleman – Jefferson County – Human versus AI

Division III, Animal Sciences:

1st – Lexi Harper – Kanawha County – Do Pollinator Gardens Require Maintenance in Order to Increase Pollinator Population?

2nd – Joselyn Smith – Morgan County – Operation Ant Elimination

3rd – Keandra Cochran – Berkeley County – Guess Who Has the Most Unique Face?

Division III, Behavioral and Social Sciences:

1st – Samantha Mallow and Josie Dillow – Berkeley County – The Heart Pounding Effects of Classroom Tasks

2nd – Stella Rubi – Harrison County – Under Pressure

3rd – Juliette Sakho, Glory Chi, Magdalyn Smith – Berkeley County – Check the Tip

Division III, Biochemistry:

2nd – Neha Chandrasekar – Kanawha County – The Physiochemical Properties of Over-the -Counter Glucose Tablets

3rd – Conner Myers and Tristan Rucker – Jefferson County – The 5-Second Rule

Division III, Biomedical and Health Sciences:

1st – Levi Yoder – Preston County – How Age Affects Dexterity

2nd – Evelyn McKinney and Karlee Lusk – Wyoming County – How Does Smoking Affect Lung Capacity?

3rd – Isabella Gillispie, Miranda Smith, Austin McDade – Mason County – Hearts and Minds

Division III, Biomedical Engineering:

2nd – Alice Petry – Berkeley County – Catching the Criminal with Gel Electrophoresis

Division III, Cellular and Molecular Biology:

1st – Manvitha Sanjaya – Kanawha County – DNA Damage and Repair Mechanism in Duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza) Under Ultraviolet Radiation (UV-B) Stress

Division III, Chemistry:

1st – Casch Crites and Porter Lott – Mineral County – Hydrogen Production

2nd – Chastity Brockett – Jackson County – Water You Drinking?

3rd – Valencia Kennedy and Coleman Cook – McDowell County – Before and After Stain Disaster

Division III, Computational Biology and Bioinformatics:

2nd – Joyce Hu – Monongalia County – Damage Control: How the Alpha/Beta Ratio Affects the EQD2 Dose

Division III, Earth and Environmental Sciences:

1st – Drew Cardis and Louisa Pate – Jefferson County – Water Pollution's Effect on Yeast

2nd – Ollie Morrison – Berkeley County – West Virginia Easter Panhandle Soil Sedimentation Rates

3rd – Brayden Collins – Mason County – Water Filtration for Survival

Division III, Embedded Systems:

1st – Emily Lyons and Lauren Staton – Wyoming County – The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Accuracy

Division III, Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design:

1st – Spencer Rhodes and Alexander Horevay – Mineral County – Windy Energy

Division III, Engineering Technology: Statics and Dynamics:

1st – Smit Babariya, Blake Riggs, James Lewis – Wood County – Reach Into The Mind Phase 2

2nd – Michael McGraw – Jackson County – Unique approach to the engineering design process

3rd – Maya Panta – Raleigh County – Geothermal Energy: America's Untapped Giant?

Division III, Environmental Engineering:

2nd – Ethan White – Preston County – StreampH Exploring Acidity

3rd – Dharani Thangasamy – Kanawha County – The Effect of Ectomycorrhizal Symbiosis with Lavender in Heavy Metal Bioremediation

Division III, Materials Science:

3rd – Lillian Riner – Jefferson County – No More Wet Heads

Division III, Mathematics:

1st – Austin Luo – Monongalia County – Injective Chromatic Index of Packet Radio Networks: Improved Upper Bounds

Division III, Microbiology:

1st – Vinu Chandrasekar – Kanawha County – Does Escherichia Coli Grow Better in Conditions With Organic or Conventional Egg Yolks in Media?

2nd – Alana O'Sullivan and Jorja Plitong – Berkeley County – Glove Wars

Division III, Physics and Astronomy:

1st – Lauren Shen – Monongalia County – Two-Step X-Ray Transit Identification: Bayesian Block Simplification and Sequential Machine Learning Techniques

2nd – Shrihan Malkaram – Kanawha County – Determining the Composition of Asteroids Using Computer Science

3rd – Jaxon Milam – Ohio County – Radio Emissions of Celestial Bodies

Division III, Plant Sciences:

2nd – Holden Custer – Berkeley County – Hopping Up the Growth Charts

3rd – Mollie Dorsey, William Jarvis, Matilda Rodebaugh – Nicholas County – The Effect of Water Content on Plant Growth

Division III, Robotics and Intelligent Machines:

1st – Shawn Li – Monongalia County – Teaching TurtleBots to Play Air Hockey: An Imitation Learning Approach

Division III, Systems Software:

1st – Sydney Bostic – Berkeley County – Bridging the Gap using Edtech and AI: Language Proficiency Enhancement

2nd – Alexis Atkins – Wood County – Encrypt and Decrypt: Using Python to Automate a Substitution Cipher

Division III, Translational Medical Sciences:

2nd – Gabrielle Jefferson and Lily Finley – Mason County – Natural vs Manmade Antibacterials

3rd – Ryan Chen – Monongalia County – PHQ-ADS Mental Health Analysis of Morgantown Students

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