ENCINO—Science Fair is a well established school-wide extracurricular activity here at Holy Martyrs Marie Cabayan Elementary and Ferrahian High School. All middle school and high school students who are enrolled in a science class participate in this highly educational and rewarding extracurricular activity.
This year Ferrahian High School’s Science Fair was held on Friday, March 10, 2011. The project boards were displayed in the school’s gymnasium and were judged by engineers and scientists from the Armenian Engineers and Scientists of America (AESA), and other volunteers. The judges had to choose the winning projects from amongst 43 middle school and 70 high school science projects. Winners were chosen from each grade level, in addition to, an overall winner from middle school and high school levels.
Students with winning projects had an opportunity to participate in the Armenian Science Olympiad sponsored by the AESA on April 10, 2011 and later in the Los Angeles County Science Fair on April 15, 2011 and further down the line in statewide competition. The following summarizes the exceptional record of our school:
- Armenian Science Olympiad: Six winners out of sixteen participants
- Los Angeles County Science Fair: Eight winners out of ten participants
- Los Angeles County Science Fair: Two selected projects from the County Fair participants.
These gains are a reflection of the school’s solid science program. The Science curriculum at Ferrahian besides the California State Standards includes two remedial courses each on 9th and 10th grade levels and four honor courses: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics and AP Environmental Science. Thus, the school reaches out to all students on different academic performance levels.
The school participated in the Armenian Science Olympiad by entering 16 high school and middle school projects. Our students had a number of wins as follows:
- 12th grade individual project – Maretta Oganesyan second place;
- 12th grade group project Anush Ginosyan and Shaunt Kevork – 2nd place;
- 10th grade group project Karina Khadarian and Varak Armoudikian –Honorable mention;
- 10th grade group project Shaunt Anserelian, Raffi Kurbessoian, Anto Shahmelikian – Honorable mention;
- 10th grade group project Shushan Ginosyan and Katrine Minassian – Honorable mention;
- 6th grade individual project Renee Melkonian- Honorable mention.
Ferrahian students also participated at the Los Angeles County Science Fair where over 850 projects representing 1000 students were registered to participate. Our school entered ten projects and eight of those were winning projects and two were selected to compete at the California State Science Fair. The following is a list of this year’s LA County winning projects:
3rd place winner 12th grade AP Environmental Science student Maretta Oganesyan project titled: “Removing lead ions from water using magnetic particles.” – Project selected to compete at the California State Science Fair.
Honorable mention winners, 12th grade AP Physics students Anush Ginosyan and Shaunt Kevork project titled: “Removing nitrates from water using a redox reaction.” – Project selected to compete at the California State Science Fair.
Honorable mention winners 12th grade AP Physics students Natalie Shahbol and Nyrie Dikijian project titled: “Floating animals, oil, and dispersants … Oh My“
Two Special Awards winner 11th grade AP Chemistry student Arev Hovsepian project titled: “Combating acid rain in soil.”
- Honorable mention winners 10th grade AP Biology students Shushan Ginosyan and Katrine Minassian project titled:”Does Grandma’s soup kill E. Coli?”
- Honorable mention winner 10th grade AP Biology student Garni Terterian project titled:” Measuring the specific heat of water and other liquids using a homemade calorimeter with resistive wire heating.”
- Honorable mention winners 7th grade Vagarshak Avetisyan and Aren Kurkjian project titled:”Effect of light, salt, temperature, and sodium bicarbonate on water plant oxygen levels.”
- Honorable mention winners 6th grade Shant Arslanian and Nareg Kuyumjian project titled:”Biomass energy.”
The purpose of the Science Fair is twofold. Its primary objective is to teach the students how to plan, design, execute, and complete a science project with limited assistance from teachers and parents, and secondarily to provide an opportunity for students to apply and to bring to life the scientific method which is much discussed in their science classes. Additionally, the Science Fair program embodies several of our school’s Expected School-wide Learning Results; briefly stated, to graduate students who are critical thinkers and problem solvers, to graduate students who are life-long learners, to graduate students who are effective communicators and responsible citizens.