Valley students show well at science fair

Three local students were named overall winners of the Santa Cruz County Science Fair, and many others won awards and ribbons for their projects.
A team of San Lorenzo Valley High School seniors Alex Rinkert and Connor Chesus won best in show in the senior category for their project, “Birds of the Santa Cruz Sandhills,” and Elizzabeth Hughes-Brown from Baymonte Christian School was the overall winner in the junior division for “A Monster Problem,” a look at how the energy drink affects heart rates.
The annual fair, sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and Seagate Technology, was March 12 and 13 at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.
Winners, listed below, will travel to Los Angeles for the California State Science Fair on May 2 and 3. Rinkert and Chesus will also participate in the prestigious International Science and Engineering Fair the following week, May 8 through 13, in Los Angeles.
Baymonte Christian School
**Elizzabeth Hughes-Brown, “A Monster Problem”: first place, junior medicine and health; overall winner, junior division; I-SWEEEP award; Broadcom master award; state science fair participant
Bonny Doon Elementary School
**Cammie Brown, “Light”: second place, elementary energy and power; Plantronics award
**Benjamin Williams, “Do Chickens Lay More Eggs in the Summer or Winter?”: second place, elementary zoology
Boulder Creek Elementary School
**Connor Nolan, “Shooting Soda”: second place, primary chemistry
**Julianne Glahn, “Crystals Grown at Two Temperatures”: third place, primary earth science
**Garvey Gordon, “Stop Rot Experiment”: first place, primary microbiology
**Amaya Gordon, “Wild Cats”: second place, primary zoology division
Brook Knoll Elementary School
** Emma Schaefer-Whitall, “Flower Food: Fact or Fiction?”: second place, elementary botany
**Connor Nolan, “Balloon Race!”: third place, primary chemistry
**Zachary Washburn, “Shrinking Bubble Gum”: fourth place, elementary chemistry
**Bradley Vu, “Which Material Keeps Water Hottest?”: first place, primary energy and power
**Michelle Nazareth, “Swimming in Acid”: first place, primary environmental science; CREEC Network award
** Emma McGraw, “Lowering Carbon Emissions at Brook Knoll”: second place, elementary environmental science; CREEC Network award
**Meliese Menchaca, “Which Cookie is Favored More?”: fourth place, elementary product science
Coast Redwoods Middle School
** Benjamin Colland, “Ducted Design Dilemma”: second place, junior energy and power
Ocean Grove Alternative School
**Max Freedman, “You Spin Me Right Round”: first place, elementary energy and power; IEEE elementary-division award, best interdisciplinary project
**Emma Freedman, “Are You Feeling Tangerine”: second place, junior cognitive science; Plantronics award; state science fair participant
San Lorenzo Valley Elementary School
**Gillian Largay, “Bug Count: How Many Bugs Come Out In a Day”: third place, primary botany
San Lorenzo Valley High School
**Brittany Whitehill and Nettie Mitchell-Brudnick, “Sudden Oak Death Part II: A comparative”: first place, senior botany; Seagate award; state science fair participants
**James Spriggs, Zachary Wambaugh and Robert Adams, “Impact of Sea Level Rise on Tidepool Zonation: A Study of Davenport Landing”: first place, senior environmental science; Seagate award; National Oceanic Atmospheric Award; U.S. Army award; state science fair participants
**John Wasieleski and London Bullard, “Instream Wood in Coastal Steelhead Stream”: third place, senior environmental science; state science fair participants
**Andrea Bruce and Melissa Makita, “Would you Swim in Moran Lake?”: fourth place, environmental science
n Russel Hofvendahl and Devon Northcott, “Killer Algae”: first place, senior microbiology; Seagate award; U.S. Navy Award; state science fair participants
**Connor Chesus and Alex Rinkert, “Birds of the Santa Cruz Sandhills”: first place, senior zoology; overall winner, senior division; Seagate award; National Association of Biology Teachers award; state science fair participants; International Science and Engineering Fair participants:
**Kiana Dao and Danielle Eames, “Amphibian Adventures”: second place, senior zoology; National Association of Biology Teachers award; state science fair participants
Vine Hill Elementary School
** Eloise Johnson, “The Nose Knows”: second place, elementary biochemistry
**Joelle Andrews and Katelyn Branagan, “Effects of Heat from Sunlight on Water Cycle”: first place, primary earth science
** Solange Charlet and Catelyn Reynolds, “Door Knob Germs”: second place, primary microbiology; Plantronics award winner
** Gabe Spitzer, “How Many Balloons Does It Take To Lift a Seven-Year-Old?”: third place, primary physics and astronomy
**Johnathan Harding, “Population Growth: Genetics vs. Food Wild Cats”: first place, primary zoology
**Megan Gurer, “The Cat’s Meow”: third place, elementary zoology
For complete results, go to http://science.santacruz.k12.ca.us/winners2011.html