Southdown Duo Recognized at Brookhaven Lab Fair
Southdown Primary School first grader Matthew Cartwright and second grader Jackson Schmidt earned honorable mention recognition in the Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual elementary school science fair. Considering the massive level of quality entries, school officials said such honors are quite impressive
Mr. Cartwright's project was titled "Instant Gratification or Sense of Time?" It focused on learning the age at which a child can delay gratification? "This was a great psychology experiment that shows how pre-school students handle the choice of 'some now' vs. 'more later,' said teacher David Crimi, who coordinated Southdown's science fair.
Mr. Schmidt's project, "How does temperature affect the rate of bread mold growth?" was "a very thorough and detailed experiment that illustrates the effect of temperature on mold growth," Mr. Crimi said.
The Huntington School District entered winning projects from each of the district's four primary school science fairs and the first and second place finishers in the Woodhull Intermediate School fair into the Brookhaven competition.
This year's fair drew 540 entries from 118 Suffolk schools. Brookhaven scientists, volunteers from Stony Brook University and Suffolk elementary school teachers judged the projects, which ranged from "Hot or Not?" to "The Green Cupcake."
One first place winner was selected for each grade level, kindergarten through sixth grade, along with several honorable mention awards. The fair drew hundreds of students, parents and teachers. It was coordinated by the Brookhaven Lab's Office of Educational Programs.
"Established in 1947 on Long Island, Upton, New York, Brookhaven is a multi-program national laboratory operated by Brookhaven Science Associates for the U.S. Department of Energy," according to the BNL website. "Seven Nobel Prizes have been awarded for discoveries made at the Lab. Brookhaven has a staff of approximately 3,000 scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff and over 4,000 guest researchers annually. The Lab's role for is to produce excellent science and advanced technology with the cooperation, support, and appropriate involvement of our scientific and local communities."