Joliet Public Schools District 86 announced the winners of its Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Extravaganza, who will be moving on to compete at the Illinois Junior Academy of Science Region 9 Science Fair next month.
Thirty-three seventh and eighth grade students from the district’s four junior high schools will present their projects at regionals at North Central College in Naperville on March 26, after receiving gold medals at the STEM Extravaganza.
Students who score high enough at that event, will have the opportunity to advance to the state competition at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in April.
District 86 gave special congratulations to two students from Dirksen Junior High School who received perfect scores on their project. Seventh-graders Samantha Trujillo and Nathaly Velazquez earned their Double Gold trophies for “Light Engineered,” a design project in which the students worked to create a safe, kid-friendly night light.
Joining Trujillo and Velazquez at regionals will be 31 Joliet students who also earned high enough scores to receive gold awards at the district event.
Gompers Junior High had the most qualifying students with seventh graders Alisson Bello Ramirez, A’zailey Griffin and Jennifer Rios advancing along with eighth-graders Maria Aguillar Izaguirre, Anastasia Arreola, Gabriela Borja Pesantez, Jackelyn Garcia, Miguel Hernandez, Suleyma Hernandez, Jovanny Ibarra-Ramirez, Luciana Restrepo Alvarez, Deicy Reyes, Jairo Reyes-Najera, Karyme Xicara and Andres Zavala.
Dirksen Junior High seventh-graders Laila Escalante, Evelyn Guzman, Melany Guzman, Daisy Leon, Gabriel Medrano, Amaya Perez and Emmanuel Santiago Cruz, as well as eighth-graders Aiden Gallagher, Kenyah Handy and Alijah Hughes will advance to regionals.
Hufford Junior High seventh-graders Daisy Alvarez and Paris Constantino will attend the regional competition.
Washington Junior High School will send seventh-graders Natalia Rodriguez and Hailey Murphy to regionals and eighth-graders Natalia Martinez and Yazmin Padilla.
“These projects were fantastic,” District 86 Superintendent Dr. Theresa Rouse said. “I am confident our students will do an outstanding job at the regional competition.”
The STEM Extravaganza projects were coordinated by science teachers Rachael Del Boccio, Amelia Rafferty, Michelle Grygiel, Melanie Miller-Moralez, Heather Sartain, Robert Pollard Jr., Roselle Haddick and Kimberly Wood.