By linda denicola
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT Michael Cohen, 12, a student at Barkalow Middle School, Freehold Township, explains his project “Which Plant Food Works Better?” to judges at the school’s recent science fair.
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — The Barkalow Middle School cafetorium was abuzz recently with teams of seventh-graders competing in the annual Super Science Fair. The 270 students who had been working on their projects for six weeks were divided into two teams of 135 each, said Joyce Egenolf, one of the science teachers and organizer of the event.
Team A, which she led, had 53 projects to present and Team B had 56 projects, she said.
"I think the students overall did an excellent job. They followed the scientific method, they were very creative and they gave thorough and complete oral presentations," Egenolf said.
Some of the projects were rather challenging, the teacher added.
Dustin Hinkle shines a light in Andrew Bohn’s eye to check the eye’s reaction to light during a presentation at the science fair.
"I think that every student learned a lot in the process. They had to work in a cooperative group and meet deadlines," she said.
The students not only had to submit a written lab report and have a display, they had to present the results to employees of Avaya Technology’s Communication Division. The Lincroft company provided about eight people who came and worked in groups of two to determine the winners, Egenolf explained.
The science fair winners from Team A were Julie Ann Szesko, Kristen Rod and Nicole Riccio, who won first place with their project "The Paper Strength Chal-lenge."
Craig Reid and Bryan Collins won second place with "How Clean is Our School?" and Christina Sorbara, Lauren Cortez and Gina Panarese won third place with "Rotting Away." Honorable mention went to Elizabeth Myers with her experiment "Coloring Carnations."
Dierdra Walsh and Laura Adams won first place for Team B with their project "Human Hands, Dog Daze?"
Second-place winners were Evan Johnson, Max Lit and Ryan Rippey for their project "Air Pollution Revolution," and Nisha D’Amico and Shravy Tirumala took third place with their project "Cutting Edge." Honorable mention for Team B went to Nick Aparicio, Paul Litovsky, Brittany Sessa, Kaitlyn Kozlowski and Derek Mitchell for their project "How Sweet It Is."