Barkalow pupils honored
in science competition
FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP — Seven Barkalow Middle School students won a U.S. Army competition for innovative ideas in science, math and technology. The students were honored at a ceremony held at Fort Monmouth, Eatontown, on May 21 and each received a $2,000 savings bond, a T-shirt and a framed certificate of recognition.
The team called the A1 Hackers won for collaboration and communication. They are Luke Pisarek, Arif Hasni and Joseph Ferraro. The Science Whizzes, comprised of Heather Knipper, Joseph Cassara, Shannon McCabe and Alyssa DelGuercio, won for innovation, originality and creativity.
According to science teacher Frances Burke, the A1 Hackers designed a plan to help educate the community about the negative effects of paper and plastic shopping bags and the Science Whizzes created a project titled "Dyes That Were Once Alive." They used different colored fruits to produce natural fabric dyes for people with sensitive skin.
Burke said this was the first year the organizers opened up the competition to any teacher in the United States.
"Last year there was a pilot program, but Freehold Township wasn’t asked to participate, so this was the first year for our school," she said.
The Army developed the national program in order to encourage seventh and eighth grade students throughout the country to pursue careers in science, math and technology. The web-based competition, called Ecybermission, was launched last October and ended in March. It consisted of 442 teams that included three to four students of the same grade level, from private, public or home schools anywhere in the country.
The teams competed for regional and national awards while working to solve problems in their communities. Judges determined six winners in each of four national regions.
Barkalow Middle School, under the direction of Burke, submitted 10 mission folders. The folders, which are the official write-up of the project, were judged based on four categories: application of science, math and technology; innovations, originality and creativity; benefit to the community; and collaboration and communi-cation. The Barkalow students were awarded two of the six regional prizes.
"That’s pretty impressive," said Burke, who has been teaching at the school for two years. But, she added, "All of the teams that participated benefited because the program itself was a wonderful program. Even if we didn’t have any winners, the groups that participated learned from doing the projects. They went above and beyond what was required."
According to Burke, individual checks totaling $14,000 will be coming to the school to be distributed to the winners.
"There are no stipulations on what they can do with the money. They will take the checks home," the teacher said.
— Linda DeNicola