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Scientists Receive Over 60 Medals at State

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Niles Township High School District 219 students competed at the Illinois Junior Academy of Science State Exposition held earlier this month at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. More than 1,000 students from the state of Illinois in grades 7-12 participate in the State Science Fair. Of the more than 60 projects presented by District 219, 60 received Gold medals, three received Silver medals and one received a Bronze medal. All participants are students in STEM Inquiry and Research (SIR) or the Researchers and Investigators of Tomorrow (RIOT) Club.

 

Special awards were presented to:  Ayana Jamal, Niles North, $1,500 Schroeder-Wetzel Scholarship; Valerie Fung, Niles West, American Water Works Association prize; Jourj Baghdisar, Niles North, American Nuclear Society Award; Hirrah Khatri (first) and Jordan Shaker (second), Niles West, South Central Association of Clinical Microbiology; Ayana Jamal, Niles North, American Statistical Society Award; Rachel Traisman, Niles West, New England Water Environment Association; and Jacob Cohn, Niles North, American Water Works Association Award.

 

Rachel Traisman’s award means that she was selected as the state of Illinois’ representative to present her project at the national competition for the U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP) in Boston in June. Traisman, accompanied by her teacher, Ruth Gleicher, will receive an all-expense paid trip to the national SJWP competition.

 

The Top Paper in the Senior Division was awarded to Micah Beller, Niles North and Kristine Park, Niles West.

 

Best in Category awards given to: Sebastian Chirayil, Niles West, Chemistry; Shana Nissan, Niles West, Environmental Science; Jordan Shaker, Niles West, Microbiology; Felix Angelov, Niles West, Microbiology; James Gilbert, Niles North, Astronomy; Regina Roberg, Niles North, Behavioral; Jeffrey Gaynes, Niles North, Biochemistry; Haley Sproull, Niles North, Botany; Jourj Baghdisar, Niles North, Earth Science; Zain Lakhani, Niles North, Electronics; Elan Ness-Cohn, Niles North, Engineering; Athanasia Giannetos, Niles North, Environmental; Alexander Weiss, Niles North, Health; Ashley Thomas and Haley Bubley, Niles North, Zoology.

 

In the Project Session, Gold medals were given to:  (Niles West) Andy Tran, Anne McCarthy, Sana Khan, Felicia Phan, Jayna Shah, Sheryl Cherian, Andy Rapoport, Sebastian Chirayil, Valerie Fung, Diana Badaysan, Ida Jacob, Shana Nissan, Ariella Halevi, Rachel Traisman, Samantha Barnes, Michelle Kim, Bakir Dzananovic, Matthew Henry, Jordan Shaker, Felix Angelov, Hirrah Khatri, Kristine Park and Muhammad (Saleh) Siddique. (Niles North) James Gilbert, Jon Youseph, Lindsay Pietz, Regina Roberg, Aliza Malyani, Hannah Bader, Zak Newbart, Raymond Truong, Anna Bergson, Janelle Limson, Sivan Eliasoff, Miriam Blumenthal, Jeffrey Gaynes, Rupal Desai, Julia Bentkowska, Ilma Lodhi, Maggi Kreisheh, Ariella Hoffman-Peterson, Haley Sproull, Zain Lakhani, Elan Ness-Cohn, Jacob Cohn, Eddie Reinfranck, Athanasia Giannetos, Alexander Weiss, Ayana Jamal, Shahnoor Hussain, Micah Beller, Moshe Rubin, Kiana Lee, Robin Walalce, Med Jimenez, Sarah Stauber, Reena Patel, Yonatan Segev, Haley Bubley and Ashley Thomas.

 

In the Project Session, Silver medals were given to:  (Niles West) Riyushi Mahadik. (Niles North) Marian Almores, Josh Lipshultz and Samar Ashrafi. A bronze medal was given to Lucas Myers.

 

In the Paper Session, the following Niles West students received Gold medals:  Kristine Park, Felix Angelov and Rachel Traisman.

 

Niles North students are taught by SIR teacher Jacki Naughton and RIOT Club sponsors Jacki Naughton, Lisa McKenna, Heidi Eichler, Richard Thielsen and Katherine France. Niles West SIR teachers are JulieAnn Villa, Ruth Gleicher, and Brit Czupryna.