RCMS students in the afterschool Science Fair Club entered their designs in the Greater Northern Virginia Science and Engineering Fair for Elementary and Middle School at George Mason University on May 4.
Two students from our school, Sri Lasya Bhagavatula and Artem Godlevskii got awards for their project. Sri Lasya got first place in Division 3, PSE, and received the Thermo Fisher award, which moves her to the next level. Her project was a walking stick for the blind that detected anyone that came more than 4 feet close using AI.
Artem, another student who got awarded, was given a Raspberry Pi award for his project which commemorates his use of Raspberry Pi. His project was using temperature sensors to detect break failures.
There were many students from our school who entered the county fair and they said they worked hard to get ready to present their projects, with most of them saying they were very excited.
Before the competition, Vidhatri Kalanadhabhatta, 13, Dream Team said, “I think our project will go far; we put a lot of effort into it.”
Adithi Movva, 12, Champions, who was also in Vidhatri’s group, agreed with her and said how excited she was to participate.
Adithi and Vidhatri were working together on a project called SilverLink, which was about the effect of social isolation on elderly citizens and how it can be reduced by increasing digital literacy. For the fair, they created an app called SilverLink that has short videos on it to help teach seniors the basics about technology. Both said they love science and were very excited to participate in the science fair.
Vidhatri said, “I have had a lifelong passion and love for science. It’s been something I’ve always been interested in, and this gave me a chance to follow that passion and put my ideas into reality. That’s why I jumped at the chance.”
Another project entering the science fair was about Solar-Powered Cars and was done by Radhika Desphande, 12, Champions and her group. Radhika said that this project was inspired by a similar project she did in fifth grade. She was also very excited about the fair but she wishes some things were different.
She said, “I wish I had managed my time better.”
Many students felt that they needed more time to work and assemble their projects. They felt that they were rushing towards the end.
Ananya Sudharshan, 12, of the Trailblazers team, was another participant and was doing a solo project about the effect of yoga on sleep. She said the hardest part for her was writing her paragraphs and getting everything done on time.
There was also some parts of making her project that she enjoyed.
Ananya said, “It was exploring the new ideas and thinking of creative ideas to build [my project] and make [my project] work.”
Julie Xu, a sophomore at Oakton High School, was one of the science fair club’s coaches and started the club this year with her brother, Eric Xu.
She said, “I find science fair a really fun and educational experience and think that younger students should get to experience it too.”
The coaches were very happy at how far all of the projects have gone and thought all of the students did well.
Radhika said, “I feel everyone should get rewarded for their work.”
