10 honored in Prince William Service Authority science fair

These Prince William County students took home honors in a regional science fair.

The Prince William County Service Authority (SA) recently honored 10 area students for their water-related entries in the 2020 Prince William-Manassas Regional Science and Engineering Fair held last month at the Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center in Manassas.

Desmen Boykin of Forest Park High School and Rowan Floyd of the Nokesville School took first place in the Senior [High School] and Middle [School] Divisions, respectively. Boykin’s project was titled, “The Effects of Different Plant-Based Microplastics on the Nelumbo nucifera Plant” while Floyd won with her experiment demonstrating “Human Impacts on Oceanic Defenses.”

In the Middle Division, the SA recognized Ronald Reagan students Sheila Nguyen (2nd place) and teammates Hannah Hakimpour and Katie Kim (General Manager’s Award) for their projects as well as Seth Kellogg (3rd place) of Seton and Lauren Motter (General Manager’s Award) of Benton. The SA also honored Divya Ramakrishnan (2nd place) of Osbourn Park, Amanda Hurley (General Manager’s Award) of Osbourn and Ebru Ayyorgun (General Manager’s Award) of Battlefield in the Senior Division.

All of the winning students received certificates and cash prizes, and the SA featured the students on its website and social media outlets.

“All of the students were passionate about their projects, and I was impressed with their knowledge and ability to teach me new areas in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) world,” Service Authority Laboratory Specialist Christine Smith stated in a press release.

Christine Smith has served as a judge for the competition for the last three years.

“The winners and all participants have bright futures ahead of them, Smith added.”