MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Two students from Matthew C. Perry High School placed in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Tsukuba City March 20.
Nicole Perry, a ninth-grader at M.C. Perry, won first place for her formal presentation, “Environmental Products: Green or Mean,” and Isabelle Gomez won third place in the poster session for her project, “Sugar: Sweet Treat or Deadly Toxin.”
They competed with over 100 eighth to 10th-graders.
Perry won the competition with her formal presentation, which consisted of a written experiment, a PowerPoint slide show and an oral presentation to a panel of judges.
“(My experiment) was on environmental products, like green products and whether they were as toxic or not as toxic to brine shrimp as conventional products are,” said Perry.
For a little over a month, Perry was dedicated to her experiment and making sure her final project was perfect.
“I was just curious because some green products cost more money,” said Perry. “So I was wondering if they were better for marine life.”
She said the best part of the trip was being able to meet students her age who were interested in the same kinds of topics as her.
The symposium may seem like it was a lot of hard work but the students made sure they had time to play a little as well.
“We got to travel up to Tokyo and went on three trips,” said Perry. “I got to go to the aquarium, which was really cool.”
Although she did take first place, Perry said the hardest part of the competition was letting her nerves get the best of her.
“Presenting was hard because you get really nervous,” she said. “Anybody who wanted to come and watch could sit in the room, and the judges were really intimidating.”
But whether the judges made her palms sweat or not, her good data and preparation came through on top.
“She will be traveling to Bethesda, Md., at the end of April to present her research at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium,” said Suzette Lopez, an M.C. Perry High School teacher who worked with Perry for the symposium.
Even after competing in Maryland, Perry still doesn’t plan on stopping there.
“After nationals I plan on doing another experiment on something similar,” she said.