The Upper School’s seven teams of ninth grade students nabbed numerous top awards at the city wide DC STEM Fair. at Dunbar High School. In the area of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Jakai McIlwain and Mia Wilson earned second place for their evaluation of the physiologic effects of E Cigarettes and their tobacco analogues and a Merit Award in the Public Health Service Award. In the Earth and Environmental Sciences category, Owen Fox-Whelpton earned first place for testing artificial and natural turfs for heavy metal contaminants and Joseph Claire earned second place for his study of rain barrel water quality vs. environmental factors in Takoma Park. Claire also earned first place for the Federal Water Quality Association Award and Fox-Whelpton snagged third place in both the Geological Society of Washington award and the Public Health Service Award. In the Physical Energy category, Harry Hirsch and Benny Weinberger earned first place for their study of field strength of Solenoids vs voltage. In the materials science category, Sara Auriemma earned first place for testing the effectiveness of food additives on meringue stability. These students were advised on their research by physics teachers Mr. Alpert and Mr. Torrence. Meanwhile, in the middle school citywide STEM Fair, sixth graders Liam Murphy and Owen Doherty won first place for studying bridge angles and decomposition. Sixth graders Adelaide Pfueffer and Meerabela Kempf won 3rd place for their study of salty ice and optical illusions. Liam also got an honorable mention for the Aerospace Corporation’s Robert H. Herndon Regional Science Competition Award and first place for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), DC Chapter special award. The sixth graders were advised on their research by science teacher Ms. Dobler. All of these winners had earned honors at our school’s fair in February.