McHenry Times

Forty-six Community Unit School District 300 students earned places in the Illinois Junior Academy of Science Annual Science Exposition, the head of the program told the CUSD300 Board of Education at a recent board meeting.

"We are proud to participate in the Illinois Junior Academy of Science Annual Science Exposition," CUSD Science Director Ami Engel said. "Today, we'll be honoring all the students who earned an invitation to the State Science Fair through their persistence and high-caliber work."

To qualify for the state science fair, "they had to be a top-scoring project at both the D300 science fair in February, and the regional science fair at Northern Illinois University," Engel told the board.

Jacobs High School gold-winning students were Bree Abel, Ria Bakshi, Tanvi Boddupalli, Megha Devarajan, Justine Friend, James Hedrick, Kurtis Kornatoski, Natalie Kotesky, Adisen Leensvaart, Matylda Maciejczyk, Alison Malone, Jiana Maranan, Krisha Patel, Claire Popilek, Kendall Pouska, Lily Rockow.

From Hampshire, gold-winning students were Mikala Amegasse, Madison Bilek, Megan Davis, Kate English, Madeline Franz, Anika Fryer, Sophie Kerber, Olivia Lucas, Prachi Patel, Ava Terry, and Hailey Wilson. 

Dundee Crown High School had gold winners Holly Nygren and Brady Voyles. 

Dundee Middle School had gold winner Mohammad Lakhani. 

Algonquin Middle School had a gold winner, Aarav Shah

Jacobs High School students winning silver awards were Nicole Heims, Jasmine Paje, Dhvani Patel, Madison Smigaj, Summer Smigaj, and Alyson Uizar.

 Hampshire high school honored silver award winners Quinn Hanson, Enki Andrea Juan, Andrew Kalinowski, Brandon Tacastacas, and Isabel Yu. 

Dundee Crown High School's Daniel Trejo won silver. Bronze awards went to Alyssa Gavin and GeorgeAnn Sokulski from Dundee Crown.

“The Biology and the Science Olympiad programs are national competitions that our students engage in,” Engel said. “They engage in science experiences that test their knowledge of science concepts that simulate the work of professional scientists, the types of things that they would do both in the field and in the lab in real life. This could include written assessments or physical activities to explore students' depth and breadth of knowledge in science and STEM areas.” 

Students were also recognized for their achievements at the national competition. The 2022-2023 Dundee Crown Olympiad team had fifteen members: Kendall Allen, Aden Avelar, Esteban Casillas, Andrew Chang, Irvin Cruz, Jade DePaz, Johanna Diaz, Teodulo Dugger, Sophie Firek, Charles Johnson, Amelia Judd, Gabriela Lenart, Alexis Quintanilla, Ailey Schau, Giovanni Venturini. They earned 21 medals in 14 of their total 23 events and had their best season in history this year. The Hampshire High School Biology Olympiad team had three members: Samantha Alvarez, Samuel Valdez, and Joel Jones.