AESA SCIENCE OLYMPIAD SHOWCASES INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM STUDENTS
asbarez
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
Winners of the AESA Science Olympiad
BURBANK-The Armenian Engineers Scientists of America held its
11th Science Olympiad on March 18, for the first time at Woodbury
University’s beautiful main campus nestled against the Verdugo
Foothills in Burbank, California.
Thanks to this year’s nine participating schools-AGBU
Manoogian-Demirdjian, Charlotte and Elise Merdinian Armenian
Evangelical, Holy Martyrs Ferrahian, Ribet Academy, Rose and Alex
Pilibos School, Sahag Mesrop Armenian School, St. Gregory Alfred
and Marguerite Hovsepian, TCA, Arshag Dikranian Armenian School and
Vahan Anoush Chamlian School-98 students of Armenian descent from 6th
through 12th grades with 72 projects participated in the 11th AESA SO.
Around 10 a.m. students began arriving at “The New Woodys” for their
check-in and one by one took their places facing their prepared
science projects which were waiting for them on tables organized
into four categories: junior life science, junior physical science,
senior life science and senior physical science. At the same time
a number of volunteer scientists and engineers with many years of
experience in judging science fairs were picking up their booklets
and heading to locate the projects assigned for them to judge based
on creativity, scientific thought and data analysis, thoroughness,
presentation, as well as clarity.
With the judging process underway students began explaining their
projects, the tests they had performed and the work they had done
to prove their hypotheses and addressed any questions raised by
the judges.
As the judges left to start their deliberations, the participating
students were served lunch and took the opportunity to rest and mingle
with their peers from the other schools. Afterwards, students gathered
enthusiastically in the auditorium to participate in the games. Two
games were planned for the afternoon. At the first game, students were
challenged to find a secret code number by solving a set of puzzles
and pattern recognition trivia’s. The team of five students who found
the right code combination in less than 15 minutes was awarded gift
certificates. At the second game, students were divided in five teams
and they competed in the Science Knowledge Quiz”. Although there was
an intense rivalry among competitors, one could feel the positive
energy and the affable atmosphere, everyone including the audience was
having fun while learning new concepts in science. The objective of the
quiz was to motivate students in learning science more profoundly and
experience new ways of thinking about science outside of the confines
of the classroom. A team of five bright students achieved the highest
score in the competition and were awarded with gift certificates.
This year AESA SOC was fortunate to have an accomplished microbiologist
from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a speaker.
Anahid Kazarians has published over 20 papers and presented in over 10
conferences. She presented her experiences during the implementation
of Planetary Protection Microbial Bioburden Requirements on the Mars
Science Laboratory (MSL) Spacecraft, and also demonstrated that these
requirements were maintained and met as the spacecraft was assembled.
This was accomplished using microbial plating methods for the detection
of spores and molecular methods for Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)
detection using bioluminescence. MSL, carrying 11 very sophisticated
scientific instruments, was launched on November 26, 2011, carrying
Anahid’s signature. It will be landing on Mars on August 6, exploring
biosignatures on Mars. She also talked about what motivated her
to enter the space field and why she believes science is fun and
rewarding. The audience was very much interested with the topic and
asked many questions and awarded Anahid Kazarians with a round of
well deserved applause at the end.
Dr. Marina Guevrekian, the AESA SO Committee Chairwoman after thanking
all the participating schools, principals, vice principals, teachers
and parents who had been instrumental in students taking part in
the AESA SO began announcing the much anticipated awards. The first
announcement award was the teacher appreciation award which was
bestowed on Lida Gevorkian from Vahan Anoush Chamlian School, for
her outstanding contributions in mentoring and inspiring students in
science and engineering throughout the year as well as her efforts in
encouraging more participants and award winners in this year’s AESA
Science Olympiad. Mrs. Lida Gevorkian will receive a check for $300
which was added this year in addition to the $300 which will be given
for the purchase of a scientific instrument for her school’s science
laboratory. Also as of this year the school with the winner teacher
will be receiving a trophy. Mr. Vazken Madenlian, Principal of Vahan
Anoush Chamlian School came up to the stage and accepted the trophy.
After a brief congratulatory speech directed to the participating
students by Armen Hovannesian, AESA President, Dr. Marina Guevrekian
began announcing the winners’ names and their schools which each time
was followed by thunderous applause from the audience. Dr. Marina
Guevrekian ended the event by saying what an immense satisfaction
was for her to head the SOC since its inception 11 years ago. The
celebration of the 10th anniversary in April 2011 was not only a
tribute to the dedication of the actors of this project during the
past 10 years, but also a testament to the relationship built within
the community in a decade and laying down the foundation for a program
that uniquely benefits our youth. She stated “As after today’s SO,
I will be stepping down from my Chair position, I would like to
thank the science Olympiad past & present members & each & everyone
of you who have been part of this program during the past 11 years &
I had the privilege of working with you. These 11 years have been one
of the most fulfilling period of my life which I’ll cherish each &
every moment of it until the end of my life.”
For further information please contact the AESA at [email protected]
or follow them on Twitter @AESA and Facebook.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
