MEXICO, NY – Uranium Isotopic Separation, Air Filtration, the Study of Generation IV Nuclear Reactors and Fossil Fuel Electrical Generation and the Issues of Acid Rain, were some of the Oswego County high school students’ science projects at Entergy Nuclear’s fifth annual High School Science Competition held on Feb. 6.
Eleven teams from Oswego County’s high schools and BOCES competed for more than $12,000 of scholarships and prizes provided by Entergy at BOCES in Mexico.
Each team gave a 20-minute presentation to a team of judges on different aspects of nuclear power including power source/generation, heat transfer/fluid flow, chemistry, radiation, environmental impact or other topics as they relate to nuclear power.
Points on the presentations and their working models were awarded based on technical accuracy, innovation, presentation skills and project complexity.
Presenting the scholarships and awards were Entergy Nuclear Site Vice President Pete Dietrich, General Manager Plant Operations Kevin Mulligan, Director of Engineering Mark Woodby; Chairman of the Oswego County Legislature Barry Leemann; Weston T. Hyde Foundation President Mike Egan and former GE employee Paul Santore.
Entergy awarded each of the first place Sam Walker Memorial Award winners Timothy Busbee, Brian Wilson, Marius Kroemer and Lisa Ahn Phit from APW High School’s Team A.K./P.W. a $1,000 scholarship for their project on Uranium Isotope Separation.
This award is given in memory of the late Sam Walker who participated in Entergy’s 2005 competition.
The $750 second-place scholarships went to the APW High School’s team Vycistit to. The team consisted of Benjamin Clark, Willow Faulkner, Zachary Maurer and Vojtech Oralke.
Third-place $500 scholarships were awarded to the Hannibal High School’s Team Acid Rain. The team consisted of Victoria Metcalf, Joshua Hinz, Gregory Verwey and Jessica Painter.
Fourth-place $300 scholarships were awarded to the Fulton G. Ray Bodley High School’s Team Gen. X. The team consisted of Casey Holden, Dylan Holden, Madeline Clark, Juana Gonzalez and Dan Bolster.
Fifth-Place $150 scholarships were awarded to the Pulaski High School’s Team Tur-bYnez. The team consisted of Joe Caiello, Bailey Holmes, Mike Cowan, Nate Clark and Kirkland Nagy.
Sixth-Place $75 gift cards were awarded to BOCES’ Team Chic Geeks. The team consisted of Melinda Wingood, Catherine Alsheimer and Jessica Redden.
“Each team should be very proud. These students did a lot of research and had some phenomenal projects,†said Dietrich. “This science competition gives us an opportunity to show our youth what nuclear power is all about and what a great career it would be to pursueâ€â€producing electricity from a safe, environmentally clean and reliable energy source. This event may encourage students to pursue becoming some of the nuclear engineers needed in our immediate future.â€Â
Entergy Nuclear provided a $25,000 grant for the scholarships, awards and logistics for the science competition.
The Weston T. Hyde Oswego County Educational Foundation is managing the grant for Entergy.
Judges for the competition were 24 FitzPatrick employees; Newschannel 9 Chief Meteorologist Dave Longley; Oswego County Legislator Morris Sorbello and Santore.
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