Shoreham-Wading River High School Advanced Science Research class students Julianna O'Neill and Sasha Seletskaya were invited to compete as regional semifinalists at the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, a competition sponsored by the Department of Defense and the National Science Teacher Association. The symposium aims to encourage high school students to conduct original STEM research and publicly recognizes them for their outstanding achievement.

Sasha and Julianna each submitted a research paper and abstract from their original independent research in November. They were then invited to present their research at York College in Jamaica, Queens on Feb. 9.

Sasha presented her findings on the carbonaceous chondrite meteor she's been studying with her project “Chemical Characterization of Northwest Africa 12748: Comparison to Murchison,” and Julianna shared her data on microplastics found in snails with her project “A Characterization of the Different Types of Microplastics and Their Associated Heavy Metals in Tissue from Ilyanassa obsoleta in a Long Island Salt Marsh.”

“The girls did a fantastic job both in their presentations and in fielding questions from the judges,” science research teacher Dana Schaefer said. “We await results this coming week.”

Date Added: 2/11/2025