Lawrence students take first and third at science competition

Lawrence Middle School seventh- and eighth-grade students took the KidWind Competition by storm, capturing first and third place and earning honorable mentions at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City on Oct. 19. They participated in a tournament that focused on wind energy, as 29 students designed and built working wind turbines.

Ghordyn Russell, Norrin Santizo-Hancock and Corrinthea Washington were the first place winners. Lauren Parrotta and Allie Patterson took third. Nicholas D’Auguste and the team of Tiffany Godoy and Natalie Bran, earned honorable mentions.

The students, 16 teams, experimented with different materials, sizes, angles and shapes to create the blades of their turbines. They worked on their projects in class as well as spent many hours after school conducting trials and preparing the presentation boards.

Along with the above mentioned students, Aidan Adams, Katherine Aguilero, Kekeli Ames, Daniela Andrade, Natalie Bran, Junnior Brizuela, Kiara Dorch, John Escalante, Samantha Ezihie, Christian Guevara, Mathew Guevara, Asmita Jaiswal, Luke Kirchner, Kaine McHale, Allison Mendoza, Sara Oporta , Christian Ortiz-Porras, Kimberly Ramirez, Isaiah Santizo-Lanuza, Daniella Sarro, Amy Sharin and Kayleen Velasquez took part in the competition.

Middle school Assistant Principal Joseph Wieckhorst, along with teachers Joanne Sarceno, Fran Ubertini, Stephanie Angert and Melissa Ninan worked with the students and accompanied them to the tournament.