Winners announced in art patch contest

Two art patches created by students within Lynbrook Public Schools will accompany the winning science experiment being sent to the International Space Station as part of Lynbrook’s Project LIFTOFF.

Students in all grades were invited to submit art patches that would symbolize both the district and the winning microgravity experiment. At the March 8 monthly board of education meeting, the two winning art patches created by fourth grader Brielle Vainroob and senior Mia Rodriguez were announced. Their patches will both join the winning project when it is launched into space.

Runner-ups in the competition were also acknowledged. They include Juliet Magarusa, Sophie Valerio, Sophia Musto, Dan Cullen, Hana DeSilva and Isabella Garcia.

Project LIFTOFF’s winning experiment — “How does microgravity affect the growth of the wine cap mushroom?” by Jack Murray and Aidan Michaels — will be joined by the two winning patches when it takes flight no sooner than June 9.

Project LIFTOFF is part of the district’s participation in the Student Space Flight Experiments Program, a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. This project is possible through a strategic partnership with Nanoracks, which is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.