By Angela Marshall
Seniors Hilary Fleischer and Alex Kardon received news of their selection from science teacher Richard Kurtz last Wednesday. Kurtz couldn't bring himself to look at the Intel Website, where the results were posted, until several minutes after they were made available. When he finally did take a peek, he made sure he was alone. Scrolling slowly down the list of schools to reach the r's and Rockville Centre seemed to take forever, he said in an interview the next day. But there they were, two South Side students -- his students. Almost 24 hours later, the thrill hadn't worn off. Kurtz couldn't stop smiling.
The Intel Corporation selected 300 high school students and their projects out of more than 1,500 entries. The students are from 47 states, the Virgin Islands and Washington D.C. Students were judged on their individual research ability, scientific originality and creative thinking.
Last year, Jessica Stahl raised the bar for South Side Intel entrants when she was named a finalist in the contest. The ranks of those seeking to meet or exceed her performance are increasing. This year South Side had 11 entrants in the Intel competition, the largest number yet. Kurtz, who praised all of the students who entered this year, said the new research lab being unveiled by the school board this week will only help the school's science program grow.
The 40 finalist in this year's competition will be announced on Jan. 29.
Both Fleischer and Kardon are happy just to have made it this far in the competition. "I think he's really shocked," Kurtz said of Kardon.
Many entrants spend years working on their projects, but Kardon couldn't settle on a topic until it was almost too late. He said he looked into what he thinks of as more mainstream projects but kept rejecting them. "I was trying to find something that actually interested me," he said.
Finally he decided to go with an idea he'd put on the backburner because he wasn't sure it would even be accepted. He based his project on the question, "Do pay raises affect measured performance and inferred motivation in professional baseball players?"
His statistical analysis proved that they don't. "I don't think when [the players are] on the field that they're thinking about the money that they make," he said.
Kurtz praised the project and Kardon for being creative. "He did a great job," Kurtz said.
Kardon plays the saxophone and is in the school's wind ensemble as well as the jazz, pep and pit bands.
He also has developed an NFL Website where he evaluates college football players for the NFL draft. He has even gotten to interview some of the players.
Fleischer's topic was just as original: She performed an optical analysis of a flowing soap film. She became interested in soap bubbles after reading an article in "Scientific American" a few years ago. She followed the magazine's directions on how to build a soap film device. She used it for a while, then decided to build a better device that would allow her to look at the interference of light in soap bubbles.
Fleischer worked on her project with professors at Stony Brook University and got advice from other scientists interested in her topic.
Kurtz teased Fleischer about her interest in "bizarre" topics like soap bubbles, but went on to say that that's what makes projects like hers so great. "She's not afraid to do stuff," he said.
Fleischer has been in Kurtz's research class since she was a sophomore. "He's the greatest teacher in the school," she said. "He's always willing to help."
Aside from science, Fleischer has lots of other interests. She is co-editor of the yearbook, president of Students Against Destructive Decisions and a volunteer at Mercy Medical Center and plays on the tennis team.
Fleischer plans to study business and engineering at the University of Pennsylvania next year. Kardon isn't sure what he plans to major in but is hoping to attend Yale or another top school.
