Students bring the wow factor with their projects at the Louisiana STEM Expo

More than 1,000 middle- and high-school students participated in the Louisiana STEM Expo last month at the Baton Rouge River Center. Organized by Kenilworth Science & Technology Charter School, the expo encourages students to create and give a hands-on demonstration of a science, technology, engineering or math-related project. We talked to several students at the event about their impressive work. lastemexpo.org

Tytanna Downing, 12

Kenilworth student

Project: Pendulum wave demonstrating different wavelengths and frequencies

“This is something that can seem really complex or really simple. It’s also a pretty basic part of science and technology, but it became cooler to me the more I researched it. The pendulum shows the different frequencies on each different [wave]length.”

Jasmaine Harris, 12

Democracy Prep Baton Rouge

Project: Giant bubbles

“We worked on the recipe for this solution more than 10 times. Science is about trying over and over again and coming up with different strategies to get the result you want. My project shows that you can use science to make everyday things even better.”

(The final recipe: 2 cups Dawn soap, 1 cup Karo light corn syrup, 4 cups warm water, 2 cups water at room temperature)

Ekrem Kizilkaya, 15

McKinley High School student

Project: Arduino remote-control car and motor coding

“My mom is a chemist, my dad is a physicist, and I always liked Legos. So it’s pretty much a given that I’ll do something in science. Also, remote-control cars are pretty cool.”

Monica Deras, 12

Kenilworth student

Project: Lightbulb reflection in a concave mirror, demonstrating how the human eye functions

“I picked this project because it’s something that goes on in life every day, but you don’t really consciously think about it. It demonstrates both how concave and convex mirrors work, and also how the human eyes work.”

Dillon Larcarte, 12

Kenilworth student

Project: 3-D standing wave machine demonstrating wave frequencies and nodes

“It might look complicated, but it’s only a remote control powered by batteries and a string. The reason it looks like circles to you is because your eyes can’t keep up with the frequency of the wave.”