BEYOND the BOOKS
In Middle School: Writing Rocks! By Mike Pastore ’20
Top Honors for Science Excellence
F
or the second year
Brunswick boys were well
running, Brunswick boys
represented among the winning
have picked up honors at
projects — 18 boys from science
the Connecticut Science
teacher Dana Montanez’s Honors
& Engineering Fair. Held each March at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., the Fair
Science Research course were named finalists. Here’s the rundown of ’Wick stu-
Writing rocks in the Middle School. Writing was also fun in the Lower School. In Lower School, there was a lot more creative writing. But now, in Middle School, most of the writing is nonfiction. But then we were asked to write a short story about anything we wanted. The possibilities were endless! I chose
this year drew about 600 students
dents selected for honors, along with
from 120 Connecticut schools.
the title of their projects:
Ryan Callaghan ’16 and Thomas Kern
Mahesh Raman ’15 and Reed
The next day, one of the kids said he woke up
’16. Project: The future of armor:
McMurchy ’15. Project: The effect
in the middle of the night because he had a
Inspired by the dactyl club of the
of temperature, pH, and dissolved
nightmare about it!
Mantis shrimp.
oxygen on halophilic desalination.
to write about an alien. After getting it back from Mrs. Duennebier, my English teacher, I let several other boys in my grade read it.
Jamie MacFarlane ’16 and Andreas
Cooper Robinson ’15. Project: The use
Kern ’16. Project: Converting mechan-
of bioluminescent bacteria to measure
ical energy from crosswalk traffic
persistent levels of water pollution.
using piezoelectricity.
Chase Stitzer ’15 and Alex Montinaro
Angus Fraser ’16 and David Ruf ’15.
’15. Project: An investigation of hori-
Project: Comparative efficiencies of
zontal gene transfer by way of organ-
magnetically levitating train systems
elle capture: Arabidopsis to Rapa.
in and out of a vacuum chamber.
friend said he would pay $5 to own the story. I am really happy to have gotten this fiction assignment. Who knows? Maybe it will be turned into a movie! Here’s an excerpt from the first story, written in January: The Being from Another Planet: Part I
Sivan Sud ’14. Project: Brilliant bioplas-
In a city built on the coast of California,
Alessandro Mariani ’16. Project: An
tic: A comparative analysis of strength
on a beach near a famous hotel, in the
investigation studying the effect of
in various bioplastics.
dead of night, a dark figure sat down on
the pseudomonas bacteria in a salt H2O environment.
Christian Tanner ’15. Project: Nodule
Chris Peisch ’16. Project: An investi-
symbiosis with Rhizobia.
gation of the effects of high-fructose corn syrup on growth, phenotype, and protein production in Caenorhabditis elegans.
induction in Arabidopsis to promote
tion into enteric symbionts and their effects on the interaction between gliadin and anti-gliadin antibodies.
times of Brunswick • SPRING 2014
a bench. In his hand he held a secret military file. He knew they were watching him. He was paranoid, constantly looking over his shoulder. What he was looking for, he
Eric Ganshaw ’16 and Nick VanBelle
didn’t completely know. He stood up and
’16. Project: External digestion of
began walking down the beach. He walked
cellulose utilizing enteric symbionts
halfway to the end of the beach, and then
from the termite gut.
quickened his pace . . .
Kevin Pendo ’15. Project: An investiga-
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Another offered me $5 for a sequel to my story (which I have not written yet). Another
Left to right: Ryan Callaghan ’16, Thomas Kern ’16, Reed McMurchy ’15, Mahesh Raman ’15, Andreas Kern ’16, and Jamie MacFarlane ’16
To be continued in the fall of 2014. Happy summer, everyone!