North Bergen Science Newsletter Issue #19 - Winter/Spring 2022

NORTH BERGEN SCIENCE

THE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT AND ACADEMIES NEWSLETTER OF NORTH BERGEN SCHOOLS

WINTER/SPRING 2022

ISSUE #19

DR. KESHISHIAN'S MESSAGE

The S.T.E.M. and S.T.E.A.M. Academies are "full steam ahead." This year we had a record number of applicants throughout grades 4 - 6 to STEAM and grade 8 to the STEM Academy, and we cannot wait to welcome them next school year. More information on these amazing students will follow in the next newsletter. Also, there have been some remarkable science activities taking place throughout the North Bergen School District in the past four months since our last edition.

The stories have come from both the Academies and district science and technology classrooms. I am very excited to share these highlights of superb accomplishments, awards, and experiments completed throughout these pages. All of these extraordinary accomplishments are a team effort in Science and Technology at North Bergen. Our teachers and faculty, administrators and staff, and parents and students have helped us cultivate a variety of interdisciplinary studies and I am humbled by their hard work and constant dedication. Our North Bergen High School, Elementary Schools, and STEM/STEAM students continue to have an exceptional learning experience. Thank you for everyone's support in these endeavors and I hope you enjoy the stories about our students' accomplishments.

It's Gold, Bronze and Special Prizes for North Bergen Scientific Independent Research!

DR. KESHISHIAN'S MESSAGE STEM SHOWCASE SEASON IS HERE, AND NORTH BERGEN WINS! NORTH BERGEN STEAM STUDENTS PRESENT RESEARCH TO DR. K, MS. C MRS. SP, AND THEIR STUDENT PEERS NORTH BERGEN STUDENTS ARE HONORED IN LANGLEY NATIONAL SCIENCE ART CONTEST OVER 200 APPLY TO STEM AND STEAM ACADEMIES SCIENCE HAPPENINGS AROUND THE DISTRICT 1. HORACE MANN - MORGANA, ARRANGO, AGUIAR 2. KENNEDY SCHOOL 3. POLK STREET - SEISMIC AND SALT WATER STUDIES 4. WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH AT NBHS MATH SQUID GAMES 2021-2022 HELLO GOOGLE NATIONAL ENERGY FOUNDATION REV PRIZE SPECIAL GUESTS - AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION WITH STRYKER PRESIDENT ROBERT COHEN AND STEM/STEM PROGRAM ALUMNI

Congratulations to: Melanie Soto - Gold, NJCU Daniela Altamirano - Bronze Zoubair Belfki - Bronze Aires Cepeda - Bronze, APA Bryan Gramajo - Bronze Petra Nassereddin - Bronze Gabriel Rodriguez - Bronze Jennifer Salguero - Bronze

NASA FLUID DYNAMICS TEAM GOES TO WORK AND MRS. SP VISITS DR. KHUSID AT THE ASGSR CONFERENCE IN MARYLAND! DR. KHUSID AND THE NORTH BERGEN RESEARCH TEAM MEET WITH CASIS MANAGERS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION , AND PROFESSORS FROM PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITIES. FDU OUTREACH GRADS HELP OTHERS WITH VIDEO HOW-TO THANK YOU'S

Science Presentation Season is Here and North Bergen Strikes GOLD! Melanie Soto Wins Prestigious Gold Medal NBHS Senior Melanie Soto has earned her spot as a Gold Medalist this year in the annual Jersey City Medical Center/RWJBarnabas Health STEM Showcase. As every year, the competition to place in a gold medal category is extremely competitive, but Melanie really applied her research skills and was passionate about her project. Melanie learned how to conduct research in the rigorous Independent Scientific Research Honors course.

Bryan Gramajo, Aries Cepeda, Daniella Altamirano Petra Nassederrin & Zoubair Belfki Jennifer Salguero & Gabriel Rodriguez Awarded Bronze Medals Bronze Medals have been awarded to: Bryan Gramajo for his analysis on a critical content analysis into the War on Drugs and the Incarceration Solution; Aries Cepeda for his analysis of comparative milestones for LGBTQ+ rights and looking at acceptance of curricula in that area; Jennifer Salguero and Gabriel Rodriguez for their study on the creative intelligence of organized versus disorganized accelerated and gifted middle and high school students; Daniela Altamirano for her analysis of the misdiagnosis and trend of Multiple Sclerosis in Hispanic and Mestizo women; and Petra Nassederrin and Zoubair Belfki's design of a Citizen Science approach studying Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection through the use of an app.

In addition, congratulations to Aries Cepeda for receiving the APA Award, and Melanie Soto for receiving the NJCU Presidential Scholarship.

"Because of the exceptional research class led by Dr. KristaWelz, accompanied

by Mrs. Stern-Protz, our students conduct sound research with university skills."

- Dr. Jared Keshishian, District Supervisor of Science and Elementary Technology Education; Manager of STEM.STEAM

STEAM Academy Students Show Off Their Research Skills Students in the fifth and sixth grade STEAM Academy had a visit from Dr. K and Mrs. SP to show off their research and science skills.

"We knew the STEAM Academy was a well-designed program, and the level of work here is just proof-positive of the quality of learning and superb teaching that comes with it," stated Dr. Jared Keshishian when listening to the presentations given by the fifth and sixth graders at the STEAM Academy.

"The STEAM Academy is going very well, and we are looking forward to adding seventh grade next year," agreed Dr. Solter, Superintendent of Schools.

Students were thrilled that their research was reviewed with challenging questions that were answered with confidence and assurity. Each of their projects is highlighted in the next set of pages. We can't wait to see what they come up with next!

These projects show the rigor and quality of a dedicated STEAM program and the teachers are top-notch in creating a superb protocol for students to learn the foundations of research.

Dr, Keshishian, Mrs. Stern Protz and Ms. Sastre with students proudly presenting their STEAM research.

Ms. Ricco and her sixth grade researchers and Dr. K

Ms. Diaz and student researchers with Dr. K and Mrs. SP Mrs. LeJeune-Teta, with fifth grade student researchers proudly sharing research with Dr. K and Mrs. SP.

Great Research STEAM Academy!

Click on any of the slides to see the presentation .pdf!

Great Research STEAM Academy!

Click on any of the slides to see the presentation .pdf!

North Bergen Students Win Honors and Medal in the 2022 NASA Langley Art Contest North Bergen student artists Denish Patel (Bronze Medal), Cam Garcia (Honorable Mention and March Calendar Image), and STEAM Academy student Jiya Patel (Honorable Mention) walked away with accolades from NASA LangleyResearch Center's annual art competition against almost 850 submissions nationwide.

Art teachers Piera DiGiulio, Alexandra Colta, and STEAM teachers Stephanie LeJeune and Karina Diaz are to be applauded for their encouragement.

Denish Patel

Cam Garcia Special thanks go to Ms. Heather Carline for coordinating the effort and thanks to Mr. Bonacci, North Bergen High School Principal Richard Locricchio, Kennedy Principal Frank Bafumi, Dr. George Solter, and the North Bergen Board of Education for their support!

Jiya Patel Click the palette to see all of our high school students' submissions!

Over 200 Apply to Our Academies

Over 200 students from around North Bergen, and those attending private and parochial schools, who live in North Bergen, applied to both the STEM Academy accelerated program at North Bergen High School, and the newly-opened STEAM Academy Middle School for grades five through eight.

"We are thrilled to have so many talented students interested in being a part of our award-winning Academies, and wish all of the applicants a great deal of success," said Dr. George Solter, Superintendent of Schools.

HAPPENINGS AROUND NORTH BERGEN SCHOOLS Mr. Aguiar at Horace Mann Taking off With Balloon Rockets

Students launched the balloon rockets down the hallway to test aerodynamic integrity as well as distance met.

"Students like to do science.

Learning theories, equations, principles and facts are very important to science, however applying these skills to see if all of these laws and theories work is how students internalize learning concepts," states Mr. Aguiar.

Science teacher Robert Aguiar of Horace Mann takes his kids to the upper-most atmosphere by launching balloon rockets and teaching students about the physics of thrust, inertia and speed needed to escape Earth's gravity.

All the P Vid ics eo and s!

Teachers: click the balloon for a link to the lesson!

Thank you Mr. Aguilar!

"Horace Mann's Mr. Aguiar, Ms. Morgana and Mr. Arrango are taking Tech and Science to create a collaborative and enriching STEM atmosphere."

- Dr. Keshishian

Science and STEM Around North Bergen All the Pic s!

Horace Mann - Landing Eggs Safely

Teachers Maria Morgana and Alex Arango and their students at Horace Mann landed egg astronauts with some collaboration and ingenuity. They had to keep an egg (or two) intact in order to hit the surface of the moon (or an alien world) without breaking apart.

By Maria Morgana: In Technology class, in both Horace Mann and McKinley School, my and Mr. Arango’s students have been learning the Engineer Design Process using an "Egg Drop Project."They’ve been brainstorming, planning and are now creating prototypes using recycled materials! They are building structures to protect the egg from cracking during a fall. The excitement and energy in the class is contagious.

We cannot wait to follow along to the next stage of the process and eventually see if they protected the eggs (which they named) during the drop.

Olympics! At McKinley School

All the P Vid ics eo and s!

By Maria Morgana: McKinley School hosted a two-week long school Olympics. Each grade level selected a country to represent and participated in events both physically and academically challenging!

Ms. Morgana organized a STEAM inspired event, having students create homemade skis from recycled materials. Not only did students have to create skis, they had to be able to race in them! After a week of building, students participated in a timed trial race while wearing their skis.

Rockin' Energy Coasters at Kennedy School

Christine Putrino-Cintron and her fifth and sixth grade science classes tested potential and kinetic energy by building and testing rollercoasters made out of foam tubing and glass marbles. Students learned that 'potential' energy is when energy is held until used. 'Kinetic' energy is energy being expended to move something.

Seismic Studies at Polk Street School!

Jacqueline Garcia Ortega and students at Polk Street School built and tested seismograph machines that using Earth's gravity, detect ground movement by suspending a pen that makes marks as it detects movements on the ground.

Salt Water Studies at Polk Street School Mrs. Ortega shared more awesome science news by sending pictures of her students conducting salt water density tests. The pictures of the students holding up their glass tubes with different color layers is the outcome of how much density was created with different amounts of salt in the water.

Mrs. Ortega and her students sent the pictures along with thank Mrs. Adamarys Galvin, Principal of Polk Street, Mrs. Candace Anacker, Elementary Supervisor of Math, for helping her put it together. Congrats to all!

Women Mathematicians Celebrated in Mrs. Caraballo's Honors Pre-Calculus Class

"Hidden Figures (from Wired UK))

STEM studentsNayelly Marin-Klinkert, Nicole Renteria and Abigail Villalta

Students in Mrs. Marylou Caraballo's Honors precalculus class paid tribute to women mathematicians and scientists to celebrate their enormous contributions to not only NASA over the past six decades, but also the larger world community.

Women in STEM fields are growing, however the percentages have not moved as much as expected over the past ten years. Because of our teachers in North Bergen, the teachers in the STEM Academy and math teachers at NBHS, we can help encourage more of our female students to pursue careers that will take them far.

STEM students Mia Zayas and Ashley Molina

Special thanks to all of our wonderful STEM students who participated.

STEM students Daniela Escobar and Migueldavid Cabral

STEM student Madeline Choto-Hernandez

STEM Seniors Aries Cepeda, Gabe Rodriguez, Kevin Galarraga and Zoubair Belfki enjoying the competitions

Squid Game from Netflix

While not quite the deadly and forceful top-watched Netflix hit, the STEM Academy put eight teams together to play in a day of fun and spirited competition with a Squid Game theme Thanksgiving week.

"Although you may think of our students as all-academic, we look at our sports-minded STEM kids as "Scholar Athletes" who are leaders in their own sports," said Mr. Locricchio, Principal of North Bergen High School. Our STEM students

Daniela is hoisted up as a champion by STEM peers Michelle Reyes, Natalie Majano, Zoubair Belfki and Rafael Rodriguez

"Refs" Dr. Keshishian and Mrs. Marto Commence the North Bergen STEM Academy Squid Games

Caitlyn Fernandez leads her Tug-o-War team into battle

are on the football, baseball, basketball, softball, wresting, track, tennis and bowling teams, along with a host of recreational/league and travel teams as well, said with great pride by Principal Richard Locricchio. How do they do it? "We manage our time," according to senior Bryan Gramajo - a star baseball player and current wrestling team member.

"It's key to make sure that we study together and are responsible for those projects that we need to hand in," added David Lopez, a senior and member of the Bruins' bowling team.

Mrs. Marto refs a round of tug-o-war

The surprise champ of the day was junior Daniela Giraldo, who managed to beat what seemed an entire dodgeball team on her own!

Along with her varsity soccer "sisters," Tatiana Nunez, and Daniela Poaquiza, the squad makes soccer a joy for North Bergen fans.

Students played "red light/green light, Dodgeball, tug-o-war, and had to answer STEM trivia challenges in between.

The three most fierce competitors we all got to watch were Caitlyn Fernandez, Migueldavid Cabral, and Bryan Gramajo. "Once they got into the 'zone,' it was us who had to watch out!" cheered our teachers and administration as they looked on at the championship round of dodgeball.

In all, champs were crowned, STEM academic students got to show off their athletic abilities, and everyone had fun.

Hello Google!

Thank you National Energy Foundation!

Students at both the STEM and STEAM Academies were in for a morning of professional advice from Google Software Engineer, Blake MacKall from Google. Thanks to Dr. Welz for setting the meeting up!

North Bergen STEM Academy and STEM - related programs would like to thank the National Energy Foundation for including us in its 2021-2022 rEV program to help engage students in learning more about electric vehicles and their critical importance to the future of a cleaner planet and better climate for all. Our students provided important

Blake told the students his story rising up from high school to attend Williams College, a prestigious higher learning institute in Massachusetts, for computer science, and his early career in software engineering at Google and other companies.

The students were ready with interesting questions, and his experience inspired many of our own burgeoning software engineers

feedback on interactive learning to the Foundation, and we congratulate our own Ohla Buhlak (pictured above with Mrs. SP, Dr. K and Mr. Estella) holding her brand new BEATS headset for providing excellent feedback for the program.

Thanks to Dr. Welz for setting up this program!

An Important Conversation with Robert Cohen, President, Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies

This past December, the STEM and STEAM Academies sat for a virtual conference with Robert Cohen, President, Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies at Stryker. Along with Mr. Cohen were STEM Alumni Cristina Morocho, Mario Gonzalez-Tapanes and STEM program alumnus Cruz Donato.

Mr. Cohen has multiple engineering degrees, and is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for New Jersey Institute of Technology - a key university partner of STEM Academy. He spoke about his experience in pursuing his passion for excellence with helping patients live their lives to the fullest using individual and advanced component technology designed and manufactured at Stryker, and at his previous medical technology enterprises. His journey has been full of learning, hard work and making discoveries along the way, and our students at all levels of STEM and STEAM had questions that Mr. Cohen enthusiastically addressed. We cannot thank Mr. Cohen for spending time to inspire our future engineers, and we welcome him back anytime.

In addition, we asked our recent graduates how their college careers were going. Cruz graduated NJIT with both master's and bachelor's degrees in engineering, and is working full time as a mechanical engineer at HS Design - a SteriPak Company. Mario is about to begin his Co-op year through Northeastern, and Cristina has been doing very well at Montclair, and is looking forward to becoming a front-end web designer perhaps innovating and opening her own company! Thanks to all for their important time and effort. Our current students loved it and it was a huge boost to our STEM and STEAM Academies.

Students from NASA Fluid Dynamics Research Making Great Progress in Ideas to Transfer Liquids in Space!

Thank you NASA, Dr. Khusid and NJIT! The last time we posted, we started researching fluid dynamics and the transference of liquid from one container to another. To understand what our team is up to, we're trying to design and figure out ways to refuel in space - like an interstellar gas station!

Dr. Keshishian and junior researcher student Lama discuss her 3-D rendition of a possible liquid transfer in zero/low Earth gravity

The students looked up theories, mathematic equations, physics phenomena, SpaceX weights and measures, and NASA and NASA partner rocket design. We also took a look at the massive Artemis STS rocket which took an astonishing week's time to travel four (4) miles!

With all of that said, the students started to create 3-D renderings of their design ideas to be presented to Dr. Khusid at the end of March.

Dr. Keshishian with student researchers Olha and Lama talking through design ideas cross-sections.

Dr. Boris Khusid

STUDENTS GO ONLINE WITH CASIS, THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION RESEARCH ORGANIZATION, AND LEADING ISS RESEARCH SCIENTISTS

NSF/NASA research team students, had the privilege of participating in a virtual symposium with scientists working on experiments on the ISS from different universities. Along with Dr. Khusid of NJIT, scientists

from Cornell, University of Maryland and University of Delaware were present, along with CASIS Director Ryan Reeves.

Students Nicholas Fernandez, Olha Buhlak, Lama Alsurakhi, Omer Ashraf, and teacher Jeff Trifari

attended all or part of the conference. The level of research is astounding, and our students found the event eye-opening to all of the possibilities in what they can accomplish in their own research.

What Your Teachers Are Up to: ASGSR Maryland 2021 and North Bergen We Spent a Day with ISS Scientists.

We attended the ASGSR (American Society for Gravitational and Space Research conference 2021, and were privileged to present the North Bergen Research Team Statement of Work Poster which shows Olha's Bulak, Lama Alsurakhi, Omer Ashraf, Hailey Patel, Nicholas Fernandez, and Sheroz Khan. This week, as stated previously, the team will be showing their designs to Dr. Khusid via virtual conference. (Pictured Dr. Khusid and Mrs. SP is Jobi Cook, Associate Director, NASA/NC Space Grant). We hope the students will be able to virtually present themselves for ASGSR 2022 in Austin!

NEW JERSEY EDUCATIONAL COMPUTER COOPERATIVE 2022 Each year, technology teachers and tech specialists attend the annual NJECC (New Jersey Educational Computer Cooperative) conference. This year, District Supervisor of Technology, Mr. Daniel Diaz, Mrs. Tasha Murphy and STEAM Academy teachers Karina Diaz and Lauren Sastre, all attended the annual conference.

Dr. Krista Welz presented Creating Digital Interactive Media Stories and Visual Literature-Mapping and Recommendation Tools. Mrs. Stern-Protz presented The NASA Behavior Engineering Model as a Guide to SEL in the Classroom.

Dr. Krista Welz

Mrs. Stern-Protz

How Do You Solve a Problem Like a Robot?

Ask North Bergen Juniors and FDU Outreach Student Alumni!

Click the picture to see the video!

One of the best experiences where STEM Academy students and our NBHS engineering-minded students participate is the Fairleigh Dickinson Technology Outreach, Math Enrichment and Cyber-security Saturday programs.

When students were in need of putting together their Pi-Go robots, FDU kindly offered a pre-assembly at their campus. But we came up with an inhouse idea. Juniors Aimee Palacios and Aailiyah Garcia created a "how-to" video, with step-by-step instructions.

Thanks also to freshman Christian Morocho for the back-up offer of editing the video as well, and we're going to keep him on-deck for future projects.

Engineering is about solving problems and we continue to take pride in our students for both pitching in and being at the ready. It is a boon to FDU and the Academy.

Special Thanks Mayor Nicholas J. Sacco Dr. George Solter, Jr., Superintendent Mr. Allen Pascual, Director of Curriculum and Instruction The North Bergen Board of Education Mr. Richard Locricchio, Principal of North Bergen High School Mr. Frank Bafumi, Principal of John F. Kennedy School The STEM/STEAM Academy Committees Our Parents, Guardians and Students

Thanks to ALL of the amazing teachers, administrators, and staff that make this happen every day!

Center for the Advancement of Science in Space Cristina Morocho Cruz Donato Gildart Haase School of Computer Science and Engineering at Fairleigh Dickinson University Horace Mann School Mrs. Nancy Hovan The International Space Station, and the entire NASA Organization Kennedy School Polk Street School Mario Gonzalez-Tapanes McKinley School National Science Foundation The New Jersey Educational Computer Cooperative New Jersey Institute of Technology and Dr. Boris Khusid North Bergen District Science Department Mr. Robert Cohen, President, Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies, Stryker

We are grateful for, and open to, donations and partner projects with universities, companies and organizations. Feel free to contact: Dr. Jared Keshishian at jkeshishian3@northbergen.k12.nj.us and/or Stephanie Stern-Protz at sstern@northbergen.k12.nj.us.