“At the YSAP Symposium, I learned how to articulate and explain my research study and its results to adults and students alike in a professional environment,” says AP Biology student Sara Leong, a resident of Hoboken.
High Tech juniors Eshaan Mangat and Preston Luh, both from Secaucus, won the Innovation Award for their project, “The Implementation of Piezoelectricity in the Charging of Phones.” Appiculture students--Bayonne resident Mysara Elsayed, Lyna Bacha and Jasmary Rabelo of North Bergen, and West New York resident Nicolle Vilca--earned the newly-founded Alumni Award for their project, “The Effect of Bee Venom on Muscle Soreness,” in which the group discovered that bee venom therapy can be used to ease the pain of arthritis. This latter group conducted their current experiment using bee venom cream, leading them to conclude that bee venom eases muscle soreness and pain in general.
“I was really impressed by the projects other schools made,” adds AP Biology student and West New York resident Jade Lorences. “It motivated me to try harder and find topics that are precise.”
A nonprofit organization, YSAP encourages students to pursue studies in STEM careers. The program provides high school students with the resources and mentoring to assist them in carrying out research in the STEM field of their choice. Students in the YSAP program formulate budgets, write research proposals, interact with professionals, and prepare final research reports and presentations. Then, they present their work at the STEM Research Symposium at the end of the year, as well as compete for awards distributed at the annual YSAP Student Symposium.
“I was amazed by the amount of projects that involved engineering and biology,” Alison Chang of Bayonne confessed. “It motivated me to continue to find questions and topics that interest me.”
