IACS celebrates the International day of Women and Girls in science (Feb 11) with an inaugural competition for High School Student: The IACS Challenge.

Over 100 Teams and 200 K-12 Students from Across Long Island and New York Participate in The Inaugural IACS Challenge

The inaugural IACS Challenge competition brought together over 100 teams comprising more than 200 K-12 students from over 70 different schools across Long Island and New York. The competition, which aimed to inspire young minds with a passion for STEM, tasked participants with selecting a woman scientist from an expert gallery, proposing an experiment, and showcasing their work in an engaging video format.

Launched in September last year, the event was the brainchild of Marivi Fernandez-Serra and Monica Bugallo. The initiative aimed to celebrate the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11, 2024, while highlighting the significant contributions women have made to science over the past century. The organizers sought to reach students from K-12 schools across New York State.

Monica Bugallo, played a crucial role in engaging schools across Long Island and the state. As a co-organizer of the IACS Challenge, Bugallo's efforts were instrumental in garnering a strong response. The outreach effort included approximately 300 students from summer activities, 60 teachers who had participated in previous educational programs from Bugallo's lab, as well as 125 school district superintendents and 40 science supervisors.

The final event, held on Wednesday, February 7th, saw 13 teams (comprising 22 students) invited to compete for the top three prizes. Participants presented their videos and delivered presentations on the scientist they chose to highlight. Judges Heather Lynch, Meg Scheidel, Robert Harrison, Monica Bugallo, Marivi Fernandez-Serra, and Alec Wills faced a tough decision in selecting the winners. Despite the challenge, the competition was a resounding success, with attendees impressed by the quality of presentations and experiments conducted by the students.

Seventh graders Kayla Vessalico and Fiona Ash from Berner Middle School emerged as the winners of the competition. All finalists' videos are available for viewing on the contest website.

Teachers, students, and parents expressed great satisfaction with the competition format and encouraged the continuation of the tradition. So keep tuned, the IACS Challenge is here to stay and set to become a recurring event.