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FCS is honored to announce the participation of four of our students in this year’s Alameda County Science and Engineering Fair on March 26. Three of our students even brought home awards, which is a remarkable achievement, especially considering there were nearly 400 projects presented from middle and high schools.

Ninth-grader Matthew Du, who was honored with third place in the category of High School Plant Sciences, Ecology, Agriculture, & Environmental Sciences, submitted his project on the effects of artificial or aquatic environments on crop yield, the results of which Matthew hopes will be scaled to benefit food production and reduce world hunger — an exemplary reflection of the community of compassion we strive to create at FCS. Matthew also took the time to present his project to his class after the fair.

Another such project came from eleventh-grader Neil Makur, who aimed to create an efficient algorithm to cost-effectively distribute extra food from donors to fulfill the needs of food banks. “The best part about my experience was the journey,” says Neil. “I was able to combine skills from AP Computer Science A and AP Stats, as well as knowledge from my volunteer work at the food bank and other math courses, into a project that is applicable in the real world — and get great results. Mrs. Mathews was a great support.” Neil placed third in High School Math, Astronomy, Physics.

Neil’s classmate Sophia Li took home fourth place in the category of High School Biomedical Science for her project on preventing dance injuries in teenagers. “I enjoyed the journey of this research project,” Sophia says, “especially because I'm able to tie together my passion for dance and science and present my findings to experts in the field.”

“We're grateful for the space of independent growth that FCS provides for students, which has enabled our daughter to transform from quiet to confident during her high school years so far,” her parents said in a note to our head of school, Dr. Tricia Meyer. “Thank you again for the school's attention to students.”

Tenth-grader Jared Jackson also participated in the fair, presenting his analysis of how potholes could be avoided — a noble cause indeed!

In addition to our future Nobel Prize winners, FCS also won the logo design competition. The winning trio of Daniel Du, Matthew Du, and Melody Zhang combined their creative talents to produce the image that appeared on much of this year’s fair marketing and merchandise.

FCS is very proud of all our science fair participants! Congratulations to you all!

If any student is interested in more information about participating in the ACS&E Fair or the logo competition, please see your science teacher.