By Ashley Stracco, ’24

Staff Writer

In a year dominated by science and its efforts to fight a new deadly virus, Hanover High School revealed a few of its own budding scientists while having one of its best Science Fair performances in recent memory.

HHS sent three students to the Regional and State Science Fair. They were  Freshman Ashley Stracco, Junior Jamie Parry and Sophomore Daniel Nguyen. Dan went the farthest that an HHS student has gone in a very long time, winning the third place Moderna award, a huge accomplishment. 

Dan’s project was called “The Implementation of Independent Finger Movement in Forearm Prosthesis.” He worked on creating a 3D printable design that was practical as well as affordable. Electromyographic sensors detect electrical signals from muscle contractions in the forearm and send those signals to the Arduino microcontroller, which actuates the servo motors in order to move the finger mechanisms. In other words, flexing muscles in your forearm controls the prosthetic hand’s fingers. Dan thinks that competing in the fair was a valuable experience for him because he developed his skills in CAD design and 3D printing. He also was able to implement his knowledge in programming. In regionals, he won second place and in states he obtained the Modern Award for third place. 

Ashley’s project was the effect of Vitamins A, C, D, and E on E. Coli bacteria. She grew cell food in Petri dishes and put the liquid bacteria on the plates. She then added drops of liquidized vitamins onto each of the plates, making sure to keep track of the control plates. She plans to continue her project next year and experiment with things like antibiotics versus vitamins. 

Jamie’s project was called “The Effect of Goggle Tint on Light Transmission.” Jamie explained that goggle lenses vary in both tints and colors. His experiment was designed to test the difference in light transmission between different tinted lenses. He set up an apparatus that held a goggle lens tightly around a light sensor. This ensured he would receive accurate data and no light could enter the sensor. The results of the experiment showed that the best goggles were those with either a blue or blue/red tint.

All three students said they had great experiences with the Science Fair, advised by Mrs. Emerson. We look forward to seeing what they, and other HHS students, come up with next year.