News Post

St. Joseph’s Academy competed in the 2024 Region VII Science and Engineering Fair, held March 8 in the LSU Student Union Cotillion Ballroom. By virtue of placing first or second in their category, 18 SJA students advanced to the Louisiana State Science and Engineering Fair to be held March 25-27 at LSU. 

Jacqueline Savoia is SJA’s Science Fair director. “Congratulations to all of these students who worked so hard to make it to this regional fair,” she said. “The competition was really tough this year, but I am so proud of each and every student for bringing their best attitudes and coming together as a team. It was an experience for each of them, and I am hopeful for their bright futures.”

Following are the results from the 74th annual regional science fair.

Animal Sciences
Anna Craig, 1st place, The Effect of Residential Refuse on Laying Habits of Aedes aegypti 
Mackenzie O’Brien, 3rd place, How Fish Food Affects Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Caudal Fin Regeneration
Emily Vennen, Prevalence of haemoproteus in Barred Owls and its Effect on the Owl’s PCV

Behavioral and Social Sciences
Angelina Rispone, 1st place, The Effect of Different Sports on Female Athletes’ Body Image and The Difference from High School to College 
Anna Clare Hertel, 3rd place, Psychological Effects of Athletic Injury on Adolescent Adults 
Allison Riley, 4th place, The Association Between Students’ and Teachers’ Perception of School Climate and Mental Health

Biochemistry
Sophia Montalbano, 2nd place, Diets Stimulate the Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Immune System
GiGi Nelson, 3rd place, The Effects of BlueStar Forensic on Painted Bloodstains

Biomedical and Health Sciences
Bella Bridgewater, 2nd place, The Effect of Age on HIV and AIDS Health Literacy
Abby Grier, 3rd place, Effects on Accuracy of Refraction Measurements Using the Welch Allyn Spot Vision Screener and the Snellen Eye Chart 
Sarah Schmeeckle, Dental Complications of Radiation Therapy in Head and Neck Cancer 
Catherine Murthy, The Effect of Treatment on Gestational Diabetes Mellitus on the Development of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Biomedical Engineering
Anna Kate Terrell, 2nd place, Printed Co-culture Platform to Study Bacteria Induced Endocrine Resistance in Breast Cancer 
Camille Starkovich, 3rd place, The Photobleaching Effect of Fluorescent Proteins for Cell-Free Biosensor Development 

Cellular and Molecular Biology
Grace Buras, 3rd place, Determining the Vector Competence of Baton Rouge Mosquito Populations for Batai Virus and Preliminary Risk Assessment for Viral Emergence
London Dupree, 4th place, Molecular Identification of Xanthomonas axonopodis, Causal Agent of Citrus Canker 
Rachael Pisciotta, The Effect of Ultraviolet Radiation on DNA Radiation

Chemistry
Rachel Schroeder, 2nd place, The Effect of Mercury Advisories on Mercury Levels in Micropterus salmoides, Epomis macrochirus and Atractosteus spatula  
Lily May, 3rd place, Origanum vulgare Essential Oil and Gelatin’s Impact on the Fatty Acid Profile of Ictalurus furcatus and Ictalurus punctatus Hybrid Filets

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Emery Zeringue, 1st place, The Effects of Social Determinants of Health on the Percent of Type 2 Diabetes Rates 
Mia Barfield, 2nd place, The Effects of Demographics at Diagnosis on Colorectal Cancer Mortality Rates 

Earth and Environmental Sciences
Claire Bodin, 2nd place, The Impact of Ozone Pollution on the Growth, Health and Physiological Development of Food Crops
Lillian Prescott, 4th place, The Effect of Fertilizer Concentration on the Dissolved Oxygen Content of Water 

Embedded Systems
Lanna Rodrigue, 2nd place, The Effects of the Readi-Steadi© Anti-Tremor Orthotic Glove System on Essential Tremor 
Eleanor Stafford, 3rd place, The Effect of Trial and Error on the Playability of Video Games 

Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design
Macy Davis, The Effect of Farm Inputs and Resource Use Cotton Producers Consume as Measured by Production Efficiency: A Louisiana Case

Environmental Engineering
Janessa Ramlochan, 1st place, How the Design of Filter Internal Material Produces Different Levels of Water Quality

Materials Science
Sarah Lindsay, 1st place, The Effect of Different Insulations on the Temperature of a Model Attic
Sarah Atkinson, 2nd place, The Effect of Different Insulation Types on Household Temperature Control 

Mathematics
Gaby Gallardo, 3rd place, Effectiveness of Stricter Hunting Laws on Black Bear Populations in Various States 

Microbiology
Avery Randolph, 3rd place, The Effect of Differing Phytochemicals on the Zones of Inhibition of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus Strain 6538 and Staphylococcus aureus Strain USA 300 

Physics and Astronomy
Ava Waggenspack, 2nd place, The Biomechanical Comparison of “Dead” and “New” Pointe Shoes in Ballet Dancers
Mary Nguyen, 3rd place, The Study of Stellar Black Holes and Their Angular 

Plant Science
Isabelle Broome, 1st place, Using Accelerated Seed Osmoicum and Soaking to Combat Adverse Condition Caused by Climate Change

Robotics and Intelligent Machines
Sophia Simoneaux, 2nd place, Engineering a Handicap Stair Aid

Systems Software
Kaylie Hollis, 3rd place, The Effect of Hidden Layers on Convolutional Neural Networks
Katie Toncrey, 4th place, Tracking Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) Users’ App Usage Duration through Push Notifications

Technology Enhances the Arts 
Lola Avery, 1st place, Detecting the Effects of Implicit Bias on an Individual’s Global Perspective
Ava Doucet, 2nd place, Effects of Subsurface Scattering on Three-Dimensional Models

Translational Medical Sciences 
Caroline Burkhalter, 4th place, Latent Cytomegalovirus Infection Increases Telomerase Activity in Metastatic Breast Cancer