HOWELL – At a recent Board of Education meeting, members of the board as well as district staff honored several students who received awards for science and technology projects.
Danielle Gianelos, science teacher at Howell Middle School South, announced the awardees for the New Jersey Student Climate Challenge Contest. The contest is a statewide competition sponsored by the Sustainable Schools New Jersey in which students are tasked to complete a school or community project that addresses the cause or impact of climate change and then share what they accomplished in a short digital video.
Howell Middle School South’s “Carbon Catchers” Team placed 2nd in the Middle School Division winning a $1,000 school grant.
“Their project focused on planting trees at Middle School South to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a major contributor to global warming. The team reached out to the Howell Township Shade Tree Commission for guidance and secured a donation of 50 trees to plant. They planted the trees around campus during the last few days of school,” Gianelos said. “Over the next 50 years these trees will sequester of 650 lbs. of carbon dioxide.”
The four students who are a part of team Carbon Catchers are Taylor Brennan, Maura Mahon, Joseph Robertozzi, and Aksel Tabak.
Josh Langenberger, also a science teacher at Howell Middle School South, introduced the awardees for this year’s National TSA Conference.
“Tonight, we’re presenting two sets of awards, one for the Technology Student Association (TSA) and the other for TEAMS, Test of Engineering Aptitude Math and Science,” Langenberger said. “We were honored to bring a wonderful and outstanding group of students from Howell this year and the results were incredible.”
Langenberger shared how 75% of the students that Howell Township sent to this event placed somewhere in a national level.
“We talk about #HowellLeads it’s not just something we write, but it’s what’s demonstrated by our students every single time they attend activities like this. We are truly leaders and I’m very proud to be the advisor of an outstanding group of young adults,” he said.
The following students were recognized:
- Emma Conrad – 5th place – Technical Design
- Eli Zolotnisky – 5th place – Technical Design
- Mallory Brennan – 6th place – TEAMS – Design & Build
- Kaelin Burke – Top 12 – Leadership Strategies; Top 16 – Prepared Speech; 6th place – TEAMS – Design & Build
- Sherwin Chen – 8th place – System Control Technology
- Lucy Gulley – Top 12 – Leadership Strategies; 6th place – TEAMS – Design & Build
- Emily Krahling – 6th place – TEAMS – Design & Build
- Jasmine Ni – 7th place – TEAMS – Presentation
- Micaela Oels – 8th place – System Control Technology
- Ella Paoni – Top 12 – Challenging Tech Issues; 7th place – TEAMS – Presentation
- Caleb Pylarinos – 8th place – System Control Technology
- Paula Reynaga – Top 12 – Leadership Strategies; 6th place – TEAMS – Design & Build
- Sofia Sardina – Top 12 – Challenging Tech Issues
- Jared Spiegel – 8th place – System Control Technology
