Forty-one MMI Preparatory School students participated in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) regional competition in March. Twenty-four earned first awards (one won twice), 15 won second awards (one won twice), and two earned third awards.  The first award winners will represent MMI at the state competition at the University Park Campus of Penn State in May.

Jillian McGeehin, Kendall Orozco, Jagjit Gondara, Jessica Zheng, and Brenna Eckhart received perfect scores. Excellence awards were earned by Kendall Orozco in Chemistry; Jessica Zheng in Biology; David Yamulla in the Jr. Biology category; and Brenna Eckhart in Engineering. Additional First Award winners were Corey Buchman, Erica Kline, Caleb Skuba, Arushi Solgama, Marissa Yamulla, Maia Laverty, Gabby Carsia, Rishi Patel, Adam Frask, Cedrah Abdulrahman, Ian Composto, Kiyan Paknezhad, Nathaniel Neidlinger, Evan Pedri, Thomas Horvat, Daniel Griffith, Joseph Mayernik, and Gabriel Horvath.

MMI’s Second Award winners were Emily Borchick, Abigail Sparich, Georgia Washko, Sharan Parikh, Samantha Gatts, Yeleiny Paniagua, Michael Kranyak, Ava Genetti, Cassidy McDermott, Gracie Magula, Isabelle Wells, Ryan Clymer-Sones, Teagan Bonham, Kasra Paknezhad, and Robert Orbin, III.

Third award winners were Philip Benyo and Diane Kim.

MMI competes in Region 2 with students from schools throughout Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming, Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties. MMI instructors Amanda Shonk-Johnson, Michele Tyburski, Michael Mele and Justin Vincent, served as advisors for the competition.

The PJAS competition is open to students in grades 7-12. During the PJAS regional competition, students conduct a scientific research project in one of the 12 Scientific Categories of Research identified by PJAS and then orally present that research to a team of judges. The categories are: Behavioral Psychology, Biology, Biochemistry, Botany, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth and Space, Ecology, Engineering, Mathematics, Microbiology, Physics, and Zoology.