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First row (Left to right):Mr. Justin Vincent, Shreeya Parikh, Marissa Yamulla, Gabriella Carsia, Madalynn Young, Ms. Michele Tyburski. Second row: Andrew Pedri, Gavin Serock. Arushi Solgama, Cedra Abdulrahman, Diane Kim and Winni Zheng. Third row: Mr. Michael Mele, Hasan Arain, Joseph Mayernik, Madelyn Young, Yeleiny Paniagua, Mrs. Shannon Falcheck. Fourth row: Caleb Skuba, Rishi Patel, Daniel Griffith, Kiyan Paknezhad, Ian Composto. Fifth row: Jozef Dovicak, Evan Pedri, Christina Chrin, Kenedy Lutz and Kasra Paknezhad.

MMI Preparatory School students participated in the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science (PJAS) regional competition on May 19-21 at Penn State University. All of MMI’s state qualifiers placed in the top three at States with sixteen students earning first-place awards, nine earning second-place awards, and two earning third-place awards.

First-place award recipients were: sophomore Cedrah Abdulrahman, sophomore Hasan Arain, freshman Christina Chrin, freshman Ian Composto, sophomore Jozef Dovicak, senior Jagjit Gondara (two separate projects), senior Nathaniel Neidlinger, junior Kiyan Paknezhad, sophomore Yeleiny Paniagua, sophomore Rishi Patel, eighth grader Andrew Pedri, junior Evan Pedri, sophomore Caleb Skuba, sophomore Arushi Solgama, and eighth grader Marissa Yamulla. Caleb Skuba also received a perfect score.

Second-place award recipients were: eighth grader Gabriella Carsia, junior Daniel Griffith, sophomore Joseph Mayernik, senior Robert Orbin III, senior Kasra Paknezhad, eighth grader Shreeya Parikh, eighth grader Gavin Serock, sophomore Georgia Washko, and sophomore Madelyn Young.

The third-place winners were: eighth grader Madalynn Young and junior Winni Zheng. MMI competes in Region 2 with close to 450 students from schools throughout Luzerne, Lackawanna, Wyoming, Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties. Associate Dean and Science Department Chair Michael Mele serves as the primary advisor for MMI’s PJAS program along with additional advisors Shannon Falcheck, Justin Vincent, Timothy Garvey, and Michele Tyburski. MMI had 48 students compete at the regional level on March 2 and the first-place regional winners advanced to the state level.

The PJAS competition is open to students in grades seventh through twelfth. During the competition, students conduct a scientific research project in one of the twelve Scientific Categories of Research identified by PJAS and 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.